England Women to learn from New Zealand defeat for World Cup, says Lucy Bronze

Follow all the action from the Women's World Cup - which starts on June 7 - on the Sky Sports App and skysports.com

By Adam Goodwin

Image: Lucy Bronze says England don't want to feel the disappointment of defeat again

Lucy Bronze admits England have room for improvement after a shock defeat to New Zealand provided a "wake-up call" before they head to the World Cup on Tuesday.

Phil Neville's Lionesses, ranked third in the world, go into the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the trophy.

However, they failed to capitalise on their dominance and slipped to a 1-0 loss against the Football Ferns in Brighton ahead of their World Cup opener against Scotland on June 9.

"The scoreline might be frustrating but the performance wasn't, we still played some very good football," said Lyon defender Bronze.

"We created I don't know how many chances but probably more than we normally do, but we didn't put them away and one little slip-up and they scored.

Advertisement
Phil Neville wants his side to put the World Cup warm-up games behind them

"It's a friendly and a wake-up call and it just shows that we've got more work to put in in the next week.

"You know that you don't want to feel that [disappointment] again and going into each game now thinking we don't want to get beaten, you've got to turn it on for every team.

Also See:

"We respected New Zealand, we knew on paper that we are the better side but it just shows football is football, anybody can win on the day and we can't switch off for even a second in the World Cup.

Image: Sarah Gregorius' 50th-minute finish was the only goal of the game at the AMEX

"We have to be at our best for every second of the game, no matter who we are playing against. That's something that this team normally prides itself on."

England had the majority of possession and failed to take some good chances, with Jodie Taylor squandering the best of those.

But Bronze insists she has no concerns about the Lionesses' ability to find the net heading into the World Cup.

"Absolutely not. We've played against Denmark [a 2-0 win] and we scored two goals when we probably weren't playing at our best, so we know that we've got goals in us," she said.

"We've got some of the best strikers in the world, top attacking players and we know we can create the chances, it's just putting them away and I'm absolutely not worried."

Sky Sports Racing Selector

Select 7 winners for your chance to win £1,000

Outbrain