England captain Steph Houghton says her side are excited about their prospect of taking on hosts the Netherlands in the semi-finals of Euro 2017.
The Lionesses continued their perfect record in the tournament on Sunday after Jodie Taylor’s goal on the hour gave them a 1-0 win over France.
With holders Germany having been knocked out by Denmark, England are the 2.15 favourites to claim a maiden major title, but there is still plenty of football to be played in the Netherlands.
The hosts are next up for Mark Sampson’s team and they too are in good form, brushing aside Sweden in the quarter-finals, having also won all three of their group matches.
It promises to be an intriguing contest on Thursday in Enschede and England will be hoping it will prove the first of two trips to De Grolsch Veste, with the ground also staging Sunday’s final.
Skipper Houghton admits Sunday’s win over France has given her side plenty of belief and says the team are confident they can use the same positivity against the Dutch.
She told BBC Radio 5 live: “I’m delighted. You could tell by the celebrations how much it meant.
We knew it would be tough but it showed what we’re about – we put out bodies on the line for that win.
“The character and determination were unbelievable. I knew they weren’t going to break us down.
“It means everything. We’re experienced in big games and we know we can dig results out, and we’re looking forward to a semi-final against the Netherlands.”
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