Anita Asante featured at three Women s European Championships, and big-stage experience makes the former England defender a shrewd judge of the teams that will go for glory this month.
The Euro 2022 finals kick off when England face Austria at a sold-out Old Trafford on Wednesday, with the tournament climaxing in the July 31 final at Wembley.
Spain start as many people s favourites, but defending champions the Netherlands, hosts England, France, Germany and Sweden are also firmly in the frame.
Stats Perform sat down with 71-cap star Asante ahead of the tournament getting under way.
The 37-year-old spoke of how a Dutch striker reminds her of the great Dennis Bergkamp, her hopes for England and belief in the Lionesses Dutch boss Sarina Wiegman, and why Spain are such an exciting proposition.
Asante Asanta s verdict on
why England are serious trophy contenders this time
I think England have a really great chance. We have a fantastic squad. They ve got to three semi-finals consecutively [2015 and 2019 World Cup, Euro 2017]. So this is an England team that is competing at the highest level. Of course, they re going to have to challenge the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, who are also an ascending force, Germany with a kind of historic legacy of winning major tournaments. But I think they ve got all the components to do that. And they ve shown that in previous tournaments, it s just those fine margins.
We saw with the men s Euros, just how the whole nation kind of stops, gets to a standstill. And it s all about the team and whatever everyone can do to support the team and put good vibes into the universe for them. Hopefully, we can emulate that and get a great mass of support behind the women s England team.
