Women's football

[Gingerfinch]

Will be going to see the USA game. Should be a good game, competitive at least!

Wembley?

Yep. Sell out apparently

[Durhamfootman]

not surprised. Massive game

2 for Beth England tonight. I have to say that at 8-0 in the 90th minute, 10 nil didn't look on. Even more impressive that it didn't need Klopp time to be achieved

[Durhamfootman]

Those two late goals were hard on Lux, who I thought played much better once they switched to 5 at the back in the second half

[Durhamfootman]

All is not well in the Spanish camp

15 of their international players have called for the coach to be sacked in order to protect their emotional state and health. The response from the federation was effectively, this is none of your business, if you refuse to play you'll be banned for 2 to 5 years and we aren't going to call you up again regardless until you accept your mistake and ask for forgiveness

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63003465

okay..... I know what my response would be to that

astonishing really. I interpret 'emotional state and health' as meaning that the players are scared of him.

[sussexpob]

astonishing really. I interpret 'emotional state and health' as meaning that the players are scared of him.

Tough one isnt it.

At the end of the day, if the whole squad has spoken out on the treatment of the manager, and lets face it being a man who is potentially aggressive or abusive to woman is different to it being a man for obvious reasons....

The other half of me says be professional and shut up

[yuppie]

As the coach, would you really want to continue of 15 players have issues with you?

If the answer is yes, i want to continue, then you probably are the problem

[Durhamfootman]

I'm looking forward to tonight's friendly v USA. I was hoping to be able to judge the lionesses progress against the best, but Russo is out injured and now Williamson joins her after pulling up in training. If England play well, these absences might tell us even more, of course

I've been hearing about inquests into systemic abuse and misconduct in the USA womens league and the subsequent Yates report. Following on from the recent claims and counter claims in Spain, these issues are a poor look for women's football. Abuse in all its forms needs to be rooted out

[Durhamfootman]

the Yates report seems particularly damning

[Durhamfootman]

Blimey.... not often you see a half of football as open as that. England go in 2-1 up, but VAR denied USA a brilliant equaliser. Pinpoint 50m yard pass to set USA up 3 on 2 for a well taken goal, only to be ruled out for a millimetre offside. Ridiculous really

Been really entertaining, if a little harum scarum at times.

one counterattacking goal for England that caught USA cold, followed by England gifting the equaliser faffing about at the back 5 mins later. Then a penalty after Lucy bronze took a boot to the face in the box following a VAR review and finally the offside that should never have been an offside.... not really.

USA move the ball so well and their players are so quick that surely Weigman has to try and tighten England up at the back for the second half. England keep on getting caught out in the numbers game at the back

At the same time, when England move the ball quickly they look a real threat. Kelly has found it hard to get into the game as the ball and the play elude her

good game

[Durhamfootman]

well, there you go. Another win for England. A first win over USA and a 23rd match without defeat under Wiegman

England did indeed tighten up at the back albeit at the cost of more possession for USA. The counterattacks became less threatening as they committed fewer players on the break. USA saw most of the ball for 20 or 25 minutes but were reduced to shooting from distance as dangerous crosses were continually cut out by a Millie Bright increasing in confidence the longer the game went on.

However, Wiegman only made a couple of changes, whilst USA made several and as more of the old guard went off, the more England began to control the game. Stanway had a couple of chances late on to ensure the win as England eventually dominated, but left her shooting boots at home

VAR did its job well.... awarding England a penalty, denying USA an equaliser and topping off a fine night by correctly ruling out a USA penalty. In the old days USA would have won that match 3-1. I like VAR

[Durhamfootman]

Pinpoint 50m yard pass

too much to drink, i fear

[Durhamfootman]

all this talk about power cuts seems to have left me confused between the '70s and the '20s

[Gingerfinch]

Was a very entertaining game. LIke you said Footman, 3-1 to the USA without VAR but I'd still prefer not to have it!

I thought Hemp was superb. Often alone up front, she held it up well and on the odd occasion, ran at their very good CB. Bright looks slow against nippy forwards, not that is nothing new. Maybe Williamson and Greenwood should start at CB?

[Durhamfootman]

Agree about Hemp. USA struggled to contain her and she caused them problems all night. I also thought Bronze had a good game going forward

That Sophia Smith looked as quick as SAFP at times, so I'm not surprised Bright struggled. That being said, Bright looked much more in control in the second half. I can't remember seeing a woman footballer whose movement looked as quick as Smith before. Bright reads the game so well, though and in the second half, once she'd adjusted to the pace, she cut out most of USA's killer passes

Hope you had a really good night. Atmosphere looked good

[Gingerfinch]

Back to Bright. I don't think she's great on the ball either.

As for the night. It was a good one, although it did pee down, meaning we got soaked before getting in, hence it was a colder night that expected. Atmosphere was decent as was the Football.