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Rachel Daly feels the calendar in the women\u2019s game needs to be looked at, describing the amount of games as \u201cexcessive\u201d.<\/p>\n
England boss Sarina Wiegman last week said the matter was something she was \u201cvery worried\u201d about as she named her squad for matches against Scotland at home on Friday and the Netherlands away four days later in the inaugural Women\u2019s Nations League.<\/p>\n
The Lionesses\u2019 World Cup campaign concluded with the final on August 20, and there have been Champions League qualifying fixtures since then.<\/p>\n
Daly told a press conference: \u201cI do think the calendar is something that does need to be addressed moving forward.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou\u2019ve seen a significant amount of injuries in the past year or so, which you can only think may be a part of the calendar and the excessive amount of games we have during the season, especially the girls playing in the Champions League as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think it needs to be looked at and addressed in the future. But as of right now, we\u2019re not in a position to minimise game time we\u2019ve got, so we just have to tackle it head on right now and put ourselves in the best position physically and mentally to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get straight back into it, with our clubs, internationally, and we\u2019re all just ready to go again and focus on the upcoming Nations League.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the process of trying to get back to normality after what was the Lionesses\u2019 first World Cup final, and saw Wiegman\u2019s European champions beaten 1-0 by Spain, Daly said: \u201cProbably the fact it wasn\u2019t in our home country deterred a little bit of the emotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve bumped into people in the street who say how proud they are, it\u2019s a nice feeling. Everyone knows we\u2019re disappointed with how it turned out but we made the nation proud once again and that\u2019s what we want to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone deals with it a little bit different. But here we are back at it again!\u201d<\/p>\n
England open their Group A1 matches in the new competition \u2013 via which they can secure Paris 2024 Olympics qualification for Great Britain \u2013 with a trip to Sunderland\u2019s Stadium of Light to play a Scotland outfit whose dispute with their national association was resolved last week.<\/p>\n
The team, captained by Daly\u2019s Aston Villa team-mate Rachel Corsie, withdrew legal action against the Scottish Football Association over equal pay and treatment claims having secured what the centre-back described as \u201cparity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked about that \u2013 as well as the saga involving the Spain team since their World Cup triumph \u2013 Daly said: \u201cI think trust and open, honest conversations with federations is something that is massive in terms of growing the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us as players and people we are always trying to strive for better and what\u2019s right, not just for the players involved right now, but for the next generation and future for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have that platform is something I think probably gets overlooked, but it\u2019s a place that you need to get to in order to petition for more, and what\u2019s right and what we deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
England\u2019s players themselves are involved in an ongoing bonus payments dispute with the Football Association, and Daly said: \u201cWe parked that for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people concerned of distractions \u2013 there were absolutely no distractions for us at the World Cup, and those conversations were parked.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe have a great team in place to take those discussions further and I think we\u2019re in a really positive place to achieve an outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all want the same thing, the federation and the players want to come to the same agreement. The leadership group and the players that put themselves in front of those meetings are fantastic and do a great job, so I think we\u2019re in a great place.\u201d<\/p>\n