Steph Houghton said England’s performances at the SheBelieves Cup prove they have closed the gap on the best teams in the world.
The Lionesses defeated World Cup holders USA and only narrowly lost to France as well as European and Olympic champions Germany, as they finished third in the second annual friendly tournament.
And Houghton believes her side are shaping up nicely as they continue to ramp up their preparations for the European Championship finals in the summer.
The England captain said: “We saw some promising signs ahead of the Euros that we can really compete against the best teams. For me, everything is positive.
“It’s now about those fine margins and that’s what it takes to be the best – to be on the favourable side of those fine margins. We are so close.
“We have to remain positive. This was a definitely a positive camp.”
Next up for Mark Sampson’s side is a home double-header in April.
They will entertain Italy at Port Vale on Friday 7 April before hosting Austria in Milton Keynes three days later, their final home fixtures before this summer’s Euro finals in Netherlands.
Houghton wants her team-mates to draw inspiration from their historic 1-0 win over USA and build on their three-game stint across the pond.
She added: “Unfortunately the results in two of the games didn’t go our way but we were delighted with the performance against America. We need to remember that result.
“One of our main strengths is being adaptable and causing the opposition as many problems as we can. I really felt we did that in this tournament.
“Now it’s about keeping that going in the games we’ve got left before the Euros. We’ve still got a few months before the Euros start, so plenty of time to improve. We know we’ve got some work to do.
“We know we’re not far away, we just need to concentrate on those fine margins against the best teams in the world.”
Tickets for both of England's upcoming games can be bought via TheFA.com/Tickets, and are also available via 01782 655821 (England v Italy) and 0333 200 5343 (England v Austria) as well as in person at each club’s box office.
