A biography for Steph Houghtonhasn’t been written yet.
“As a full-time athlete, you put your body through a lot. A foam roller works like a self-massage to roll out the knots in your quads, your hamstrings, and your back so that you feel looser and more prepared.”
“In women's football, you can't plan to go out and win everything in one season. It's not like that.”
“We've had to pay to play. We've had to borrow kit. We've had to train on a Friday night. Maybe a lot of boys, given that opportunity, would slip away, whereas we've had the mentality to go, 'I really want this. I'm going to show that I can do this.'”
“I want to be the best professional and the greatest role model I can be.”
“As captain, I want us to be ambitious; I want us to be winners - but above all, I hope we will show how much we love the game by passing the ball and achieving success through our technical and tactical approach.”
“When I was named captain under Mark Sampson, there were a lot of questions about whether I was ready for it. I wasn't a certain starter. There were more experienced players than me; I was only 25. I was trying to nail down a centre-half spot, and it was a difficult situation.”
“We'd love to be playing to five or six thousand.”
“I don't tend to carry much cash around, as I use my bank card whenever I can.”
“For the women's team, our job is to be professional footballers for club and country and be the best role models we can be.”
“I knew there was going to be pressure on me with the captaincy. I knew people would be writing about my performances more than anyone else's, but that's not a problem because I have my dad telling me about my performance every single game, and he is my biggest critic.”
“I'm a professional footballer, and I get paid for doing my job.”
“As players, we need to try to inspire young girls to keep playing because, at grass roots, we need more girls playing football.”
“I have to keep performing well for club and country. That's what I always want to do. If I do that, then that extra media attention comes towards me.”
“Twitter's brilliant. It allows us to talk to fans and gets them to games.”
“It doesn't get much more special than playing at Wembley in front of 70,000 people. It's definitely what dreams are made of.”
“Playing for England, it's a massive honour to wear the shirt anyway, but to come and play at Wembley Stadium, in terms of how women's football has developed, it's a massive opportunity.”
“My all-time hero for Sunderland was Kevin Phillips. He was the one I looked up to.”
“Anything can happen in a cup final; that's what everybody likes about them.”
“Going to the gym is essential to the position that I play, but I also enjoy keeping fit and healthy in general.”
“We want to compete for every trophy at home and in Europe.”