England's Jodie Taylor gets the mind games started

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England Women take on Holland in the Euro 2017 semi-finals on Thursday night
Arsenal's Jodie Taylor enjoyed a coffee in Utrecht as she prepared for the game
She bumped into club team-mate and Holland goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal

Published: 19:48 EDT, 2 August 2017 | Updated: 07:58 EDT, 3 August 2017

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Jodie Taylor accidentally got some friendly mind-games for Thursday night’s match started two days in advance, through a chance run-in with Holland’s No 1 this week.

Arsenal striker Taylor spotted Sari van Veenendaal on a day off cycling through Utrecht, where England are based, and called out to her in the street.

Van Veenendaal had recommended club team-mate Taylor a coffee hotspot and, by coincidence the pair were able to re-connect for a brief chat.

Jodie Taylor and England face Holland in the semi-finals of Euro 2017 on Thursday night

And ahead of an Arsenal striker-vs-stopper showdown, they exchanged jokes and views on how they knew everything about each others’ game from extra one-on-one sessions this season.

‘I was sitting in a cafe that she recommended to me and she biked past, we got chatting and it was just funny banter,’ Taylor, who has five goals already at this Euro, revealed.

‘She is a great goalkeeper and I have a lot of respect for her. We have done a lot of extra penalties and extra finishing as well. I congratulated her on a good tournament — so far — but that was about it. We kind of left it there.

‘It will be a mind game if it goes to penalties because we have gone every corner in training… it will probably cancel each other out. Maybe I’ll go straight down the middle!’