England international Kelly Smith shares her thoughts on the England-USA match

Interview by Eric and Jordan Beard

After a truly heartbreaking last-minute 2-1 defeat, courtesy of Rosana’s 93rd minute penalty, to Sky Blue FC at Harvard Stadium Sunday evening, Boston Breakers playmaker Kelly Smith talked about how tough the loss was to take because the Breakers were clearly the better side throughout the entire first half. For Smith, an England international who has played 79 times and scored 34 goals for her country, this result was the culmination of a disappointing weekend. Just a day before, England did not play meet the standards of the English people against the United States, only earning a 1-1 draw.

Like her fellow countrymen, Smith said, “I was disappointed obviously.”

But she continued, “Fair play to the USA, I thought they played an outstanding game. England started well and didn’t really do too much after that. The mistake let the US back in and fair play they pushed for it.”

Despite one poor result, Smith knows from experience that there’s still time for England to recover and have a good World Cup.

When asked about what Arsenal player Theo Walcott, who did not make England’s 23-man roster, could have added to the match, Smith said, “Yeah, he’s pacy. Very threatening. I guess [England manager] Capello saw something he wasn’t happy with and didn’t bring him along.”

While faithful to her country, Smith’s favorites for the World Cup are not being led by Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.

Smith said, “Spain. Yeah, I rate them. Spain and maybe Germany.”

Smith was playing her own match while Germany’s 4-nil thrashing of Australia was taking place, so she clearly knows exactly what she is talking about. And hopefully the next matches bode better for England, who play Algeria on June 18th, and the Boston Breakers, who have another difficult match against Marta’s FC Gold Pride on June 19th at Pioneer Stadium.