Steph Houghton

Serena is an icon of women's sport.

My role models were Kevin Phillips and David Beckham, and, for me, now girls can look up to female footballers and want to aspire to be them and try to follow in their footsteps and even be better than us.

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.

The image of women's football has definitely changed. Now we've got to make sure it keeps developing.

I think that what's happening is that girls are enjoying playing. It's a lot more acceptable, and now we have a Women's Super League with hugely dedicated female role models - really committed players who people can see are dedicated and training as hard if not harder than any male players - that's all progressing the sport.

That was something I probably had to go through, a learning curve in terms of trying to develop into the captain I want to be.

I will always be grateful for having that opportunity to be part of a home Olympic games. It is a memory I will cherish forever.

Michael Owen's wonder goal against Argentina in 1998 was one defining memory, and as a Sunderland supporter, I remember crying my eyes out after they lost that play-off final against Charlton. Much as that hurt, it made me realise how much I wanted to play the game.

I think women should inspire. It is our duty to inspire young girls to play a sport, whether it's just for enjoyment and keeping fit or to actually go on and try and make a career out of it.

Missing the chance to go to the 2007 World Cup was the biggest disappointment of my career.

At the end of the day, you've got a job to do, and that's playing football.

My family have always been supportive of my career, whether it's the highs of the World Cup or when I was just starting out.