Mark Sampson has asked his England Women’s team to be bold in Wednesday’s Cyprus Cup final against France.
The Three Lions’ new Head Coach has guided his charges to three straight victories in this annual friendly competition, over Italy, Finland and Canada.
The French pipped Scotland to a place in the Cyprus decider on goal difference and they too have a new man in charge in former national team goalkeeper Philippe Bergeroo.
England Women v France
The Cyprus Cup final
4pm GMT, Wednesday 12 March
Nicosia, Cyprus
Ranked fifth in the world, Les Bleus have become one of the most feared nations in the women’s game, but Sampson has told his troops to be brave as they attempt to retain their crown.
He told FATV: "It’s an open book for both teams to start to write a new destiny.
"They’ve got a new coach, we’ve got a new coach, we’ve got a new way of playing, they’ve slightly adapted their way of playing. I think it’s a really exciting time for us to go into the game [and] be positive.
"It can only be a good barometer for us because France are one of the top nations in the world. The objective for us has got to be to go into the game, be positive, go eye to eye and see where we’re at.
"If we’re not good enough to win the football match then, to be honest, that’s where we expect to be at at the moment. It’s very early in our development process. But if we go into it and we show that mentality I think we’ll give ourselves a good chance.
"I’ve got no doubts from what I’ve seen so far that if we’re at our best then we can win against anyone in this competition."
England haven’t beaten France since 1974 and have painful memories of two recent encounters as they were knocked out of the 2011 World Cup and 2013 European Championship by Wednesday’s opponents.
But Sampson believes that statistic is largely irrelevant.
He added: "The fact is England haven’t beaten France for a long time.
"But as far as we are concerned this is a new team, we’re undefeated and as much as we may not have beaten France in the olden days, France haven’t beaten this new England team."
Sampson also reflects on England’s performance in their three group matches and you can watch the full FATV interview in the player above
