England defeated Japan in the quarter-finals to advance to the last four (Getty Images)
On Thursday, England play Spain for a place in the Under-17 Women’s World Cup final, which can be watched live on the BBC.
After losing 4-0 to Spain in the European U17 final in May, coach Natalie Henderson’s team defeated Japan in a dramatic penalty shootout to advance to the final four.
England, who are playing in the Under-17 World Cup finals for the first time since 2016, have endured a rollercoaster of a tournament in the Dominican Republic.
They fought back with 10 men to defeat Mexico in the second group game, and then saw substitute goalkeeper Rebecca Dowsett’s heroics in the shootout against Japan.
However, Henderson said his team was “not satisfied yet” and hoped to take another step forward against Spain.
“There’s a real sense of pride and emotion at the moment. It’s a great achievement for the staff and players to reach the World Cup semi-finals,” she told BBC Sport.
“When we qualified for the tournament, we wanted to compete to get as far as we could and we’re very proud of the journey we’ve been on so far.”
The semi-final will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 22:45 GMT on Thursday.
“I want to show off on the big stage.”
Head coach Natalie Henderson previously worked at Newcastle’s men’s academy (Getty Images)
Henderson hopes his players “take home memories that will never be forgotten” in the semi-finals, but his ultimate goal is for them to break into the first team in the future.
The last England Under-17 squad to play in the World Cup final included current Lionesses Niamh Charles, Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone and Lotte Uben-Moy.
“We think these tournaments and experiences are important for their development,” Henderson said.
“We want to participate in more big tournaments like this and give our players an idea of what it’s like to be involved, from a pressure standpoint and from a culture standpoint.
“Those two games (against Mexico and Japan) were probably the two craziest games we’ve ever been a part of in soccer.
“They showed the true character of this team, who we are as a team and how much we believe in each other.”
Spain are favorites to win the Euros after beating England in the final, but Henderson said his team wanted to “show off on the big stage”.
“A lot of work went into preparing for the tournament. We talked about coming together, spending time together, being together and enjoying the moments together,” she added.
“We are also relentless in the way we play our football and want to show off on the big stage. Those are our values in this team.
“I truly believe we can find a way and we have enjoyed overcoming the challenges together. I know the mindset of the players and they are still not satisfied.
“We want to keep moving forward as much as possible. As long as we can say that all of our staff and players did their best, that’s what we want.”
