Lionesses’ World Cup Reality Check?

Friday evening saw England Women fall short in a 1-0 defeat against Canada. This was the first in a series of friendlies in the lead up to the World Cup in France, and their first match since a victorious SheBelieves Cup campaign.

The match saw Phil Neville experiment with his team slightly, with Lucy Bronze taking up a role in midfield once again while Rachel Daly slotted in at right back. Jodie Taylor was also given the nod up front after an excellent ‘complete centre forward’ display against Japan in a 3-0 win.

The Lionesses, however, struggled to move out of their own half for much of the first half. Canada pressed emphatically and restricted England’s attempts to play out from the back. Though they had the better of the first half, Canada ultimately failed to carve out many clear cut chances - they managed just a single shot on target.

The side ranked number five in the world did, however, certainly show themselves to be worthy of that ranking. Ashley Lawrence put in an excellent display down the right flank, while Sophie Schmidt showed her experience throughout. Her ability to find pockets of space in the midfield to receive the ball helped Canada keep up the pressure on England.

The second half then saw England dominate but like their opponents, fail to turn the pressure into any real sights on goal. Nikita Paris was a constant menace down the right hand side and a ball in from her squirmed its way to Toni Duggan who, after a lovely first touch, could only place the ball narrowly wide.

The 81st minute then saw the games winner, against the run of play, from Canada’s all time top goal scorer Christine Sinclair. The 35 year old did well to react after a Nichelle Prince volley had crashed off the bar to claim her 180th international goal.

The result was something of a crash back down to Earth for this England side after being on a high from their SheBelieves Cup triumph. It was, though, an important test in the lead up to the World Cup. Phil Neville was able to continue to evaluate Bronze as an option in midfield, although the experiment didn’t seem to work particularly well in this match at least.

It also helped highlight some areas the Lionesses may need to improve on in the lead up to the World Cup, which is by no means a bad thing. It was apparent in the first half that England need to build up some stronger patterns of play when building up from the back. It was too easy for Canada to disrupt the Lionesses when playing out in this way. The press was also an issue too in the first half, although the second showed improvement when England seemed to switch to more of a 4-4-2 when pressing the Canadian defence.

Indeed, this is pretty much the reason for pre-tournament friendlies: to experiment with tactics, and look at what needs to be refined. There is also, though, an added dimension to this run of friendlies for the Lionesses. They see the team travel around the country, hopefully providing inspiration and encouragement to young girls. While the result may not have been the one desired, there were plenty of youngsters at the Manchester City Academy stadium to cheer the Lionesses on.

There is still much progress to be made on the Women’s game, and many steps that still need to be taken, but it was heartening to see a large amount of young female fans present at the game. Exposure to role models is just one of those important steps, and that has been enabled for young fans all over the country thanks to this tour. Friday night’s game, from that aspect at least, provided some encouragement.