MILLIE BRIGHT

At the start, you don't earn a great deal, so you have to work other jobs if you want to play football. When I was at Doncaster, I couldn't solely do football. I had to work; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to live.

I've always stuck my arms behind my back anyway when trying to block a shot in the penalty area.

Top players now will get bonuses for winning competitions or reaching various stages of them, scoring goals, or keeping clean sheets, but most don't play football for the money, because it's not been in the game that long. They do it for the love of playing.

We see every game as a big game, and, as you know in tournament football, anything is possible. Each game, we want to keep raising the bar and lifting our standards and putting goals past teams.

Women's football will always be different from men's football, but that doesn't mean you cannot still appreciate it. OK, so it might be a bit slower than the men's game, but then League Two football is slower than the Champions League, and it doesn't stop people turning out to see their local teams.

You have to make the strikers fear you. Make it difficult for them to get on the ball and go into different areas. That makes my job easier.

What makes me so strong in the tackle? My grandad has always said if you're going in for a ball, you go 100% and you never go in half-hearted.

Obviously, everyone's journey is different, and we all have different ambitions and beliefs as kids as to whether we're actually going to be able to play in a World Cup and whether it can be a dream that can come true. For me and for my family, it's very surreal.

Being vice-captain at Chelsea, I've learned to manage my emotions better this season and have matured massively, but part of that is embracing those feelings of disappointment rather than suppressing them and pretending everything is OK.

Analysis of opponents is something I like doing.

It was a village where I come from, obviously a lot smaller than London, so the support was unreal and close by. To come away to a new challenge, a new level, knowing that I was going to have to step up massively - not having those people around me was a test.

You're so emotionally connected to the game that it's hard to switch off afterwards. It's a good time to have open and honest conversations about your performance and what you can improve on next time.

For us, winning the World Cup is not enough. If you come into the squad, you are not just here for the moment, but you're building that legacy for the next generation.

I don't know where horse riding could have taken me, and it's something I can always go back to when I've retired from football, but the crossroads came in my life when Chelsea wanted to sign me and make me a professional footballer in 2013 when I was 20.

The 2017 European Championship was my first major tournament for England, but everyone tells me the World Cup is a different level.

You get to a stage where you replay every scenario in your head, but you have to stop; otherwise, you drive yourself insane.

Football is my priority. It's a short career, and you have to make the most of it, which is why making the World Cup squad is such a big deal and something I will never take for granted.

Until I was about ten, I wasn't that good. I just had loads of energy and loved running around.

Like many of us in the England squad, I wasn't even born when the men's team played Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup, so I couldn't tell you much about that game.

I definitely want to be successful in the Champions League, having never been involved in it before. It's where the best players prove themselves.

My grandad gives me an honest opinion on the games and my performance. I really respect him for that. He's really helped me develop as a person and a player, and he's always been honest with me, whether I've had a good or bad game, where I need to improve.

People that know me realise what kind of player I am. I'm a front-foot defender; I like a tackle, but I'm not malicious, and I don't go in to hurt.

I still can't believe I'm going to a World Cup.

In tournament football, you cannot dwell on things for too long.

I'm so proud to represent my country at a World Cup because lots of players don't ever get that opportunity, including our manager, Phil Neville. He's reminded us of all the hard work he put in to try and get there, only for him to never make it past the last hurdle.