The England women's team is set to take on Colombia in the quarter finals of the World Cup, where the Lionesses will try to secure their place in the final four teams of the competition.
The team is hoping to bring back the trophy to go along with the European Championship they won last summer, with the team currently performing well – finishing at the top of their group and seeing off Nigeria after a tense penalty shootout in the last 16.
With every successful team, there's a lot going on behind the scenes – including a tireless work ethic, perfected tactics, and a motivational manager. But there's also the odd superstition along with it.
This is the case even for Sarina Wiegman's Lioness squad, with England midfielder Georgia Stanway lifting the lid on the team's superstition.
According to Georgia, 24, it's become a tradition for all players to avoid packing their suitcases during a competition – something which developed during the Lionesses' appearance at 2022's European Championship.
Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine, Georgia said: "That was something we really enjoyed doing: not packing our suitcases, leaving our stuff exactly where it was.
"It was never really spoken about, but for every matchday minus one, we would travel to a different hotel, and it became tradition to leave everything unpacked at our base hotel.
"It was where all of our clothes were and where everything was unpacked. We had made the rooms our own and made it the Lionesses' hotel, and there was always a bit of: ‘Are we taking our bags?’
"But it became normal to leave them because we knew we were coming back. That meant we were coming back for the final."
While the Lionesses had the comfort of their home country to play in last year, however, they have been based in New South Wales in Australia for the World Cup – providing a big change for the team to adapt to.
But so far, the girls have done well, seeing off Haiti and Denmark 1-0 in the group stages, before a dominant performance against China saw the Lionesses win 6-1 – securing their place in the round of 16.
It was there that England had a tense match with Nigeria, with neither team able to seal the deal in 120 minutes of football, with the Lionesses down to ten for the entirety of extra time due to Lauren James' red card on the 87th minute.
It went down to penalties, and despite Georgia Stanway missing England's first penalty, Nigeria missed two, with the Lionesses winning 4-2 in the shootout.
Lauren James, who was sent off after stamping on Nigeria's Michelle Alozie, leading to a two-match ban for the forward. However, she would be able to return to the team for the final, if the Lionesses are successful in the quarter and semi-finals.
England's game with Colombia kicks off at 11.30am BST, and is free to watch on ITV1 or ITVX.
Follow OK! on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@ok_mag
Source: Read Full Article
