Women's World Cup 2023: England's Jess Carter 'best version of herself' for final
- Published
Jess Carter was part of the Euro 2022 squad having not played for England between 2017-2021
England defender Jess Carter says she is "the best version of herself" going into the Women's World Cup final.
Carter, 25, was a substitute as England won Euro 2022 but has started five of England's six matches in Australia.
The Chelsea centre-back has been integral to England's successful use of a back three during the tournament.
"It's been a bit mad, to be honest. Twelve months ago, I wasn't in the place I wanted to be in," said Carter, who now has 23 caps for England.
"I've had tremendous support from all the staff in terms of getting back to being the best version of me. I'm back to a place where I want to be and you can see it in my performances."
Lionesses World Cup journey from 1995 to present day
Carter had a breakout season with Chelsea in 2021-22, earning her a call-up to England's Euros squad, and she helped the Blues to win a fourth successive Women's Super League title again this year.
However, Carter said she felt "burnout" last summer and her "body wasn't really able to handle it".
She rarely featured for England's youth teams and after making her senior debut in 2017, Carter had to wait four years for her next appearance - but it has been worth it.
"When I look back, I think about how my international journey has been different to a lot of people's," said Carter.
"I wasn't really consistently in the youth setup, nor at senior level either, so I think from that side of things, having to catch up on the international stage? Yeah.
"But at [former club] Birmingham City we played in Champions Leagues, we played in relegation battles, we played at the highest level in the women's game. I've been given the best tools in order to be ready."
Carter has been a versatile player for several years, being utilised as a right-back, left-back and centre-back under Sarina Wiegman and Chelsea manager Emma Hayes.
The defender admits she has "asked herself the question every single day" whether her versatility has stopped her nailing down a regular spot in the team, or has helped her get into squads regularly.
"My versatility is what's got me into games, it's got me playing in some of the biggest games you can really ever play in," she added.
"It's definitely something that's a massive positive, but at the same time sometimes I do wish I could just play this one position, absolutely smash it, then I wonder what level I could get myself to.
"But at the end of the day you've got a job to do."
Carter was left out of the starting XI for England's second group game, a win over Denmark, but returned to the side for the 6-1 thrashing of China and has retained her spot.
"I know it's probably going to sound really bad but when I didn't play against Denmark I just thought 'I've [already] played in a World Cup.' I had more minutes than I thought I was ever going to get," she added.
"I didn't come into the tournament expecting to play at all. I was so honoured to be part of the team. Obviously, of course, you always want to play every minute but I wasn't too disheartened."