As England's women slumped to the Lyon turf after the USA had shredded their World Cup dream in July, one American player dancing a jig of delight behind them was concealing a surprising secret.

Rose Lavelle, the breakthrough star of the US squad in France, has not only had an England shirt hanging in her wardrobe for close to 15 years, she was also schooled in the footballing arts by an English coach.

Remember the nutmeg with which she embarrassed England defender Millie Bright early in that semi-final? That was the handiwork of former Bristol City player Neil Bradford, who nurtured Lavelle's footballing talent from the age of eight to 18, coaching at her local soccer academy. He even encouraged the Cincinnati-born youngster by joking she would one day play for England.

"I was probably nine or 10 and Neil and his dad bought me a whole England kit," says Lavelle, now 24. "I have a jersey, warm-up jacket, tracksuit, pants, I have it all. I was always like, 'I don't know how they think I'm going to play for England, I have no ties there'. But it was funny and he was always someone who saw something in me."

Bradford sadly died from cancer in 2016, aged just 44, and never got the chance to see Lavelle earn her international wings. But earning her first cap for the USA against England in the SheBelieves Cup a few months later meant Bradford was not far from Lavelle's mind.

Lavelle with coach Neil Bradford

"I always hoped he was going to be alive for that moment," she says. "It was always something he believed I could do, so it did seem fitting that my first cap was against England and I ended up sending [my match shirt] to his parents in the UK. They loved it, we still talk. They raised a really good man."

Before the conversation shifted to Bradford, Lavelle had betrayed little emotion in reflecting on the USA's spectacular achievement in becoming back-to-back World Cup champions. The steely focus that saw her claim the tournament's Bronze Ball behind teammate Megan Rapinoe and England's Lucy Bronze is how she approaches questioning.

Story continues

What will she be doing with her first bit of downtime since the World Cup, now her season with DC United is over? There is an Olympics to prepare for, she insists. Asked if she still soaking up all they achieved in France, in what was her first major tournament with the USA, she is almost baffled by being asked to look back. As "really, really cool" as the open top bus parades and celebrations were, that is over now, she says.

Instead, the US are already confronting their future, with long-serving head coach Jill Ellis having departed. Vlatko Andonovski is her replacement, and takes charge time for the first time on Thursday, with a friendly against Sweden.

Lavelle with the England kit gifted to her by former coach Bradford Credit: Neville Elder

Lavelle's focus on proving to Andonovski that she is still worth her place in the team is laser-like, but a giddiness emerges when she reminisces on her formative years spent under Bradford's guidance: of hours spent in her family's garden learning tricks he set as "homework" and playing with girls a year older than her to learn to excel despite her 5ft 4in frame.

"Neil asked me if I wanted to play up a year with his older team, which I think was huge for my development," she says. "I had to figure out a way to get around [being the smallest]. If they can't touch me, they can't knock me off the ball - that's how I turned into a more technical player, because I had to.

"He was the reason I first started going out in my backyard playing with the ball. It was just me and the ball for hours, I built a unique relationship with the ball."

That relationship made her shine on a global stage this summer: she scored a screamer in the World Cup final, and her fancy footwork helped her stand out in a team of superstars. But she comes as nonplussed by the various accolades and fans she amassed over the summer, or the celebrities who texted their congratulations, preferring to remain rooted to her family home in Cincinnati, where she will spend the off-season. In fact, she is happiest when speaking about crying at her sister's wedding, or discussing her seven-year-old English bulldog, Wilma Jean Wrinkles.

Wilma Jean Wrinkles with Lavelle in her family's backyard, where she honed her skills as a child Credit: Neville Elder

Perhaps it is partly due to the release of pressure built up in advance of a tournament the US were universally expected to win. "When the whistle blew after the final I feel like we could all finally breathe," she admits.

She says she dealt with the expectation and unyielding attention by taking huge confidence from the faith of Ellis, the coach who gave her her first senior cap and started her in all but one of the USA's World Cup fixtures. She also read voraciously, ploughing through eight books while in France ("one about a guy who was on death row for 30 years and was innocent the whole time - really good") and credits senior members of the squad with easing the strain on less experienced players by taking the brunt of media duties.

With President Donald Trump's controversial criticism of co-captain Rapinoe and the USWNT's equal pay lawsuit a background feature during the tournament, the team were far from drama-free. They are set to take their dispute against the USSF to court next May, in the midst of Tokyo 2020 preparations, but Lavelle says being part of a group of women making waves is more important than keeping camp distraction-free.

One such teammate is 37-year-old Carli Lloyd. The USWNT stalwart, who scored a hat-trick in the 2015 World Cup final, last month attracted criticism for calling this year's tournament "absolutely the worst time of my life", as she was relegated to a forward role off the bench, rather than her preferred starting position as an attacking midfielder - Lavelle's spot.

Lavelle celebrating with teammate Alex Morgan Credit: Getty Images

Lavelle disagrees with the uproar, pointing out that is exactly the attitude that makes the USWNT the best in the world. "Carli was such a great teammate throughout. She's taking a lot of heat for it now, but it would be concerning if somebody wasn't upset about that.

"You want people to be constantly pushing to get on the field. Honestly, sometimes practice was way harder than any of the games because of the competitiveness. That's what made us so successful."

Lavelle is far from the most outspoken on her team, but the matter-of-factness in her comments about Lloyd and the general dominance of the team point to her agent's public description of her as "f------ ruthless".

"I don't know where he's getting that, but if that's something he sees in me I guess I'll own it," Lavelle laughs.

The comment might seem somewhat outlandish, but the more you learn about Lavelle, the more you sense that agent has a point.