04 March 2020

England's Rachel Daly says playing in the NWSL leaves her haunted by World Cup defeat to US

England footballer Rachel Daly has said by playing in the National Women's Soccer League she is haunted by the Lionesses World Cup defeat to the US.

England were defeated 2-1 in the semi-finals of the tournament, with the US going on to win a second successive title.

Daly plays for Houston Dash in the American league and has said there were constant reminders of the US' back-to-back World Cup win everywhere she went.

“Coming back to the USA after the World Cup was really frustrating because everything everywhere was about them winning," she told The Telegraph.

“There were billboards everywhere, walking into the airport the first thing I see is welcome home USA, World Cup champions and then they do the parades. It is kind of in your face more, you can avoid it when you go home [to England], but for me it was literally everywhere. It was quite hard.

“But it was quite good for me to be able to see that and see how I want to move forward. I want to be on the receiving end of what they received next time around."

Daly is a part of Phil Neville's squad for the SheBelieves Cup starting tomorrow and is keen to enact revenge on the US.

"There’s no reason why we can’t go out and beat them," she added. 

"I guess for me there is a little bit of an edge because I’m here. We won this tournament last year and it was nice to win a tournament on their home soil.”

England face the US in their first match of the SheBelieves Cup on Thursday (Friday 12am GMT).

The best videos delivered daily

Watch the stories that matter, right from your inbox