Kelly Smith accepting her prize as Nationwide Player of the match.
Kelly's dedication
By Stuart Mawhinney. Friday, 01 September 2006.
World Cup Qualifier
8.05pm, Thursday 31 August 2006
The Valley, Charlton Athletic FC
Live on Sky Sports
|
England |
4-0 |
Holland |
|
Smith 9, 25, 50, Yankey 67 |
|
|
Kelly Smith says that England are so close to qualifying for the World Cup they can almost taste it. With only a draw required now against the French to send them through to China it is within reach for the Three Lions.
After a devastating display from the Arsenal striker that saw her bag a hat-trick and the player of the match award, Kelly was delighted with the result.
"It's always been a dream of mine to play at the World Cup and we can almost taste it now. Hope is really pleased with the performance and the scoreline, we got four goals and most importantly the three points we wanted.
"The players are absolutely buzzing right now and I think that everyone was happy with how they played out there.
"The credit has to go to Hope and the coaching staff because all week we prepared for how Holland were going to come at us and we knew how to get at them."
Kelly also sent a message to her Arsenal and England teammate Faye White who is out with a cruciate ligament injury.
"All three of my goals are dedicated to Faye, they were for her. To miss the last two games of qualifying after being so important is such a blow to her.
"She has her operation on Friday and we wanted to give her a lift going into that. We are going to France hopefully to give her another boost and keep the dream alive that she can play in the World Cup because she deserves it."
Holland coach Vera Pauw revealed after the game that she believes there is no one better in the game than Kelly.
The vastly experienced Dutch boss said: "The only reason she hasn't been voted as the best player in the world is because she needs to perform at the World Cup.
"She is the best player in the world - she is like Zidane in the men's game.
"Hopefully she will be fit when England play France next month because if she plays then they will make the World Cup.
"I think England are a better team than the French and they deserve to be in China next year."
In reaction to the high praise, Kelly said: "That's a very nice thing to say and it means a lot coming from someone so experienced in football.
"After the game she gave me a hug and said well done, then told me to go on and beat France and get to China!"