by Our Sports Desk

Her football career was transformed in the space of a newsflash and now Lianne Sanderson is targeting World Cup glory next summer.

A year to the day since Hope Powell was sacked as manager of England women, Sanderson finds herself a key member of a team from which she once retired.

Sanderson and Powell had a fractious relationship that, once it reached an irreconcilable point by August 2010, saw the then 22-year-old striker announce she would not play for her country again.

England will secure their place at the 2015 World Cup in Canada providing they avoid defeat to Wales at the Cardiff City Stadium this evening.

Whether she starts or comes off the bench, Sanderson should play some part, which is more action than she ever expected to see again for the Three Lionesses.

On August 20 2013, when Powell was stripped of her duties by the Football Association following an abject Euro 2013 campaign, Sanderson learned the news at her home in Boston, Massachusetts. Immediately she sensed there might be a second chance for her at international level.

New manager Mark Sampson made it one of his first tasks, after being appointed in December, to call Sanderson and invite her to a training camp in Spain.

“It was almost like starting a new school,” Sanderson said. “Although I knew all the girls, there was the way I left the team.

“It was a situation where I didn’t know how people were going to be with me and I didn’t know how I was going to be with them.

“But from minute one, going to St George’s Park before Christmas, it was just great, and going into camp in La Manga (southern Spain) it was like I’d never been away.

“The girls have made me feel so welcome.”

Reaching the World Cup finals could spur Sanderson to make a decision about her future. 

Firstly, she wants England, with eight wins from eight qualifying games, to make it nine from nine in the Welsh capital to qualify in style.

“Playing a game against Wales in Cardiff, with the rivalry we have, it’s always going to be hard,” she said. “To win on Thursday would be the icing on the cake.”