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Eurosport grills England playmaker Kelly Smith ahead of the Women's European Championship final against Germany in Helsinki.

Are you ready for the big final?

Yeah, everyone is ready to rumble. We're excited because we've been here for over three weeks now, preparing for this moment. We said from the start that our ultimate goal was to go to the final. Obviously we didn't start too well, losing to Italy then going two goals down against Russia. Pulling the game back to 3-2 was really a turning point for us, because obviously if we had lost that game we would have been out. We showed great character and determination to beat Russia and then we got to the quarter-finals... and here we are in the final.

Are you satisfied with the team so far?

We haven't played our best football in this tournament so far, but we are getting better with each game that we play. So hopefully our best performance will be against Germany in the final.

What are the qualities of the English team?

In this tournament especially I've seen such a winning mentality within the players' eyes. They are hungry for success and really want to do well. I haven't seen this hunger and determination in the group before... especially in pulling out these results. And we still feel as if we haven't got out of second gear. We are just praying that our best performance will be against Germany.

Is it the biggest game in the history of women's football in England?

Definitely: we have not reached a final in over 25 years so you can say this is the biggest moment in the career of anybody in our squad. But I'm not looking at it like that: I'm just seeing it as another game, not putting too much pressure on myself. We have played Germany a number of times: we know what they are about. With the grit and determination I just spoke about, we want to make history. And we feel like we can do that.

You have played 18 matches against Germany so far - and never won. Why does that change now?

We have the hunger to succeed. We were the only team to take points from Germany at the World Cup; I think we are the only team to have done that in over eight years in a tournament. That gives us a lot of encouragement, strength and belief that we can actually do it. No one expects us to do it, everybody thought it would be a Germany-Sweden final, but we changed that and hopefully will have the games of our lives and pick up that trophy.

THE FINAL LIVE at 4.40pm on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521) and Eurosport HD (Sky 412); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Interview by Hans Finger / Eurosport