Rachel Daly and England will look to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as a chance to improve on their last appearance. In the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, England reached the semifinals falling to runner-up Japan, finishing in third place.
Daly and England open their 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign at 11 a.m. CDT on June 9 when they take on Scotland at the Stade de Nice in Nice, France.
This is the first World Cup for Daly who has scored three goals in 19 appearances for the Lionesses. The Harrogate, England native recently won the 2019 She Believes Cup with England for the first time after two victories over Brazil, Japan and a draw with the United States.
After qualifying for the tournament by winning their group in UEFA qualification, the Lionesses were drawn alongside UEFA rival and first-time tournament qualifier Scotland, an Argentina squad in the tournament for the first time since 2007, and a Japan team who look for a third consecutive championship game appearance, having won the tournament in 2011 and finished as runner-up in 2015.
Scotland will be making their first Women’s World Cup appearance after winning their group in UEFA qualification. The team has shown an increase in success in the last few years, coming off the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017, where they qualified for their first time.
Scotland appeared in the 2019 Algarve Cup for their World Cup preparation, finishing in fifth place after being Iceland in group play to finish in second in their group, and defeating Denmark 1-0 in the fifth-place game.
England will look to keep their defense strong to shut down Scotland’s attack. Daly will assist defender and captain Steph Houghton to lead the backline for the Lionesses. Karen Carney and Jill Scott work as the focal point of the midfield and will look to target forwards such as Toni Duggan and Ellen White.
The match will kick off at 11 a.m. CDT and be seen on FOX and Telemundo.
