England’s mantra throughout their Canada 2015 campaign has been ‘building momentum’, and Alex Scott and Fara Williams told FATV they do not want the Lionesses’ World Cup adventure to end.
Mark Sampson’s squad will take on Norway in the last-16, having bounced back from an opening-day defeat by France to edge Mexico and Colombia and finish second in Group F.
Their performances have improved with every match, and Scott wants that pattern to continue in Ottawa on Monday.
England v Norway
FIFA Women's World Cup 2015
Second Round
10pm BST, Monday 22 June
Lansdowne Stadium, Ottawa
Live on BBC Three
She said: “We want to be here until the final. That is our aim. We said that coming into the tournament, and once you’re in it, it’s not about going home. No-one wants to go home early.
“I think we are really building momentum now. I think we are really growing into the tournament.
“We are going into the [Norway] game thinking ‘we want to build on the Colombia performance and we want to progress in this tournament’.”
The World Cup has a last-16 round for the first time as the tournament has been expanded to 24 teams.
England have never gone beyond the quarter-final in their three previous World Cup appearances, in 1995, 2007 and 2011, and have therefore never won a knockout match at the tournament.
Standing in their way this time is Even Pellerud’s Norway, runners-up at Euro 2013.
Williams, England’s most capped player of all-time, is expecting a difficult encounter against the side ranked 11th in the world.
But she is confident Sampson will come up with a game plan to see his side through to the last eight.
“They are tough," she said. "They are a physical team. I know from previous experiences playing against them, they are very direct, fit and physical.
“We know what to expect from them and we know our coaching staff would have done all the homework for us and get us best prepared.”
Scott concurred: “I think the game is a winnable game for us.
“It’s about making sure we execute Mark’s game plan.
“They are going to be physical, well-organised and they do have key players that can change a game so we are going to have to be aware of that.”
