England defender Jess Carter insists she feels no nerves ahead of Sunday’s World Cup Final.
Carter has shone for the Lionesses at the tournament, starting all but one game after playing only 16 minutes at Euro 2022.
The Chelsea centre-back is expected to keep her place in the team for Sunday’s final against Spain in Sydney.
And the 25-year-old is relishing the challenge that awaits as the Lionesses aim to win the World Cup for the first time.
Asked if she will feel any nerves on Sunday, Carter said: “Personally, I won’t.
“It’s football. I’m not really a nervous person. I understand and know from the outside, it’s the World Cup Final, your biggest moment.
“I play my best when I’m super calm. At the end of the day, it’s just a game of football.
“We have to perform as we did in the first group game. Maybe some people have nerves, but I think that will be challenged into positive energy come the night.
“I think I chat with everyone, and that’s something that a lot of the girls say is that I am super chill, and I’ve had a couple of people feed back to say that it’s a really nice, I guess, aura to be around a little bit.”
Carter has excelled for England after they switched to a back-three following their opening two games of the tournament.
The 25-year-old has lined up with Alex Greenwood and Millie Bright, and as a trio they have conceded just three goals all tournament.
“I think obviously Millie and I have played together now for a while at club, so that’s a partnership that’s quite natural,” said Carter.
“For me Alex is just easy to work with. She’s shown her quality for a long time now, with her adaptability as well playing left-back, etc.
“So I think just our honest communication with each other is something that’s really important, and I think that is just something we have kind of worked on, but I also just felt like it kind of clicked really quickly as well, and [we] tried to figure out really quickly what one another needed.”
The only game Carter has missed at this World Cup was England’s second group game against Denmark, when she was dropped to the bench.
The defender, however, has revealed that did not impact her as she was not expecting to play as much as she has.
“To be honest, I know it’s probably going to sound really bad but when I didn’t play against Denmark I wasn’t… I wasn’t not bothered, but it was just like: ‘I’ve just played in a World Cup, I had more minutes than I thought I was ever going to get coming into this tournament’,” said Carter.
“I didn’t come into the tournament expecting to play at all.
“I was so honoured to be part of the team. Obviously, of course, you always want to play every minute, etc.
“But I wasn’t too disheartened against Denmark, and when I spoke to Sarina and [heard] her reasons and our tactics, she’s going to make the best decisions that she thinks are appropriate to go and win a game.
“And I just feel really fortunate and lucky that I managed to get back into the squad and continue to be part of the journey with them.”
