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Sampson: No fiddling between now and 2017

England manager not planning on messing about before Euros

by Our Sports Desk

ENGLAND manager Mark Sampson is so determined to deliver Euro 2017 glory he has ruled out any experimentation between now and the finals.

The Lionesses will roar to the top of qualifying Group Seven if they beat Belgium in Rotherham tonight.

Sampson’s side are firm favourites to win the group and book their place at the tournament in Holland, and have a 100 per cent record from two matches so far.

Yet their eager manager has vowed he will not consider new faces until he believes they deserve to be in the team on a regular basis.

He has yet to hand a cap to last season’s Women’s Super League top scorer Beth Mead, despite the 20-year-old winning rave reviews for her displays with Sunderland Ladies.

“There’s never a time to experiment with the England team,” he said.

“Everyone’s got to work for the chance to represent their nation.

“It’s great we’re getting different opinions because it shows there’s an interest in the game.

“It’s not so long ago that nobody really cared and nobody knew the players we had.”

World Cup bronze medallists England are ranked fourth in the world by Fifa, with Belgium down in 28th.

Belgium are “a good team,” said Sampson, “they’re an up-and-coming women’s football nation. They’re athletic, organised and they’ve got some exciting players, and most importantly they’ve got a strong heart and won’t give in.

“But the way this England team is moving forward at the moment, we’re really focused on ourselves and keeping moving in the right direction.”

Sampson, meanwhile, has told England’s 131-cap full-back Alex Scott that he can be more extreme than her TV taskmaster Bear Grylls.

The former Morning Star columnist reached yesterday’s final of reality show Mission Survive, in which Grylls challenges contestants to take on extreme tasks.

Sampson said: “I’ve been giving Alex a bit of stick because I’ve not watched much of it but I’m getting regular updates from my mum, saying: ‘You won’t believe this. She’s doing this and that, and she’s eating elephant poo.’

“My methods when I first started coaching were far more extreme I can tell you that. When I was working at leisure centres with those five-year-olds it was far more extreme than any jungle.”

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