England started their Arnold Clark Cup title defence with a 4-0 win over Korea Republic on Thursday night. Georgia Stanway, Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo and Lauren James found the net for the Lionesses in their convincing victory over the side ranked 15th in the world.
While there was countless action in England’s attacking third as the Lionesses cultivated 32 shots, 12 of which were on target with Ella Toone, Russo, Stanway and Katie Robinson hitting the woodwork in devastating fashion but what happens at the other end of the pitch when a game is under such tight control?
England’s number one, FIFA best shortlist goalkeeper and Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps told MEN how she keeps her focus in games like Thursday night: “It's hard. And a lot of people ask me this all the time and all I say is ‘I just try’.
“I just try and stay as focused as possible because I know, having played in the league a long time and I've obviously been playing for a lot of years now, people can do things out of nowhere. And I think the minute that you forget that… that's normally when you're punished.”
“And that's when you get really frustrated with yourself because what if I had just been a little bit more focused in that moment, or if I expected the unexpected in a way then like that could save that it's the ones that really bug you the most I think so I just try my best to kind of give my all for the 90 minutes or the 120 or whatever's needed.
“I just try and give my absolute all for the team, which doesn't always come up perfectly all the time. But I do my best and so far, the season [at Manchester United] we've gone pretty well and we've done well defensively as a unit.”
Club-wise, United manager Marc Skinner recently admitted he 'would not swap Mary for another goalkeeper in the world' as she has the most clean sheets of the season thus far with nine alongside United’s conceded goal tally of seven in 13 games. It's the lowest in the Women’s Super League campaign to date as United sit top of the table, one point ahead of title defenders Chelsea.
“I just hope that that continues because obviously, I want to win every single game. But I also hate conceding goals. So yeah, I don't want to let any goals in - I wouldn’t let in a single goal ever again if I could help it, but we all know that's not possible,” she added modestly.
For the entirety of the 90 minutes at Stadium MK, Korea Republic managed two shots on goal and only one on target early on in the game, but for the majority, Earps was merely a bystander with an incredible view watching her teammates dominate higher up the pitch.
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