In the 2007 World Cup, Kelly Smith went to another level, scoring twice against Japan and dragging the team forward with an infectious enthusiasm. She changed the dynamic, and we all followed her lead.

Consequently, I won just about everything I set out to win, everything bar the World Cup, of course. But even now, I don't regret that, because I was part of a team which twice reached the semi-finals.

At the World Cup and even now at the Confederations Cup, our security provisions will ensure the greatest level of protection possible for all those participating - both inside and outside the stadiums.

When we play at the World Cup, any African will back any African team. Because we want to hear the different approach to African football. We want to hear that Africans can do well, and Africans do well.

I'm not saying there's no pressure at Evergrande, there's pressure at Evergrande all the time. But I am myself and, no matter if I'm playing for Real Madrid or at the World Cup, I've never felt pressure.

Dennis Bergkamp is, in my eyes, still 'The Master'. The fact that he never won the Champions League, the European Championship, or the World Cup does not take anything away from his greatness as a player.

Look, in my life, I played one World Cup: the greatest thing. I used to wait in anticipation for the squad announcement. I didn't go to Argentina 78 having played throughout qualification. Now, that hurt.

Belgium's 1986 team is like the Christmas movie that they bring out every single year. That World Cup is something we get to see and hear about all the time. It is part of our general education in Belgium.

I'm not trying to race the whole men's tour; I just want to race one time. If you know me, which most people on the World Cup do, they know that this is a legitimate goal of mine and not a publicity stunt.

There is nothing nicer than playing in a World Cup against France, England, or Spain. There is nothing nicer than instead of playing a friendly, you can play a game where, if you win, you can make history.

At Bayern, I was used to coming out of my box to try and clear up dangerous situations. The World Cup was just another platform, so it gave other people the chance to see me who don't watch German football.

To participate in a World Cup is a great honour and achievement. I've played in three World Cups. The whole world watches you during a World Cup and expects you to play innings to win games for your country.

Starting in a World Cup is always complicated, hard, and important. When you start well... The rest of the competitors are watching. I think it's the most important match in a World Cup, along with the final.

The one thing we have to remember about Fernando Torres is that he's a human being who has come in for an enormous amount of criticism, not least during the World Cup from people in Spain and around the world.

The World Cup is the biggest party in football and it's a party for the world, it's incredible. It goes for a month and there is a huge amount of interest. It's the greatest thing you can do and it's beautiful.

I don't know what I was expecting the World Cup to be like. I never thought to ask anybody; maybe I should have. I've never played in a stadium with, like, 20,000 watching. It was an intense sensory experience.

As a cricketer and captain, the lowest has the 2013 World Cup as it happened in India. Being the host team, we couldn't qualify for the Super Six and it was a big platform to do well and showcase women's cricket.

Winning the World Cup is definitely the highlight of my career. I thought the gold medal at the Olympics would peak it, but winning the World Cup, the reception... it's what we all dreamed of when we were little.

Til the day I didn't play under-19 World Cup, nobody ever celebrated my birthday. And the moment I played for Indian team, my family got excited and ordered and cut a cake for me in front of 40-50 family members.

Every tournament and every international game played gives you additional experience which brings you forward, both on the pitch and off it, but there is nothing more special than playing a World Cup on home soil.

I remember, before the 2003 World Cup, I worked extremely hard on my fitness. A great deal of training and dietary discipline. I believe I lost 19 kg. And 19 is the number of runs I scored in the entire tournament.

I think I have had my story with France. Unfortunately, it's not the story I would have liked. I would have liked to have played a World Cup; I would have liked to have done a lot more for the French national team.

The thing that made it so hard to get that call from Jill Ellis in 2015, letting me know I wouldn't be at the World Cup, was that I felt like I'd lost what I love most about putting on the U.S. kit: representation.

When I was the coach at Mainz in the Bundesliga, a small club in Germany, we always wanted to play the big teams every two years, right after a major tournament, whether it was a World Cup or European Championships.

Being a competitor, you always believe you can come back. I'll be up at 3 in the morning watching World Cup races in my hotel whether I'm in Asia on a business trip or in New York City and have to get up in 2 hours.

Looking at the way the game is played, I'm envious of the conditions. We played on some ropey World Cup surfaces. I genuinely never look back and wish I earned the money they do today, but I do think of that element.

I don't think I am a great. I think I've done nothing. I've done nothing in soccer. I've won leagues, but I haven't won the Champions League, the World Cup, the Euro. Winning the Euro in France, that wouldn't be bad.

Football became my life at five or six. The earliest memory I have is of playing in my first boots, a pair of black and white Alan Balls. It was 1970, four years after the World Cup, and I scored three goals at school.

The day after my mistake at the World Cup, everyone had my number. I did not have a good time. Very extreme messages were sent to me, including death threats. And they made me think a lot about my family and my future.

I would love to win the Champions League once again. Winning big trophies like the Champions League or the World Cup is usually making people think, 'The players are not hungry any more.' Still, that's not what I feel.

I was watching the 2014 World Cup, and I was playing with the U-17s, I think, at the time. I remember watching it in the summer, and I was like, 'You know what? It's a pretty crazy goal, but I want to be there in 2018.'

At the World Cup, most teams changed their style when they played us and maybe were more defensive. In the final, we didn't know if Holland were going to do the same, but the important thing was we beat them in the end.

I'm delighted when Scotland qualify either for the World Cup or the European Championship. I always take a vested interest in Scotland's result, and it creates the opportunity for a drink in our house when they do well.

It's like a rugby team. If you're picking for the World Cup final, you're picking experience with youth. Everything is better off having that balance and that mix. I think that, especially, goes for the monarchy as well.

I'm fully aware that Qatar are striving to become one of the leading sporting nations and they have big plans for football. Winning the honour of hosting the 2022 World Cup is the best possible proof of their intentions.

The best goal I have scored for the national team would be during the 2002 World Cup against Portugal. It was my first World Cup and my first goal in the World Cup. It was like a dream, and that's why it was so memorable.

At the World Cup, I carried my mum's Caribbean sauce around with me. She makes her own, and I brought it to Brazil - I needed to have it there. We're very down-to-earth; it's the nature of my family. We came from nothing.

The 2006 World Cup was the summer I came to United so the England thing was kind of ongoing. Getting to the World Cup was massive but it wasn't until I got to United that I had that feeling that winning was a possibility.

It is our desire to win the World Cup again but it is going to be difficult and we mustn't forget that in the history of football, Argentina has only won the World Cup twice. That shows how difficult it will be to win it.

I am certain things to certain generations. Lots of people remember me from the 'Comic Strip,' there was the 'Vindaloo' song for the 1998 World Cup, then it was playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in the BBC's 'Robin Hood.'

When I took on the title sponsorship of the Western European League and the World Cup Final in October 2010, I did it because I love the sport and I love horses. It has proved to be a perfect match for the Reem Acra brand.

I wanted to finish at the top of the game and on my own terms. I thought it was the perfect time at the World Cup and to go out at Chelsea. Chelsea and England were immense in how they have supported me in that transition.

I joined a big club like Monaco and it was extraordinary for my growth as a player. That gave me the chance to break into the national squad, win the 1998 World Cup, the EURO in 2000, and make the leap to Italian football.

I played in the 2015 World Cup. I scored in two games; we got to the semi-finals and eventually ended up getting the bronze medal. That was a big turning point in my career, personally, and for English women's football, too.

That first game was so hyped up, and it was obviously my first experience of a crowd in a World Cup. When I first walked out and heard the national anthem, it was just an unreal experience. I didn't expect a crowd like that.

Once the World Cup preparations begin there will hardly be an opportunity to do so, since we'll have to put all our energy into the team. We coaches have a list of priorities and dealing with the media isn't in the top five.

I've played for England Under-21s, in the Under-20 World Cup and I've been part of the play-offs in the Championship. But in terms of helping my career and getting me ready, going to Cheltenham Town was a massive experience.

The World Cup tournament overall and, naturally, the new stadiums at its heart, are the ideal platform to portray Germany as a positive and exceptional location, and above all of course, as a highly capable economic location.

It wasn't until 1999 when my idols Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly took home the women's World Cup trophy at the Rose Bowl in front of 40 million TV viewers that I remember thinking how rare it was to see women play sports on TV.

My No. 1 goal, and what I've spent my entire life striving to achieve is to win a World Cup. I want to retire so badly with that World Cup, but if I don't, then I'll retire knowing that I've done everything I could to get it.

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