Lauren Hemp agrees with England team-mate over Women's World Cup 'privilege'
Lauren Hemp believes the competition amongst England's forward is healthy as they look to hit form.
The Lionesses have only scored once from open play since February's Arnold Clark Cup success and struggled to create clear cut chances against a resilient Haiti in Brisbane last Saturday. Sarina Wiegman's team next face European rivals Denmark in Sydney, hoping to put their goalscoring worries behind them.
Hemp was withdrawn just after the hour mark of the narrow opening game win, replaced by Lauren James who has had a breakthrough season on the international stage and is seen by many as Sarina Wiegman's ace in the pack for the tournament. Her Man City teammate Chloe Kelly played the full 90 minutes, indicating she could be Wiegman's first choice out wide, while Brighton's Katie Robinson offers another strong option down the flank.
“I think there’s fantastic competition, especially in the forward areas" admitted Hemp. "I mean, as a team we’ve got such massive depth as a squad, like, obviously anyone can come in and change a game.
"So it’s important that as players we’re all pushing each other to be at the best of our ability, and obviously anything can happen so we’ll just so how it goes. But I think we all want each other to do well, so it’s all about pushing each other.
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"As Lucy [Bronze] said before, ‘pressure is a privilege’. We’ve all earned to be in this position and it’s important that we use that as a strength of ours."
"I’ve got so many experiences I’ve got along the way so for other players, even though its my first World Cup, I’ve got experiences playing in major games so it’s important I use that."
Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly were selected out wide against Haiti, but will Sarina Wiegman keep the faith in both against Denmark? (The FA via Getty Images)The Lionesses know a win against Denmark could put them into the last 16, if combined with China failing to beat Haiti. But the Danes are ranked 13th in the world and boast top class talent in the likes of Bayern Munich's new signing Pernille Harder, Kathrine Kuhl and Signe Bruun.
And Hemp is expecting another tough test in Group D.
"They come with different strengths to Haiti," she told reporters. "They’ve got some fantastic players, a lot of players who play in the WSL who a lot of us are familiar with.
"They’ve got a very big attacking threat in Pernille (Harder) which we obviously know about. We are working hard in training to counteract that and be better than them.
"Anything can happen in this tournament, you’ve seen it already. Teams are taking points off other teams that you may not necessarily expect and Haiti were a great team."
Hemp also responded to the comments from Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall, who predicted she could be the breakout star of the tournament. The Gunners boss, working as a pundit for BBC during the tournament recently stated: "“On her day, there are very few better."
"I’ve got so many experiences I’ve got along the way," added Hemp. "Even though its my first World Cup. I’ve got experiences playing in major games, so it’s important I use that.
"It’s nice hearing comments from other coaches but it all comes down to focusing on yourself, focusing on the team, getting that job done and then focus on individual stuff."
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