*
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Having landed in Philadelphia International Airport and taken the bus to the hotel, the girls were given some time off before training began in the afternoon.
The staff went out to explore the city along with the players and did the very tourist thing of visiting the Rocky steps, cause why not before grabbing the thing every needed most; coffee.
Alex: "Why are we staying in Philly if we're playing in what is basically New York?"
Ana: "Oh so no thank you to the FA and your coaches for arranging accommodation somewhere that isn't NY and where you haven't been before, to experience a different city?".
Alex: "Thank you".
Alex batts her eyelashes at Ana and smiles sweetly but Ana is having none of it.
Ana: "Batting your false eyelashes won't get you anywhere with me Greenwood and you know it".
Alex stops, now in a huff as Georgia brings their drinks over, accompanied by Jill, KB and Ellie who take their seats around the table the defender and coach found for them.
Karen Bardsley: "Have you managed to master the basics of Instagram yet?".
Georgia: "Oh cause you're such an expert KB".
Ellie Roebuck: "Ahh you know the rule Gee, don't mess with the GK union. Have you not learnt I'm more likely to stick up for KB than you sometimes".
Georgia: "Whatever".
The forward shakes her head, eyes narrowed at Ellie and then takes a sip of her coffee.
Ana: "How much is everyone looking forward to Germany?".
Jill: "I am. We always get ourselves a good test whenever we play against them and I think it'll be better to test ourselves against a well established side before we finish with the US".
KB: "When do we get the heads up about whose playing, the normal day before or can you give us an sneaky idea now?".
Ana: "You know I can't and besides, Mark will chose which keeper plays. That part is way out of my hands I'm afraid".
Ana holds her hands up in surrender, giving a sorry look to the keeper but KB doesn't seem that fussed and the assistant manager feels less guilty about the situation.
Georgia: "You've not told us about your family etc. I presume you know all about ours and especially Alex's here".
Ana: "Well that's only natural when you've known someone for a long time and worked with her boyfriend, and yes I have heard about your families. What is there to say about mine, I mean we're just a normal family, well as normal as you can get for this day and age; there so many variations on the word".
KB: "True".
Jill: "Have any siblings?".
Ana: "Funny you should say that..."
She smiles and catches Alex's eye, wondering whether to spill her secret or not but comes to the conclusion that Leah will probably start to tell people slowly anyway, so why can't she tell them.
Ana: "I have an older brother, two younger sisters and a newly discovered, newly met step sister and a step brother".
Jill: "Nice. Anyone we'll know".
Ana looks surprised and Jill mentions she's only joking but the Yorkshirewoman nods and explains.
Ana: "I'm being serious it is someone you'll know. Her name's Leah Williamson".
And just like that, time seems to stop as shocked faces appear at the table, minus Alex's of course, mouths falling open and coffee being spilled at the news.
Ellie: "Your kidding".
Jill: "What do you mean?".
Ana: "I mean that Leah and her brother Jacob, they are my step-siblings because their dad married my mum".
Georgia: "And you didn't meet them then?".
Ana: "Nope, they got married in a registry office with their witnesses but I wasn't there cause mum didn't want to make a fuss".
KB: "Fair doos".
Ana nods, silently thanking the keeper for getting the others of her back and finishes her coffee before ushering them back to the hotel.
*
After training, Ana and Phil are consulting on the day's session with Ben, Dan, Mark, Geraint and Emma in one of the hotels conference rooms.
Phil: "Mark do you want to update us on the keepers progress?".
Mark Manson: "Yeh ok, as always KB, Shiv and Carly have been working exceptionally hard and that makes my job more difficult, but watching them during training I would suggest giving Siobhan the nod for the Germany game.
I know you want to try out all three keepers as well as Mary and Ellie before the World Cup".
Phil nods and looks to Emma.
Emma Dughan: "From looking at analysis, we have a few areas to work on before Germany, in particular our link up and build up play and defensive work".
Phil: "Ana".
Ana: "So we're looking at switching up the starting eleven, starting with goalkeeper who we know will probably be Siobhan.
We're aiming to combat link up and build up play in training tomorrow and bring it onto the pitch by playing Mel Lawley, who will be able to provide crosses into the box for our strikers while also having scoring capabilities herself.
Playing Fara Williams will also give us another avenue to explore, using her experience and her versatility to our advantage".
Ana now looks towards Phil for his taken on the game plan.
Phil: "As Ana said, we are going to combat the skills tomorrow in training, Ben and Dan I expect you to be helping the girls with this different pace and doing the necessary things in the gym etc. Myself, Ana and Geraint will go away and talk about how we intend to use this improved style of play in the game".
The staff all nod and with Phil concluding the end of the meeting, everyone except the manager, assistant manager and in possession coach, who stay behind to discuss tomorrow's training.
Ana: "Alright so we're all agreed that Mel Lawley, Fara Williams and Siobhan Chamberlain are the basis of our starting eleven, along with Lucy and Jill?"
Phil: "Yes".
Geraint Twose: "Agreed".
Ana: "Now we all know Mel and Fara will bring a differences and a new attacking pace to our lineup so we need to adapt our style of play to fit the players".
Geraint: "Lawley and Williams are the centre of our training and simulation games for the next two days, we'll get the girls to work with them more, push both Mel and Fara to get themselves in new positions and the spaces to make this work".
Phil: "If we're going for the attacking front I suggest the likes of Ellen White and Fran Kirby in the team too".
Geraint: "Two good additions who have been working well in training".
Ana: "So going over an outlook for tomorrow session, Ben and Dan will get them in the gym mid afternoon while our session in the morning focuses on how we can play the ball better, improving link up play and ultimately giving us goals".
Phil and Geraint agree and the three set about fine tuning their session while also discussing possibles for the starting eleven and their opposition.
Ana: "Germany are also a team in need of serious results after their appalling Euro run.
I expect them to come out fighting, think big names like Dzsenifer Marozsan, Alexandra Popp, Tabea Kemme and Svenja Huth, Steffi Jones wanting to prove a point that this German team has still got it and that she can get the win".
Phil: "Where are their weaknesses?".
Ana: "Well normally we would use Houghton's long balls over the top however soon as we're without that option, using the pace on the wings is the best option".
Geraint: "Lawley has pace in buckets and we know Ellen is killer on the end of crosses while Toni whips a good ball in too. We'd need the trickery of Lawley and Kirby as well as the clinical passes from Kirby and Williams, they need to play the ball into the spaces well and someone needs to be waiting for it".
Phil: "Agreed. Add that to what we'll work on too, using the wings best we can and pace, that's going to hopefully be our advantage".
*