No mercy as Houghton leads dominant England

Football - No mercy as Houghton leads dominant England - Steph Houghton's team are crushing their World Cup qualifying group - and she doesn’t understand Germany's wish not to humiliate Brazil. 

After going 5-0 up in the World Cup semi-final, Mats Hummels has since revealed that the Germany team did not want to humiliate the hosts in their own back yard.

New England captain Houghton doesn’t understand that attitude. She’s been part of an intensely successful World Cup qualifying campaign that so far has resulted in 38 goals scored (and one conceded) in their eight games.

Steph Houghton is leading England to next summer's World Cup in Canada (The FA)

“If you’re 5-0 up at half-time, you have to go out there and get more,” she says, in a tone that doesn’t invite argument. “Yes, you respect your opponents – but you do that by looking at them, seeing where their strengths are and working out how to deal with them - and then exploiting their weaknesses.”

That kind of resolute, unsympathetic toughness isn’t surprising from a player who established her career at the all-conquering Arsenal and forced her way in to become a crucial part of Hope Powell’s England squad.

Now, under new manager Mark Sampson, she’s been handed the skipper’s armband, replacing long-serving Casey Stoney.

“It does seem like a new era, of course,” says Houghton. “Hope was there for a long time, so it’s going to feel like that. I’m loving every minute of it, to be honest. It’s a great honour. I’m still quite young as a captain so it’s a bit overwhelming at times.”

One of the criticisms that was levelled at Powell prior to her departure was that she relied heavily on selecting a trusted core of players rather than seeking to pick the best available squad.

Sampson, however, seems to be very intent on choosing his squad according to form. That has led to a call-up for the likes of Birmingham’s Jo Potter, after an absence of seven years, in preparation for the upcoming friendly against Sweden, to be played at Hartlepool United’s Victoria Park.

Pia Sundhage’s team are likely to have few weaknesses for Houghton and her colleagues to exploit. Even in a friendly, they will, however, prove a sterner challenge than England’s recent opponents in competition.

“We need that kind of test going into the World Cup,” she says, and then adds quickly, “assuming we qualify.”

It’s hard to envisage a situation where they wouldn’t, with one point required to seal their place in next summer’s tournament in Canada and two matches left - one versus Wales in Cardiff, and finally another away game, against Montenegro, recipients of a 9-0 thrashing back in April.

And after such a dominant display during qualifying, expectations for England in 2015 will be high.

Yet they were also high last summer when Powell’s team disappointed so drastically at the European Championships, taking just a single point from their group stage, and forcing the manager’s departure.

It was particularly galling bearing in mind the high hopes for potential success following Team GB’s impressive displays in the London 2012 Olympics, when Houghton was the poster girl for the team and across tabloid front pages after scoring the winner against Brazil.

“You have to take the rough with the smooth,” she says. “The Olympics were so successful, and the nation does expect – you see that with the men’s team. We’re desperate to put things right.”

So as Houghton mentioned, the men’s team’s failure at the World Cup means that imminent international footballing success now depends on the women.

She laughs. “Yep. No pressure!” ( Eurosport )