Friday 14 June 2019 11:40, UK
England and Chelsea goalkeeper Carly Telford believes that this month’s Women's World Cup in France will help the game to grow across the globe.
The Lionesses touched down in Nice earlier on Tuesday as they prepare for their opening game against Scotland on Sunday, June 9.
With the England team winning the SheBelieves Cup in March, after victories against Japan and Brazil and a draw against USA, the squad head into this World Cup in a confident mood.
"Nations go away and grow and work for four years and that's exactly what we've done since the last World Cup," Telford told Sky Sports News at the launch of StockX's "Our Time" campaign
"But it's not just us, across the world, teams have grown. You just have to look at how well Australia have been doing.
"There'll be South American and African teams that will come in and surprise us. It's going to be a fantastic tournament that everyone will enjoy. Globally, it's going to grow the game."
England's group will feature a South American side as Argentina make their first World Cup appearance in 12 years. The team were so underfunded that they were forced to disband in 2015, only resurfacing in the 2018 Copa América.
Telford insists there will be no easy games in the tournament.
She said: "Once upon a time in the World Cup you could judge where we'd get our three points from or where we'd be able to rotate players. But this year, there aren't any teams you can do that against in any group.
"We've got a few youngsters in our squad, but if you look at their calibre, they've played in Champions Leagues, won League Cups and FA Cups.
"These young players have played in front of big crowds. Maybe that's what we were shy of last World Cup, we'd only ever played in front of a max of 20,000 or 30,000 and in Canada we were suddenly in front of 50,000 fans.
"We know what to expect now, most of us have played at Wembley and in front of large crowds.
"We've got a really good balance of new faces and old heads."
Looking ahead to their opening game against Scotland, Telford is expecting a fiery atmosphere as the two rival countries meet.
"There'll be lots of English and Scottish fans and hopefully it'll be loud and noisy - everything an England and Scotland game should be. Hopefully we come out with a win."
