Lionesses lack resoluteness as World Cup send-off game ends in goalless draw
England finish their last game before making their way to the Women’s World Cup without any goals as they draw Portugal in the send-off game at Stadium MK. Even though the Lionesses controlled the game and created loads of chances – especially in the second half – neither Alessia Russo nor Rachel Daly could put the finishing touch on the otherwise mostly convincing performance.
Going into the match, there were quite a few questions coming up for England: How would they cope with the many injured players including captain Leah Williamson and therefore, who will be part of the starting XI? And most importantly, are they ready for the World Cup?
As reigning European champions, the Lionesses are among the favourites to lift the trophy this summer. This match serves as another opportunity for manager Sarina Wiegman to search for eleven fitting starting players for the international tournament. This mostly concerns the striker position as both Russo and Daly have shown great performances this season and therefore were going head to head into the match.
On top of that, the Lionesses wanted to celebrate one more victory before going into the World Cup as they could not win their last two games in regular time – the last one being the first defeat under Wiegman against Australia.
Against Portugal, the Dutch manager first chose Daly over Russo and started Lauren James on the right wing instead of Manchester City’s Chloe Kelly. As key players Leah Williamson, Beth Mead (ACLs) and Fran Kirby (knee) who led the team during last year’s Euros will not be part of the Lionesses squad for this year’s World Cup due to long term injuries, replacements have to be found.
New captain Millie Bright was still not fit enough to make the squad, therefore Esme Morgan and Jess Carter formed the new centre back pairing. It was also a positive sign to see Alex Greenwood back in action after the Manchester City defender caused a small shock among fans by getting a knock during a training session.
The Lionesses started off the game with two big chances after only five minutes as Rachel Daly got her head on the ball twice in the opponent’s penalty area but two saves from Portugal goalkeeper Ines Pereira prohibited an early England lead.
Most of the Lionesses’ attacks were led by Lauren Hemp on the left and James on the other side bringing a lot of tempo to the match as well as good crosses. Even though some of those found receivers on the other end – mostly Daly – the decisive elements to create serious goal scoring opportunities were clearly missing. England only managed a few attempts on target in the first half which they could not convert into goals.
The closest the Lionesses got to a successful strike in the first 45 minutes was an attempt from central midfielder Georgia Stanway who only hit the bar shortly before half time (44’).
Meanwhile, the English defense did a decent job in keeping Portugal’s fast strikers under control as both Jess Carter and Morgan won important one on one duels. However, the guests heavily relied on counterattacks, therefore did not create a lot of chances and only got into England’s penalty area after free kicks.
With three replacements during the break including Russo for Daly in the striker position things were about to change. While Daly more often was waiting to receive long passes from central midfield and the wingers, Russo had a more vertical approach and had a closer connection to the midfield to collect the ball in order to run towards the defenders.
In the second half the Lionesses ended up having many more chances, alone around the one hour mark three top class attempts came up. First, the Manchester United striker went into a one against one with the Portuguese goalkeeper, managed to get past her but got denied by a defender on the goal line. The resulting corner from Stanway found Lucy Bronze whose header hit the post (59’). Only a few minutes later Russo was blank at the corner of the box with her shot only missing the target by a few inches (61’).
The chances kept on coming with a short distance header from substitute Niamh Charles (74’) and another Russo shot after nice combination from James and Kelly (77’). But still England could not get the leather over the line no matter how much they tried.
With the 90-minute approaching England’s game became more and more urgent as they were fighting to score a late winner. Still, they did not get many more serious chances in the last ten minutes of the game and had to accept a draw against mostly harmless opponents. The last effort came from Russo who once more failed on Portugal’s defense before the final whistle.
Even though they did not manage to score, the Lionesses can go into the group stage of the World Cup with confidence as they once more showed against Portugal how dominant their play style can be. However, the question of who will start as a striker – Russo or Daly – still remains without a clear answer.
