Bassett says England have enough quality to maintain run

Monday 16 Jun 2014
Laura Bassett has earned 39 England caps

Laura Bassett is confident England can beat Ukraine on Thursday to move one step closer to the World Cup Finals.

Mark Sampson’s side defeated Belarus 3-0 at the weekend to maintain their 100 per cent qualifying record.

They now require just four points from the remaining three matches to reach Canada 2015.

Ukraine v England

FIFA Women's World Cup 2015
Group 6 qualifier
4pm BST, Thursday 19 June 2014
Arena Lviv, Ukraine

And Bassett, who made her first start of the campaign against Belarus, believes the Three Lions have enough talent in the squad to make it two away wins in four days – against a side they dismissed 4-0 in Shrewsbury last month.

She said: "This could be our toughest game of the campaign, but as long as we are fully focused I know we have got the quality in this team to produce the same result as we did against them at home.

"We have to be mindful of the game being away from home and the problems that Ukraine might pose us.

"We have to stay positive if things aren’t going our way – and I thought we did that really well on Saturday.

"We have to be patient. If it takes us until the 60th, 70th or 80th minute to score, then so be it.

"We would love to keep another clean sheet but the main thing is that we come away with the three points.

"We have had some great training sessions this week with really high intensity so now it’s about transferring that into the game.

"If we can do that then we won’t have any problems on Thursday."

Bassett played on the left side of a midfield diamond against Belarus as Sampson employed a 4-4-2 formation for the second game in a row.

The 30-year-old, who can also operate at centre back or as a holding midfielder, said she enjoyed playing in the new system and reckons England will benefit from experiencing different formations, particularly if they make it to next year’s World Cup.

"We are trying different things in terms of system and principles of play and as long as we stay positive and keep trying to implement the things we’ve worked on then that will help us in the future," she added. "We will be adaptable and be able to change when a game dictates it.

"It was obviously a bit different but you work off each other. You need to understand what everyone else is doing around you for it to work.

"At this level things can change a lot from game to game and during a game, too. At tournaments, different opposition will pose different problems so the greater variety of players you’ve got and the more players you’ve got who are comfortable playing in different systems is a great thing for us.

"We’ve obviously still got things to work on but it will come."

By Glenn Lavery in Minsk, Belarus