Steph Houghton has warned that Australia could pose the fiercest threat to England’s bid for Women’s World Cup glory and has tipped the co-hosts’ striker Sam Kerr to scoop the tournament’s Golden Boot award.
The European champions are days away from embarking on their World Cup campaign and are one of the favourites to lift the coveted trophy.
But England have been dealt a difficult path to the final, with France, Germany, Brazil and co-hosts Australia offering formidable threats to their route to the Sydney showpiece on August 20.
And it's the Matildas whom former England skipper Houghton has picked as the most daunting threat to England's World Cup hopes with the advantage of home soil fuelling Tony Gustavsson's side.
“Australia have a really good side and they have that added benefit of being home nation with their supporters behind them,” said Houghton, who is part of the BBC punditry team in Australia and New Zealand following her non-inclusion in Sarina Wiegman's 23-player squad.
“The Australian stadiums will be full and their fans will be able to lift them in the key moments. They will prove a really difficult challenge for England if we end up facing them.
"They’ve definitely got a shot at winning it," she added.
An Australia-England final certainly whets the appetite. Spearheaded by Chelsea's Sam Kerr, Australia dished the Lionesses their first loss under Sarina Wiegman earlier this year, with the 2-0 defeat at Brentford Community Centre putting an emphatic end to their remarkable 30-match unbeaten run.
The Lionesses struggled to cope with Australia’s intensity, succumbing to uncharacteristic errors and offering little in retort.
And while the performance can be written off as atypical, Houghton has backed Kerr, who was on the scoresheet against England, to relish a big summer with both the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards within the striker's reach.
“Sam Kerr, Alexandra Popp and Chloe Kelly," she said when listing her player of the tournament predictions. "These are three top players who could do something really special this summer.”
Houghton was left out of Wiegman’s 23-player World Cup squad despite the Manchester City player cutting a strong case for her inclusion with the absence of Leah Williamson and Millie Bright’s return from injury.
Houghton, who captained England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2015 and 2019, opened up earlier this summer about the difficulty in reconciling her non-inclusion but maintained that she would back her country regardless.
