Pain, Positives and Preparing for a New Campaign (Jill Scott interview)

Jill Scott is still hurting. She calls England’s rise to third in the world rankings something that gave her goose bumps, remembers being outside the top ten, and rates beating France in the quarter-final – a first in forty-three years – as the tournament’s highlight, especially for the older players. The lowlight followed immediately: a booking in that game for a challenge she would take back, and a semi-final spent in the stand behind the dugout, the toughest ninety minutes of her life. She did not watch the final, travelling to Spain with Laura Bassett, Karen Carney, Millie Bright and Carly Telford instead, and admits she would have been jealous. Asked whether England players can speak their minds, she insists the environment is open.