Casey Stoney seeks victory over Italy in the Cyprus Cup.
The Cyprus Cup
International Friendly Tournament
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Nicosia, Cyprus
Casey Stoney will be aiming to put the record straight when England face Italy in Nicosia later today in their last game at the Cyprus Cup.
Stoney was sent off against the Italians in the first group game of last year’s European Championship. England lost the match 2-1 but went on to reach the Final.
“That Italy game was a bad day for me personally,” said Stoney, “but in retrospect the result worked for us because it gave us a better draw in the knock-out stages.
“We had obviously wanted to beat Italy though, so at the time the loss was bitterly disappointing and we certainly don’t want to have that same feeling on Wednesday.
“It’s not so much about revenge, it’s about proving we’re good enough to beat them – hopefully with eleven players on the pitch this time.”
Eleven players on the pitch have not been enough in the group stage of the Cyprus Cup, which England won last year, to earn more than one win in three outings.
A 1-0 victory over South Africa was followed by a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Canada and a 2-2 draw with Switzerland, leaving England third in the table.
Stoney, who in the absence of regular captain Faye White skippered the side against Switzerland on Monday, said: “We’ve underperformed during the tournament.
“In all three games we’ve had the better of the possession, but we’ve not really hurt opponents despite creating enough chances to have won every game.
“Against Switzerland we came from behind to go 2-1 up and we then had enough scoring opportunities to put the game out of sight.
“We didn’t take our chances though and it cost us – it showed that in international football, when you have chances you’ve got to take them.
“But it wasn’t just a question of our finishing, it was about our defending as well because we conceded two poor goals.
“So against Italy we’ve got to improve our performance levels both as individuals and collectively – and do that well enough to end the tournament on a winning note.”