Chamberlain - I wasn’t nervous at all

Siobhan Chamberlain says it was an amazing experience to play at the Women’s World Cup.

The goalkeeper was a 52nd-minute substitute in England’s quarter-final victory against Canada, producing an assured performance to help her side reach the final four of the competition for the first time.

“It was amazing,” she said. “You always want to be playing and as a substitute goalkeeper you don’t think that you’re going to get called upon, but you’ve always got to be ready because anything can happen. Thankfully I came on and did alright.

“It’s a strange one because you’re coming into a situation which maybe you shouldn’t enjoy because there’s so much pressure on you, but I loved it – I didn’t feel nervous at all. The situation just took me over and I embraced the opportunity. To get to a World Cup semi-final for the first time is amazing. Everyone’s chuffed to bits.”

England now face Japan in the semi-finals on Wednesday and Chamberlain revealed that Mark Sampson’s side are well prepared to challenge the World Cup holders.

“Confidence is sky high,” she said. “We know Japan are a fantastic side - the pass the ball around for fun and technically they’re a really good side. They’re the only team left in the competition who have won every game so you can’t look past that.

“We know that we’ll have to look at the game plan, tactics, and get that right, so we’ll be back on that tomorrow. We had a couple of their players at Arsenal last year in Yukari Kinga and Shinobu Ohno and they were both fantastic. It should be an exciting game.”