LISTEN: Lionesses call-up high on Maya's agenda
MAYA LE TISSIER has her sights set on earning selection for the full England squad within a couple of years.
As one of the special guests on this week’s Guernsey Press Football Podcast alongside her fellow former St Martin’s junior and current professional Alex Scott, the Brighton & Hove Albion defender revealed her future ambitions for both club and country.
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‘As a team, for Brighton we want to finish higher than sixth and, for me, I just want to keep pushing and working, playing week in, week out. I’ve played every game this season and I want to be able to do that again,’ she said.
‘We are still in the FA Cup so we have got the quarter-finals when we get back and hopefully we will push on in the cup and, you never know, we could get to Wembley, which would be a dream come true.
‘With our [England] U19s, the Euros got cancelled because of Covid. The England youth has kind of been put on hold and I think that’s kind of finished now [for me] unless they bring back the U21s, which I’m not sure if they will, so the next one will be the seniors.
‘If I keep on working hard and performing week in, week out, hopefully in the next couple of years, you never know I could get a senior call-up. For England, that’s the aim – to get a senior call-up – but I still think I need to improve on lots of parts of my game for that to happen.’
As for Scott, he admitted that ‘this season’s been crazy’ for him after earning his first professional contract, being selected for England Under-18s and then making his Championship debut for Bristol City.
He revealed that now he cannot wait to play in front of Robins fans at Bristol City, calling it ‘strange’ to play in an empty stadium.
‘I’m guessing it’s probably worse for the senior players who have played in front of big crowds,’ he said.
‘For me it’s just like playing any ordinary game. That may have helped or not have helped for me personally. As a young player, obviously you want to be playing in front of a crowd, but that could be too much for you pressure-wise.
‘It will be nice to have the fans back next year and hopefully we can put on some good performances for them.’
He added that the play-offs, at least, needs to be their aim.
‘It was a disappointing end to the season for us. We know we weren’t good enough, the fans definitely wouldn’t have been happy with us, the club wouldn’t be happy with us, but next year we’ve got to show what we can do because we know we are good enough as a squad, we’ve got a great manager and great chairman.’
