England captain Alex Danson is hoping that her side can make the most of their home advantage as the women's Hockey World Cup prepares for the off in London
The tournament features 16 teams, split into groups of four, and will be played at the newly revamped Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park - where Team GB won bronze at London 2012.
The venue’s capacity has been tripled to 10,400 for the competition, and more than 100,000 tickets have been sold, with England’s matches all set to be played in front of capacity crowds.
And Danson believes this support could be crucial as her side look to improve on their 11th place finish at the 2014 World Cup last time out.
“It’s really exciting to be able to compete on home soil in front of your friends and family and we can’t wait to get started,” she said.
"I am honoured to be able to lead out this side on Saturday and I am sure I speak for the whole team when I say it will be a fantastic competition and hopefully the fans will be able to cheer us on to achieve our goals.”
Danson will be playing in her fifth World Cup tournament, and currently sits just one goal behind Marjorie Pollard’s record of 115 for her country.
And she isn’t the only one with experience: the England squad is replete with players who know how to win, featuring eight members of the Team GB side that won gold two years ago at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Hollie Pearne-Webb, who scored the winning penalty in the final and goalkeeper Maddie Hinch, who saved all four of the Netherlands’ effort in that shoot-out, will return as will Lily Owsley.
Their last competitive outing saw them eliminated in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games by New Zealand earlier this year, but head-coach Danny Kerry is confident that his team are ready to go one better.
“We’ve had lots of good preparation in terms of match play and our tactical understanding,” he said.
“I think we have world class players in key positions with a lot of pace to our attack and equally a good solidity to our defence with lots of options to get the ball out from the back.
“It will be a very tight tournament and I am really optimistic that the squad can perform and can use the support of a home crowd in those times and think clearly under pressure.
Currently ranked second in the world, England get their campaign underway on Saturday at 2pm against India, a side they defeated to win bronze on the Gold Coast.
Alongside the two in Pool B are the USA – fourth place in the Netherlands in 2014 and fifth in Rio – and Ireland, who are competing in their first World Cup since 2002.
Elsewhere in the group stages, Pool A sees the Netherlands – tournament holders and current world number ones, - matched up with fellow top-ten ranked sides China and South Korea, and Italy – playing in their first tournament since 1976 – rounding off the four.
Pool D pits southern-hemisphere rivals Australia against New Zealand in what will be a repeat of this year’s Commonwealth Games final, won by New Zealand, whilst Japan and Belgium make up the group.
Finally, Pool C features much-fancied Argentina, along with Germany, South Africa and Spain, with the finals taking place on August 5. Sportsbeat 2018