England 4-0 Northern Ireland: England, five-a-side & the GAWA - Furness on NI's Wembley experience
- Published
In her BBC Sport column, Liverpool midfielder Rachel Furness reflects on Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifier with England on Saturday, how playing at Wembley will help the team ahead of Euro 2022 and Tuesday's qualifier with Austria.
Well, that was an experience and a half. You don't like to lose football games, so it is natural that we are disappointed but I think we made a good account of ourselves and there are plenty of positives we can take out of the game.
England are tough opposition and we knew how tough it would be. Even before the recent success, Northern Ireland teams have always had a lot of heart. At Wembley we defended like warriors and showed to everyone that we are not here to make up the numbers and we are here to compete.
Playing a team of England's calibre can only be good going into the Euros next summer. We know for Thursday's draw that we will be the side most teams want in their group, but we don't want to be just another team, we want to compete and show what we are about.
We are in the process of building as a team and you only have to look at how far we have come over the past couple of years since Kenny came in.
That's why I think we can take a lot out of last night and hold our heads high. We competed and held one of the best teams in the world for more than 60 minutes. Whether it is fitness in the end or that bit of quality, we are not a million miles away from where we want to be.
When you defend for large parts of the game, as we did, you have to stay so switched on. We targeted a few of their players, that was part of the gameplan. They had so much quality going forward but we dealt with it pretty well.
You look at Ellen White, who is one of the best finishers in Europe, and she barely had a sniff last night. That was down to Sarah McFadden and the whole backline. Full credit to them for staying switched on for as long as they did.
I said to Mac straight after the game she was my player of the match. She was absolutely outstanding yet again. She is a real warrior and that feeds into the rest of the team.
The Wembley experience
When you grow up you always want to play at places like Wembley. I had only played at Wembley once before in a five-a-side tournament a few years ago with some mates. It was a bit of a laugh, but it was tiring for that, never mind 11 v 11.
It was an incredible feeling to experience that with Northern Ireland. Playing for my country at Wembley is something I wanted to do for my whole career so I've ticked that one off. Overall as a team, I am proud of everyone in the squad. We didn't give up and we kept going until the final whistle.
I always get nervous before a game, but I always try and channel that into excitement. It shows I'm human and I am still feeling that love of the game. I actually enjoy getting nervous, it shows there is excitement to go out and kick a ball.
I think we adapted really well as a team. We didn't let the crowd and occasion get to us. Yes, on another day we would have liked to create more chances, but England are a smart nation. They changed their formation, caused us problems and had a 15 minute spell that ultimately got the better of us in the end. There is a lot we can learn and a lot of positives we can take from last night.
I had my family there and so did a lot of the girls, so it was amazing to share the feeling with our loved ones. The Green and White Army, even in their hundreds, we heard them throughout the whole game and that was amazing to have.
The fans have come on this journey with us and to have an away crowd like that was special and something I will remember for a long time.
The big games keep on coming
The experience of Wembley was great but we have to switch our focus straight away and look towards Austria on Tuesday. Hopefully everyone who watched us at Wembley will come to Seaview and it will be packed out.
Austria will be a really tough test, and just like with England, we are striving to get up to that level. We don't only want to compete with some of the best players in the world but we want to get to a point where we can we edge it.
I think you have to aim high, Kenny has brought us into these games to win. That is the tone and message from the very start. We aren't just going to sit back and let the defeat happen. We are going to fight in every second of every minute of every game to try and get something out of it.
That mentality shift has been massive and there are only good things coming for this team.
Northern Ireland held England out for 64 minutes before substitute Beth Mead's clinical hat-trick
If it does, I know there will be a massive step forward for this squad. We will only get better and stronger, and that will only be beneficial against top opposition.
But for now we are only looking at Austria. We know we will need a big performance and we have the underdogs tag again as they are second seeds in the group.
The pressure is on them and not us, but we will treat it the same way as we always do.
We go into every game like it is a cup final. We all know how important Tuesday is, but we will always believe and back ourselves, and hopefully we can come away with the three points.
Rachel Furness was speaking to BBC Sport Northern Ireland's Andy Gray.