The City boss has been in Sydney for the initial stages of the tournament to watch his players represent their countries Down Under.
Taylor’s latest match saw him present at the Sydney Football Stadium to see England secure a second successive 1-0 Group D win – this time over a stubborn Denmark.
It was a display that saw four City players – Alex Greenwood, Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp and Laura Coombs – all feature and contribute.
The result put Sarina Wiegman’s side on the brink of qualification for the knockout stages – though the win was marred by an injury to midfield anchor and former City star Keira Walsh.
The City boss believes it leaves the Lionesses in a positive position ahead of the business end of the World Cup – and says the European champions are one of a number of leading contenders capable to go on and challenge for the game’s ultimate prize
Read Taylor’s latest column below...
I think England will be pleased and positive following the 1-0 win over Denmark.
It’s two wins out of two now which allows them to potentially experiment in the final group game against China.
It’s also now two clean sheets and they will be very happy with that too.
I think you have to be satisfied with two 1-0 wins, and now maybe they can look to experiment and open up against China and look to get ready for the knockout stages.
I thought England started the game well but then Keira obviously got that worrying knee injury which rocked them for a bit.
Potentially they could have conceded but Denmark didn’t really put up much in terms of attack.
I also think it was good to see Laura Coombs get an opportunity to come on and show her quality. I thought she handled it really well coming on in difficult circumstances after Keira’s injury
And actually Chloe Kelly probably benefited from that in the second half with Laura finding her a lot more than she had in the first half.
We are still waiting to see the full outcome of Keira’s injury and hopefully it is not as serious as was first feared.
But England have got good players like Laura so they should be able to cope depending on what the news is with Keira.
They have good options and strength in depth.
I also thought Alex Greenwood was very good back in her familiar position at centre half. I managed to get a bit of time to speak with her afterwards and I thought she played on the front foot and got England out of bother with a couple of key interceptions.
I think in general it has been a good start for England and hopefully we can see them now look to kick on.
In terms of who England could play in the knockout stages it’s still very much up in the air with Australia facing a huge final group game against Canada on Monday.
Sometimes you can get a favourable draw but I’m a firm believer that to be the best you have beat the best.
On a general note, overall the support and atmosphere at the games has been fantastic and the fans have helped to make the World Cup so memorable so far.
The Colombians have made their presence felt, the Irish have come out in great numbers too and a hell of a lot of England fans were out here for the Denmark game.
It has been brilliant to see how so many people have embraced the World Cup.
It is also really exciting looking ahead to the last 16.
I think England, France, Holland and the USA all have more gears to go into and then you have Germany, Spain and Brazil who are also showing their threat.
So, there is plenty of quality to throw into the mix and the next few weeks should be really exciting.
Gareth Taylor was speaking to Neil Leigh.
