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England's record-breaker Karen Carney sets sights on Euro 2017 glory
Karen Carney became the first England player to feature in seven consecutive international tournaments when she came off the bench against Scotland, but the only achievement she is really interested in is winning this one.
With more than 120 caps, Carney is one of the most experienced members of the squad and the 29-year-old freely admits this is by far the best group she has played with.
Having thrashed Scotland 6-0 in their opening game, England have sent out a strong message in Holland and many now see them as the favourites to triumph in a tournament that Germany have won on six consecutive occasions.
There was a time in Carney’s England career, when they were little more than also rans, happy to make up the numbers at the big showpiece events, but they are now capable of inflicting the sort of damage on opponents that only the elite teams, like Germany and USA, were once capable of.
“We did our job, we were very clinical, we were trying to do what England do,” said Carney, who plays her club football for Chelsea. “That’s what we are about now.
“We want to come home from Holland with the gold medal. We’re going to pay the opposition respect, but if we play to the best of our ability, we believe we can win.
“It’s eight tournaments in a row for me, including the Olympics. I think it’s a record. I’ve played in seven consecutive major tournaments and the first thought I has was ‘God, how old am I.’ It’s an amazing achievement given my first was back in 2005.
“I’m really proud of that, but I can have all the caps in the world, but there is no point if you don’t have a gold medal. I’d rather than one gold medal and ten caps, than 200 or 300 caps and no gold medal. It’s about winning and that is what this team intends to do.”
England’s players are understandably full of confidence, but they also need to be wary of complacency, particularly as their second game on Sunday is against a Spain team who are also considered to be one of the nations who could win the tournament.
“You’ve got to be confident,” added Carney. “But there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. I think we’ve got quite a lot of experience in the squad now, we’ve been around the block enough to know you can’t be arrogant going into games.
“Spain are a top team, but we’ve got to be confident. I think there is a bit of an aura about this England team. Germany have had it for years, the USA had it, but that’s what England have lacked for the last ten years going into major tournaments. Why shouldn’t we be confident going into games, we’ve got some excellent players.”
There was some bad news for Scotland with confirmation that the Manchester City striker will miss the rest of the tournament with a shoulder injury.