On Friday the Lionesses faced up against a strong French side on their very first visit to Newcastle' St James Park. The game saw Wiegman take charge of her 50th England game and goal keeper Earps earn her 50th cap however, things weren't meant to be for the Lionesses as they fell to a 2-1 defeat.
The Lionesses last game saw them come away 2-0 winners against the Republic of Ireland, this was always going to be a much tougher game though with a few Lionesses missing through injury and France being top of the qualifying group. The big positive going into this game though was both Williamson and Bright being recalled together for the first time in over a year.
The game started out pretty shaky for the Lionesses and you could tell the centre back pairing has been out of action for a while as a mix up at the back saw D.Cascarino almost through on goal, it was only due to Bright's recovery that the ball didn't go near the goal. This attempt lead to a corner however, the resulting corner was delayed for a few minutes as Earps was down and looking very uncomfortable. The resulting corner amounted to nothing and the game continued. In the 6th minute though the Lionesses were forced to make an early change with Earps unable to continue, this saw Hampton stepping between the sticks and France start trying to pile the pressure on the substitute goal keeper who managed to make some good saves not long after entering the pitch.
The opening 10 minutes just didn't seem to fall into place for the Lionesses, they were losing possession far to easily and their passes just didn't seem to be connecting. There were some good moments like Russo having a great drive into the box but there was no support for her and early on in the game this happened far too often. The Lionesses were losing that ball in some dangerous positions too but luckily for them France just couldn't take advantage of the positions they were finding themselves in.
By then 25 minute mark the Lionesses were starting to perk up a little bit and found their feet, passes were flowing much better and they were getting in some great attacking positions. They managed to capitalise on this in the 30th minute when Mead made it 1-0, a great ball initially from Toone found Hemp who put a great ball into the box, this ball ran through the box missing everyone before finding the feet of the waiting Mead who slotted it home to give the Lionesses the lead.
Once the ball hit the back of the net you could see the confidence increase in the Lionesses and they were once again putting the pressure on France. However, another Lionesses mix up ended up with a dangerous corner for France which Hampton stepped up to save, they weren't so lucky the next corner though when a fantastic ball into the box found De Almeida who struck the ball brilliantly leaving Hampton no chance of reaching it. This meant that going into half time the score was level at 1-1.
The Lionesses got the second half underway much better than they did in the first half and applied some early pressure to France however, they just couldn't find the back of the net. For the majority of the second half though the game was end to end with both teams trying to get that goal to put them in front. That goal finally came in the 69th minute but unfortunately for the Lionesses it was France who took the lead. Once again France's goal came from a set piece and this time the Lionesses were unable to clear their lines and Kototo was in the right place to put the ball into the bottom corner.
After the second goal the Lionesses had a few opportunities on goal but once again the final product just wasn't their and France saw the game out to walk away with a 2-1 victory. This game for us though highlighted that the Lionesses have a fair bit to work on as the final product is missing lately and the miscommunication cost them at times with no one running onto the ball or being ready in the box. As for our player of the Match we have to go for Hemp, she just never seemed to stop running and was getting the Lionesses in some great positions throughout the 90 minutes. Russo was a very close second place though as it felt like she had her best game in an England shirt for a while, we just needed that better connection with the final ball.
The two teams come face to face again on Tuesday, will France take away all 6 points from these fixtures or will the Lionesses step up and cause an upset for France on home soil? Only time will tell and we are looking forward to seeing how the game plays out.
Lionesses line up - Earps (GK) (↓), Bronze, Carter, Walsh, Williamson, Bright, Mead (↓), Stanway (↓), Russo, Toone, Hemp.
Lioness subs - Greenwood, Hampton (GK) (↑), Kirby (↑), Naz, Kelly (↑), Beever-Jones, Clinton, Le Tissier, Park, Keating (GK), Morgan, Turner.
France line up - Peyraud-Magnin, De Almeida (↓), Lakrar, Renard, Bacha, Toletti, Karchaoui, Dali (↓), Diani, Katoto (↓) D.Cascarino (↓).
subs - Durand, Picaud, Perisset (↑), E.Cascarino, Samoura, Geyoro, Henry(↑), Le Garrec (↑), Baltimore, Benyahia, Dufour, Ribadeira (↑).
Attendance : 42,561
Yellow cards : Carter, Lakrar
Goals : mead 30' De Almeida 40' Kototo 69'
