England women ease off ‘beast mode’ ahead of World Cup opener

Lucy Bronze has expressed her confidence England will be in very good shape for the Womens World Cup as preparations continue ahead of Sundays Group D opener against Scotland.The showpiece event in France, which starts on Friday, is the first tournament the Lionesses head into after a full Womens Super League season over a winter. The league switched from summer after the 2016 edition.The majority of the England squad were playing in the division last term, while Bronze and Toni Duggan have just completed a winter season with French champions Lyon and Barcelona respectively.Lucy Bronze joined Lyon in 2017. (Ian Walton/PA).When asked about that, Bronze, who helped England come third at the 2015 World Cup and reach the semi-finals of Euro 2017, said: The physical training has had to be adjusted a little bit but weve got a couple of very smart boys doing the physical stuff with us, well still be in very good shape.Weve had to tone the physical stuff down a bit so were fresh. We were really in beast mode going into the last two tournaments.We were really beasted with the physical work but this is different because its the end of the season.With Sundays match taking place at the Allianz Riviera in Nice, Phil Nevilles side arrived in the city on Tuesday and trained on Wednesday at Parc des Sports Charles Ehrmann.Forward Duggan withdrew from the session as a precaution after feeling a thigh issue, whie left-back Demi Stokes, with a strapping on her left leg, did not take part.Settled in and firing on all cylinders #Lionesses pic.twitter.com/1JYE2LHl4W Lionesses (@Lionesses) June 6, 2019Right-back Bronze, who joined Lyon in 2017 after leaving Manchester City, said: Were just getting used to the heat. Weve been training with lots of layers and thermals to get us ready before coming out here.Weve got quite a bit of time off. Phil knows we need plenty of downtime to be properly relaxed.When were in it were in it and fully focused but weve got a couple of hours off each day where we can just go and chill, see family and friends.My sister comes out for this game, mum and dad next one (against Argentina in Le Havre a week on Friday), then.theyre all on rotation.Bronze, England boss Phil Neville and the rest of the squad flew from Heathrow to Nice on Tuesday. (Ian Walton/PA).Everyone always asks now are you the translator. I speak French now but the other girls all laugh when I speak French but it would be the same if Toni started speaking Spanish.She added: Weve got no security problems. Weve got our staff whove scoped out the area. Weve got our safety regulations which well follow but thats part of travel round the world.Like Mark (Sampson, who Neville succeeded in January 2018) Phil gives us a lot of freedom in downtime but whereas Mark had a lot of meetings, Phil doesnt like to keep us locked up together for too long in the hotel.Its all very simple, precise. He gives us free time. He knows what its like to be a player and he knows you can get bogged down in too much detail.Its similar but different under Mark and him. Phil puts so much trust in us players he gets a lot of respect back.The semi-finals and final of the tournament take place at Groupama Stadium, where Bronzes Lyon play some of their home matches.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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