EURO 2017 PROFILE: Karen Carney
- Ann Odong
- May 1, 2017
- 2 min read
Just days out from the EUROs and there is a quiet con-fidence surrounding Team England as they arrive in the Netherlands for the 12th edition of the European Championships.
It is a confidence well-earned following the past two years of tournaments and results for the third seeded Lioness-es.
Optimism and England teams (male or female) has not always gone hand in hand but with the current squad, it is obvious why there is such hopefulness.
The rise of the Lionesses has been both unexpected and almost inevitable. With one of Europe’s strongest wom-en’s football player bases, what was more surprising is that England had only experienced sporadic success for so long.
For influential attacking midfielder Karen Carney the turn-ing point has been the faith The FA has shown in the team as evidenced by their increased investment.
“We have always had a strong pool of players,” said Car-ney. “I think the level the game has gone to now, originally when were in the top 10, a majority of the players were semi pro or not even that.”
The evolution of being able to train full time, or as best as you can has really helped the national team.
“Fitness, strength and power, these are things that we have been able to work on and kind of narrow the gap between the top teams.”
“I have always thought we have been technically up there with other teams but it was just probably the physicality and the fitness that we hadn’t been used to be able to train. Now obviously the team is now more professional and that has helped us players and equally the national team.”
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Originally written for Woso Zone’s Euro 2017 Preview Guide
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