On the same day Toni Duggan became the first woman to win the Nissan Goal of the Season award at our Season Launch Party City Live, the MCWFC Facebook page hit 4 million likes as the women’s game continues to thrive on the back of England’s bronze medal success at the World Cup.
The Blues had five representatives in Canada and since their return to Manchester, have been on a roll with a 100% record in the second half of the season.
We caught up with City and England captain Steph Houghton, who shared her thoughts on the progression of women’s football, the Blues’ recent fine form and her hopes for the rest of the season...
In Steph Houghton’s words...
This Sunday, we’ve got a massive game against Arsenal - and as always, we want to get three points. The focus of this squad is to get more trophies. We’re ambitious, we work hard and we want to improve every single game.
Winning the Continental Cup last season was incredible. It was our first season at this fantastic football club and to win our first trophy as a women’s team the way we did it was really special.
Before the game, everyone had written us off - we were the underdogs - so to go out and perform like we did under so much pressure, and to come away with that trophy was a great moment for all of the squad and the staff involved.
We want to experience that again.
Five wins on the bounce has given us confidence and we want to keep this run going for as long as we can.
We’ve had a bit more time to prepare for Sunday’s game - we’ve had a busy time of late. Some players have been away for two months with England, while the others have trained really hard, and we’ve come back and we’ve gone straight into playing for City.
The first game after the World Cup - the home game against Birmingham - was fantastic. Coming back to over 2,000 fans at the Academy Stadium was great and - on behalf of all of the squad - we’d like to thank those fans who turn out each week to come and see us.
The reception we got at City Live was amazing too, and the fact Toni won Goal of the Season with her screamer against Chelsea was brilliant.
I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet just how much the women’s game has changed for the better over the past few months.
While we were over in Canada, we were just concentrating on playing a game every three or four days, so we were in a bit of a bubble.
Of course, it was important we focused on the job but it was brilliant to hear from family, friends, teammates and fans back home, telling us how proud they were of how we were trying to inspire a generation and get players playing football from a young age.
Once we came back to Manchester, we saw little girls with City and England shirts on with our names on the back – that was a special moment for us all and one we’ll always cherish and remember.
Long may it continue!
City’s trip to Arsenal Ladies on Sunday 9 August kicks-off at 6pm BST. The game has been chosen for live broadcast on BT Sport, while there will also be live updates on MCWFC’s Twitter page and a match report on the website shortly after full-time.
