MIDFIELDER Jess Fishlock insists Wales are treating Friday’s crunch World Cup qualifier with England as “just another game”.

Victory for Jayne Ludlow’s side in front of a sell-out crowd at Rodney Parade would see them into next year’s finals in France and leave the English facing a play-off.

Wales’ women, who have never qualified for the final stages of a World Cup, currently head Group 1 by one point having not conceded a goal in their seven pool games to date.

Fishlock, a veteran of more than 100 international matches, reckons qualifying would change the women’s game forever in Wales.

But she is keen for everyone in the squad to go about their business in the usual manner rather than being overawed by the occasion.

“It’s a big game and there’s a lot of hype around it,” she said. “We’re just taking it for what it is, which is a very important game, but just another game.

“We can’t get too caught up in the magnitude of it because we might actually forget that we have to play.

“It’s difficult to do it when there are so many people talking about it. It is really hard to just focus on the fact that it is just another game.

“We’re not preparing for it any differently to every single game in this campaign, so from that perspective it just feels like another game.

“But, naturally, so many people want to talk about it and I have so many people I haven’t spoken to in so long reaching out now.

“You have to try and shut that down a little bit otherwise you get caught up in what’s going on.

“I couldn’t even get my whole family tickets, I had to buy a box to get them all in there. Everyone thinks it’s different for players but there are no tickets anywhere.”

She added: “This is by far the biggest occasion I’ve been involved in and what it means if we win or lose.

“This is the biggest game in the history of women’s football in Wales, without a shadow of a doubt.

“I can’t allow myself to think of qualifying because it will hurt so much more if it doesn’t happen.

“I’m just focusing on the preparation and making sure I know my job.

“It would be by far the biggest achievement of my career, if not one of the best of my life if we qualified.

“Winning and being successful with your club is huge and I love it, but being successful with your country is a completely different ball game, and that’s what we’re all hoping for.

“If we were to succeed on Friday women’s football in Wales would change forever.

“That’s huge. It’s changing the course of a sport in a country, it’s phenomenal.”

As for the rivalry between the two teams, she continued: “If the gap between the teams wasn’t so big then the rivalry would play into it a little bit.

“On paper, and if you look at what they’ve achieved over the last few years compared to what we’ve done, the gap is big.

“There’s no harshness in saying that, so I don’t think it makes it a huge rivalry.

“Wales and England in rugby is very different because they are at very similar levels, whereas we’re at an amateur level compared to England in what they’ve achieved and what we have.

“From that perspective it makes it less of a big rivalry, but it is still England.

“From a talent perspective, it’s not that big a gap, money wise there’s a gap.

“In terms of ability, I don’t think there is much of a gap at all, and that why we were able to do what we did against them.

“It’s just can we take it the extra step? And do I believe Rodney Parade will help us with that? Absolutely.”