Mary Earps says 'best is yet to come' from England at Women's World Cup

England goalkeeper Mary Earps says "the best is yet to come" from the European champions as they prepare for their Women's World Cup quarter-final.

Sarina Wiegman's side beat Nigeria, ranked 36 places lower in the world, in a penalty shootout in the last 16.

They face Colombia on Saturday at 11:30 BST and Earps hopes the Lionesses can deliver a strong performance and show they have "many more levels".

"We're constantly looking to improve and drive performances," said Earps.

"That's the best thing about it. We're not sitting here just happy to be here - we're not satisfied, we're not done, there's still more levels we want to go.

"I really believe the best is yet to come. There's an incredible wealth of talent and experience that we've had together as an international team but also with the teams we play for at club level.

"It's an exciting time to be an England player for sure, but we have to earn that right every day."

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England's performances have been fairly underwhelming overall in the tournament - they beat Haiti and Denmark 1-0 in the group stages, before an impressive 6-1 thrashing of China.

However, they struggled against 11-time African champions Nigeria on Monday in a match which was decided by a penalty shootout in Brisbane.

"The most important thing to note is that we've been winning games. We're in a results business so we've earned the right to be in this position we're in," added Earps.

"I have been training with the players every day, seen them personally and have had the privilege of working with them for some time and I can see the talent.

"I don't think we've been bad by any means but you've seen glimpses of what we're capable of. We as a team know and understand where we want to get to. We know we can give more.

"That's not to say our efforts haven't been 110% there and we've ground out results - but I think the way we want to dominate games, and go about winning games, we are excited by that challenge to do more."

'It can be over at any moment'

England became favourites to win the tournament for the first time following shock early exits for back-to-back champions the USA, Euro 2022 finalists Germany, Olympic gold medallists Canada and South American champions Brazil.

But having survived a scare against Nigeria, and knowing they are without top scorer Lauren James, who is serving a two-match ban, Earps said she is "always really conscious" they can be knocked out at any stage.

"You can see how tight the games have been in this tournament and the level of teams that have left the competition as well," said the 30-year-old.

"That just shows what an incredible place the women's game is in. We're very much here to do our best and go as far as we can in the competition and we don't take anybody lightly.

"We are in a really good spot and we've got more gears that we can go to, but it can be over at any moment and Nigeria was a really fierce contest. I'm glad that we were able to see that out."

Earps, who is the holder of the Fifa Best goalkeeper award, has kept three clean sheets in England's four matches so far and praised the performances of the defence.

The Manchester United shot-stopper has put in several strong displays in Australia and said the level of goalkeeping generally in the tournament has been "fantastic".

"I personally love to see when goalkeepers are doing well," said Earps.

"I hope they are praising the goalkeepers because I think the performances have been fantastic and they deserve a lot of credit.

"There's still many games to go and hopefully those performances can continue so we're in a good place as a goalkeeping group at the end of the tournament."