Jodie Taylor believes USA match gives England chance to test themselves against the best
"They have a very big physical presence,
they are athletic,
their mentality is amazing so it’s going to be a high tempo game,
it will be fast and they will be direct."Jodie Taylor
Jodie Taylor knows how important Friday's friendly against the US is to the whole England team as they step up their preparations ahead of the Women's World Cup later this year.
The striker told Sky Sports News HQ: “It would be awesome to get a win over the US. They have historically been the best team in women’s football so to get a win over them would be huge.
“They’ve just come off a loss as a well so maybe now is the right time to be playing them. But they are going to be a great team to play, it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be athletically challenging but coming off our year last year we keep growing, we keep getting better and better as a team and it’s going to be a really good game.”
The Americans are currently second in the world rankings, five places above England. Taylor, who currently plays for Portland Thorns in the US, is aware of the danger of taking Team USA lightly. The Oregon State University graduate has some inside information on the former World Cup winners.
'Mentality'
Taylor said: “I suppose I have got a little bit of inside knowledge as I play against the players week in, weekout but we know what to expect.
“They have a very big physical presence, they are athletic, their mentality is amazing so it’s going to be a high tempo game, it will be fast and they will be direct.”
The forward has only been part of the international set up since Mark Sampson replaced Hope Powell as manager, winning two caps. But her experience has already seen her become a valid member of the squad, something she is keen to build on.
“It’s a massive game for us. We have just come off the end of the year with a loss against Germany and now we start fresh with another top team in the USA so this is the start of our 2015 journey to the World Cup.' she added.
“It’s a process but we take each games as it comes. The only focus this week has been the US, nothing further, nothing down the road with Cyprus or the World Cup so we take the US this week and then we go on to the next one.”
England follow their debut in Milton Keynes with matches against Finland, Australia and the Netherlands at the Cyprus Cup next month as they continue their preparation for the World Cup in Canada.