21 July 2023 , 08:25
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Former England and Manchester United star Siobhan Chamberlain has reflected on her proudest moment in a Lionesses shirt and being inside Wembley when Sarina Wiegman' s side lifted the Euros trophy.
Chamberlain earned 50 caps for England during her playing days, before she hung up her boots in 2020. At club level, as well as United, she also represented Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea among others.
When reflecting on her career, as the current crop of Lionesses are set to begin their World Cup campaign this weekend, Chamberlain highlighted a quarter-final game against Canada at the tournament in 2015 as one of the highlights of international career.
"My proudest moment in an England shirt is probably in that 2015 World Cup," she exclusively told Ladbrokes. "Coming on in the quarter-final against Canada, under really weird circumstances.
"So, it was the fifth major tournament that I'd been to, but I'd never stepped onto the pitch. I'd played for them a few times, but never in a tournament. This was 55 minutes in, and KB [Karen Bardsley] got something in her eye. I think it was a bit of muck from the artificial turf, so I was coming on, against Canada, the host nation, in Vancouver, where I played for a brief period a few years prior, in the quarter-final of a World Cup - and then for us to go on and qualify for the semis for the first time ever, it was all just incredible.
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"It wasn't an immediate injury and decision, so I did have a little bit of time to prepare. I knew in the first-half that there had been some irritation in KB's eye, so that meant I could have a bit more of a vigorous warm-up at half-time. I'd gone into that tournament wanting to play, so I knew that I'd done everything I needed to do to prepare for the moment I was eventually called upon.
"That's such an important part of tournament football; every player needs to understand their role and prepare themselves as best they can, because you could be called upon at any moment. For me, it was a 'this is my moment' scenario."
Since retiring from playing three years ago, Chamberlain has continued to support the Lionesses and is regularly part of the BBC's punditry line-up at WSL and England matches. The former goalkeeper was at Wembley last July to watch Wiegman's side win the Euros against Germany and, being eight months pregnant at the time, says she felt like she was going to give birth right there.
"I was lucky enough to be at Wembley for the Euros final last year. I was sat in one of the boxes, watching the game, eight months pregnant," she continued. "I was full of emotion and hormones anyway, it was a boiling hot day, it had gone to extra-time, I was sat there with my little fan thinking 'I can't take much more of this'. It was just so intense; it was one of the best games I've ever been to, across men's and women's football.
"When it went to extra-time I genuinely felt like I was going to give birth right there, inside Wembley Stadium! It was quite a scary moment because I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time, so I really couldn't take much more of the tension and drama. But thankfully I didn't, we lasted the course so it was all good."