Natalie Henderson left proud at England's World Cup campaign

Written by:

Nicholas Veevers

The women's under-17s head coach reflects on the Young Lionesses' fourth-place finish in the FIFA Women's U17 World Cup

FIND A GIRLS' CLUB NEAR YOU

Natalie Henderson felt 'real pride' for her England women's under-17s squad despite a 3-0 defeat to USA in Sunday's World Cup third-place play-off.

The Young Lionesses finished fourth at the tournament, an achievement Henderson insists marks real progress for her team.

With the aim of these events to provide tournament experience for young players, the head coach also reflected on what her squad will take away from the Dominican Republic.

She said: "These are experiences that the girls will never forget and hopefully they'll continue their journeys and go on to play at senior World Cups.

"My overall feeling is disappointment but I'm just so proud of everybody. Obviously the girls are disappointed as we wanted to get the bronze medal and we've tried to focus on that but I think we need to look at the bigger picture here.

"The girls should be so proud of themselves. If you'd have told them at the start of the year they'd be playing in a World Cup and playing in the top four teams in the world, you'd have never believed that.

The 2024 #U17WWC. What an experience for our #YoungLionesses.

Plenty of learnings to take forward 💪❤️ pic.twitter.com/0lZpkPdHIp
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) November 4, 2024

"It will stand them in good stead for their own development and what their future careers might look like.

"These are the kind of experiences that you cannot replicate so the fact they've been out here and away from home, come up against different styles of football - it all adds to their development and where they want to be in the future."

Henderson also reflected on her experience coaching this squad at a World Cup.

She said: "These girls have given me memories I'll never forget. I'm genuinely really proud of our whole selves and I know we have work to do and we want to keep getting better because that's who we are.

"But in terms of this group, they're a special team, and I'll forever be grateful for working with them and I hope they all go on to have fantastic careers with the Lionesses."