Three players from the Chelmsford Ladies Hockey Club are amongst the England squad heading out to Madrid, which begins on the 27th September. Goalkeeper Katie Roberts, plus midfield/forwards Lisa Wooding and Chloe Rogers are part of the 18-strong team who have high hopes of performing well in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the game. The World Cup is the games biggest hockey-only event. The England team's best performance came in 1990, when they finished fourth and they'll be hoping to improve on their 2002 finish of 5th.
 | | Chloe Rogers in training. |
England recently won their June qualification tournament and have had some promising friendlies against Germany, who won the Gold Medal at the Athens Olympics 2004, beating them 2-1. The team have already had a successful 2006, having taken Bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. This will be the first time Chloe Rogers has been to the World Cup, and she is excited at the prospect of facing up against the best sides in the world. "There's no really easy games, unlike in the Commonwealth Games. I think our aim would be to finish in the top six or definitely improve on our ranking which is ninth." "The Ladies game is quite open. I'd say Argentina, Australia and Holland are the favourites, but then Germany are the Olympic champions and recently won the Champions Trophy. So it could any number of teams." England will begin their campaign against China on the opening day of the tournament, before facing the Netherlands, India, Germany and hosts Spain in the group stafes.
Chloe Rogers spoke to BBC Essex's Glenn Speller shortly after she had been called up to the England squad.
 Chloe Rogers Interview >
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