Sanderson on England and Arsenal return
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
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Lianne Sanderson started 2014 having not played for England in nearly four years but she is now a regular and has returned to Arsenal LFC: she speaks to UEFA.com.
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It is fair to say 2014 was a year of change for Lianne Sanderson.
At the start of the year the Boston Breakers forward had not played for England since early 2010, the year in which she left Chelsea LFC for the first of three American clubs. However, in the last 12 months she has been recalled by new England manager Mark Sampson, becoming a regular starter, and has now returned to Arsenal LFC, where she made her name and won every club honour there was to win before a 2008 Chelsea move.
Having capped her year by appearing for England at Wembley against Germany in November, and linking up with Arsenal after a loan spell at Apollon LFC, the 25-year-old spoke about her return home and her international comeback as England prepare for next summer's FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada.
UEFA.com: Was playing for England a factor in you deciding to come back to England and come back to Arsenal?
Lianne Sanderson: Mark [Sampson] fully supports me in everything that I do and he said to me, if I wanted to stay in America I could, it wasn't like I was given an ultimatum where I have to come back to play for England. But this year I've had some pretty crazy flying schedules, flying to Seattle, to Chicago, to Kansas, to London, Ukraine, Belarus. It was hard with the jet lag and the time difference. I just want to put myself in the best possible opportunity to be picked. I want to be here and not feel like I'm floating through space because I'm jet-lagged when I am on the pitch.
UEFA.com: It's a very different domestic game you are coming back to...
Sanderson: I was at Arsenal for 12 years then I went to Chelsea, and with Arsenal we won everything because we had all the best players. Now the players are spread out across the league, there are a lot of internationals coming over, foreign players. I think – because I've been to a few of the games, I'm not just saying this because I'm coming back – I've seen a big difference.
[England] train at St George's Park, we're treated exactly like the men and if you can get everybody just worrying about playing football instead of worrying about work and do all these other things, you are going to get the best performances. You can see the difference in the girls now, a lot of them are full-time professionals and that's the difference, and hopefully this can continue.
UEFA.com: And for you with England it's been a huge year, a year ago you were out of the picture and now you are favourite to go to Canada...
Sanderson: It's nearly been a year now and every time we meet up it all feels a bit surreal. To be honest, playing at Wembley – I watched the Olympics and it was hard for me to watch, as it was for my family. But whatever's happened in the past is the past.
For me, I'm just happy to be here, Mark has given all the support that I need and the staff are great to me and the girls have been great. To be it feels like I've never been away. Every single trip is great, I love being here, there's a buzz around the team, everyone's happy, we play with no fear. I think that's important.
UEFA.com: And now the chance to go to another World Cup, you did have a little chance in China in 2007 and now you have a big chance?
Sanderson: I'm just going to do everything I can to put myself in the best position to be in that team, in the squad. Just because I've started most of the games under Mark doesn't mean I'm definitely going to be picked for the World Cup. I'm going to try as hard as everybody else. I think we have a squad of around 30 players, anybody can start any game. It's competition but it's healthy competition – I think you can see that on our training field on any given time we meet up for camp, we don't know who's going to start. I think that's important.
