Wise head on Weston's shoulders

  • Wednesday, 15 July, 2009
  • Sweden 0-3 England
  • Sweden 0-3 England

Chelsea Weston won't get complacent after England victory.

As the oldest member of the England Women’s U19 squad, Chelsea Weston has experienced a good deal since her debut two years ago.

Her first appearance for the team came against France in the group stage of the 2007 UEFA European U19s Championship, and since then the Doncaster Rovers Belles star has proved she has what it takes to perform on the international stage, even if she wasn’t sure herself to start with.

"In that first game against France I didn't think I was going to play, let alone start and when I did I was like, 'I don't really know what I'm doing'," admitted Weston to UEFA.com. "But I got a lot of help and took that on board."

Weston went on to play in each of England’s subsequent Championship games, all the way to the Final where The Three Lions were beaten 4-2 by Germany, after extra-time. It was a bitter pill to swallow but even to tougher to take was when England fell at the group stage in the 2008 Championship.

Those disappointments, however, have spurred Weston on and the defender is determined to make the most of her third and final attempt for the coveted European trophy in Belarus.

"After competing for 120 minutes and then losing it was hard watching [Germany] getting the trophy," said the 19-year-old. "But failing to even reach the semi-finals last year was worse and makes me more determined here."

So far Mo Marley’s England team have got off to a great start at this year’s Championship, with a 3-0 victory over Sweden and Weston grabbing a rare goal. But as a veteran of the team, the defender is exercising caution to some of her compatriots.

"The younger ones look to me for experience," she said. "What I say to some of them is that we got to the Final as underdogs, which was really good, and the year after everyone went in thinking 'Yeah, we're going to win it' and we didn't even get out of the group stages.

“The Sweden win was obviously a good start this time around and we played well but we still have another gear to go up – Norway's going to be hard, Iceland's going to be hard. This year we really need to take every game as it comes."


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