Anna Moorhouse joined the England camp for the first time ever this week, after receiving her long-awaited call-up to the squad ahead of the Lionesses‘ EURO2025 qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.
The 29-year-old goalkeeper joins the team in excellent form having already registered seven clean sheets in 15 games for her club Orlando Pride, who currently sit at the top of the National Women’s Soccer League in America.
Moorhouse made headlines last season when she broke the club’s record for most clean sheets in a singular season but despite this success, the England call-up still came as a bit of a shock to the debutant.
In a press conference on Tuesday, she spoke of the moment she received the call from manager, Sarina Wiegman and told reporters: “I actually missed the call from Sarina so that was not a good start, but I called her back straight away and she told me. My partner actually videoed it, because I was like: ‘Oh my god, this is Sarina!’ There were some tears and it’s a great feeling.”
The former Arsenal, Everton and West Ham goalkeeper had always remained hopeful that the call-up would come, as she honestly revealed: “It’s not that I didn’t think it would happen. I was always hopeful, but I’m 29 now so I wasn’t like: ‘Oh this is going to happen.’ I was just like: ‘I’m playing well, maybe it’s going to happen’ but I wasn’t expecting anything.”
Moorhouse arrived at St George’s Park on Monday and trained with the squad for the first time on Tuesday. When asked how she was settling into this new environment, the first time Lioness said: “Everyone’s so welcoming. There’s a lot of names to learn, a lot of directions to get around in the facility so it’s information overload right now, but it’s been really good so far.”
The Oldham-born goalkeeper moved away from English football in 2020 when she transferred to join Bordeaux in France. Since then, women’s football in the UK has developed dramatically having been largely influenced by the incredible EURO2022 win for the Lionesses.
Embed from Getty ImagesHaving watched this from afar, Moorhouse said: “I was telling someone else how I’m excited to be back in front of the English fans. The game has changed so much since I’ve played here so it will be really fun to see that growth and to get in front of the England fans again.”
Not only has she seen a significant change in the amount of fans consistently attending women’s football games, but the new England goalkeeper has also seen huge developments in the popularity of her position.
“When I was growing up and coming through youth systems, we didn’t have a goalkeeper coach, so you’re trying to play this position without any real coaching. I think now the standards of goalkeepers coming through is really good as they are getting specialised coaching from the specialised coaches. They know the position; they know everything about it.”
She also recognised the influence that her new teammate and BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award Winner, Mary Earps, has had on these differences, saying: “I think she’s been outstanding for the women’s game and for women’s goalkeepers. She’s been outspoken: what stands out is the kits, getting goalkeeper kits and getting names on the back of the kits.”
Not only did Moorhouse speak about fellow goalkeeper Earps, but she was also asked about another Lioness teammate, Esme Morgan, who has recently joined Washington Spirit after leaving Manchester City.
In 2022, Moorhouse herself made the move to play in the National Women’s Soccer League in America and was asked what advice she would give to Morgan for her new challenge. “I think the culture out there is a lot different,” she commented, “but just enjoy every minute and enjoy playing. It’s definitely a different game over there, the players are a lot more physical, very athletic. I think she will get a great experience.”
Moving the focus back to the games ahead, England have two crucial group games left in their bid to qualify automatically for the EUROs in 2025. They will face Sweden next Tuesday, but first they travel to Norwich to take on the Republic of Ireland.
Moorhouse is feeling good about the upcoming matches and spoke of the support she will have at her first game in the squad: “I think my Mum is definitely going to be there. I landed in Manchester and she wanted to come to the airport! My Mum and my brothers and possibly my Dad are coming.”
England will take on the Republic of Ireland this Friday at 20:00 UK.