Lauren Hemp said she is hoping for a bumper crowd when England face Ukraine at Hill Dickinson Stadium, a fixture that now carries the weight of their World Cup qualifying campaign. The 25-year-old said the players want to respond after Friday’s 4-0 defeat in Spain and give the supporters something to lift them again on Tuesday.
England and Spain both have 12 points from five games heading into their final fixtures, but Spain’s superior head-to-head record means England’s fate is not fully in their own hands. That leaves the meeting with Ukraine at Everton’s new stadium as more than a recovery game: England must win automatically to avoid another two rounds of play-offs on the road to Brazil.
Hemp said she had heard the turnout at Everton’s new ground would be massive and that the team wanted to repay that backing with a strong performance. England have already played home fixtures at the City Ground, the Etihad Stadium, Pride Park, St Mary’s and Wembley this season, but this one comes with a different edge because the result can still be influenced elsewhere.
The forward said the squad had been training well and had put the Spain loss behind them as much as they could. England beat Ukraine 6-1 in the reverse fixture in Turkey on March 3, and Hemp said the focus now was on putting in a relentless performance and showing the crowd they had learned from Friday’s defeat.
That is the frustration for England: they can do their part at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but they still need the right outcome beyond their own match to go with it. For Hemp and her teammates, Tuesday is about turning a bruising night in Spain into a response that keeps automatic qualification alive.
