Ellen White deserves to be recognised as an “England great” alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney.
Lionesses striker White will have a chance to surpass Rooney’s all-time England goalscoring record when she faces Northern Ireland in the final Group A match on Friday night.
White, 33, is already on 52 goals, just one behind Rooney’s record but there is a long-running debate over whether they should be in the same bracket of goalscorers. However, England keeper Mary Earps has absolutely no doubt that her teammate White deserves equal respect to any of her male counterparts.
Earps said: “I think it doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman. If you’re great, you’re great.
'For her to have achieved that with the success she’s had over such a long period of time and that tells you everything you need to know.
“She’s been fantastic for England for such a long period of time and of course it’s fantastic to have her on my team.”
Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman added: “Everyone can have their opinion but what she has done is amazing and the player she is but also the person is, in our team she has such an important role and what she has accomplished on the pitch but also off the pitch is really, really great.
“She is so valuable to this team and that’s what I would say to the people who don’t agree.”
White’s value to the Lionesses is beyond doubt - she scored twice in the 8-0 thrashing of Norway - and already enjoys legendary status going into what could be the crowning glory of her long international career.
The Lionesses have secured their quarter final place against either Spain or Denmark next Wednesday and then the business gets even more serious. Wiegman revealed they have started practising penalties to avoid England’s familiar nightmare of a shoot-out.
Wiegman said: “I believe that practice and preparation helps more than doing nothing. We always want to expect maybe the unexpected - and penalties can be expected. So we will be prepared for them to happen.
“Everything that can come up in a tournament we have been talking about and practising, in the hope that somewhere here if it comes up, we will be ready.”
Northern Ireland might have been expecting England to rest some players with their quarter final place secured but Wiegman insisted there will be no mass changes as they look to maintain their momentum.
She added: “I believe in rhythm. I think when you have nine days in between the Norwegian game and the quarter-final that’s too long you need more rhythm, keep the focus, keep playing. So don’t expect lots of rotations, during the game maybe.”
