Le Tissier: We've done it a different way

It’s been quite the milestone couple of months for Maya Le Tissier and Alex Scott.

Le Tissier netted her first England goal against Greece while Scott made his senior bow against Czechia before winning his first start.

And Le Tissier was watching on as her step-brother made his debut in September.

“I was actually away – I had an away game – so I was in the physio room just watching it on the TV and I said to some of the girls, ‘Al’s on the bench. Hopefully he gets on’,” recalled Le Tissier.

“We were all waiting to see if he came on and he came on, so it was a nice moment. I text my family. They were already buzzing, watching it together.

“He’s been working towards it for a long time now. He’s been in and around the squad for a while so to finally see him make his debut was really special. A really proud moment for him and the family.”

The step-siblings – through Le Tissier’s mum and Scott’s dad – grew up together on the Channel Island of Guernsey, both joining local grassroots team, St. Martin’s, aged four.

Together with their parents, they would catch a 45-minute flight over to England’s south coast so the pair could play for their respective teams on the weekends.

“He played for the same team as me at grassroots – St. Martin’s – so we’ve been on the same team for a lot of the time,” she continued.

“When my mum and his dad got together, we were maybe nine or ten. But when we were four or five was when we started playing.

“We had a great team, along with the other boys, as well. We won all the things that you can win. His dad did a bit of coaching, my dad did a bit of coaching. It’s nice for the club back home, too.

“It was good fun when we were younger, just flying over together and playing football in the hotel the whole time. We missed loads of school going on the plane to Southampton!

“He was playing for Southampton and I was playing for Hampshire, so we had our games and we flew back again. They played Saturdays and I’d play Sundays.”

Now, they are two of just three players from Guernsey to have represented England, men’s or women’s, along with former Three Lions international Matt Le Tissier – no relation to Maya Le Tissier.

Manchester United defender and captain Le Tissier made her Lionesses debut in November 2022, with 16 caps and counting to her name, while Bournemouth midfielder Scott – a two-time EURO winner with the Young Lions – made his bow in Prague earlier this year.

“It was really cool,” she said. “Obviously we didn’t know that we were both going to be playing for England now but that was the dream.

“We didn’t really speak about it because we probably didn’t really think it was achievable. You don’t really think it’s possible almost.

“We just kept our heads down and worked hard. We’ve been given great opportunities, as well.

“Something that we’ll always give is everything that we can. We’re quite resilient and have done it in a different way, so anything that gets thrown at us, we take it in our stride and use it as motivation.”

But what is it like being part of a family that have two England internationals among their number?

“You’ll have to ask my mum and his dad!” she laughed. “We were actually at home together in the summer and did a bit of training, so that was nice.

“They get a lot of weekends away watching us play football!”