Megan Feringa
Who was key to England’s attack?
When the chips were down and England were staring a 3-0 defeat in the face, the Lionesses needed a foothold in the game. Up stepped Stanway after England were awarded a controversial penalty for a handball.
Stanway told The Athletic earlier this year she focuses on execution and cancelling out the noise and activity around her when she steps to the spot. Indeed in the past, she has practised at her club Bayern Munich with crowd noise blasted out from speakers.
Stanway scored twice in three minutes to give England a chance of a comback (Crystal Pix, Getty Images)
The 25-year-old kept her untarnished record intact, slotting the ball into the bottom corner to get England back in the game. She has scored all of her nine penalties throughout her England career.
Three minutes later, Stanway was on the scoresheet again, finishing off a very neat move involving Keira Walsh and Alessia Russo who found Beth Mead out wide and Stanway was in the perfect position to hammer the ball home.
Stanway is in great form for her German domestic club (Bayern Munich), but Germany’s national team won the midfield battles on Friday. At times, Walsh and Stanway struggled to control that area of the field as Germany blew England away with their pace, ball carriers and direct style of play.
Charlotte Harpur
How did Hannah Hampton do as the starting goalkeeper?
After a two-year absence from the England setup, Sarina Wiegman gave Earps a chance, calling her up to the new Lionesses’ boss first squad in September 2021.
Earps went on to start every game at the 2022 European Championship and 2023 World Cup and has never let Wiegman down. Her communication and defensive organisation is highly valued.
But since moving from Manchester United to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, Earps’ form has been patchy, registering just one clean sheet this season. It takes time to adapt to a new team, manager, culture and language and that change has been reflected in her performances.
On Friday, Wiegman opted to play Hannah Hampton who has cemented her position as Chelsea’s No 1, having moved from Aston Villa in the summer of 2023. Hampton started against her predecessor, Berger, in the opposite goal.
Hampton could do little about Gwinn’s well-taken penalty in the fourth minute or the arrowed dart seven minutes later, but she should have done better against Klara Buhl’s effort which wriggled underneath her. She also spilled her catch for the cross which led to Germany’s penalty in the 71st minute which put them 4-2 up.
Hampton started for England but her performance was mixed (Stephanie Meek, Getty Images)
The quick footwork and fingertip save onto the crossbar to deny Dallmann’s audacious 35-yard lob, a crucial stop to prevent Jule Brand and another save to flick Felicitas Rauch’s effort over the bar to keep England in it clearly shows the talent Wiegman sees. Her distribution is a huge asset that allows her team to beat opponents’ press. She released Lauren Hemp and Bronze out wide with diagonal balls and allowed Walsh to turn with a simple central ball from the back.
One would expect Earps to play in England’s next match on Tuesday against South Africa but there is a notable difference in the magnitude of the two friendlies: Euro finalists Germany at Wembley in front of a 47,167-strong crowd compared to the inferior opposition of South Africa at Coventry. A reshuffling of the pack is on the cards but has Hampton done enough to convince Wiegman?
Megan Feringa
What does this result mean for England?
A rematch of the Euro 2022 final is arguably the perfect opportunity to take stock ahead of next summer’s finals, and for Wiegman, this was a performance she cannot ignore.
England have been far from their best since reaching the 2023 World Cup final. They disappointingly missed out on qualifying for the Olympics on behalf of Team GB and stumbled through Euro 2025 qualifying, finishing second behind France. Stagnation was the word of the hour to describe this period.
However, many of these problem areas, key areas of concern for Wiegman over the past year — specifically defensive frailties — were exploited by Germany. This raises the question of how, and more pressingly when, they will be addressed.
The tenacity demonstrated to claw back two goals before half-time after going 3-0 down, and ultimately drawing themselves within one goal with just nine minutes of regular time remaining, is undeniably a positive.
However, the quality needed to complete the comeback was missing, despite the laudable effort shown in the final 10 minutes. England were largely indebted to moments of brilliance from Russo, Hemp, Mead and Stanway to bail out poorer performances elsewhere.
For Wiegman, this is not a call to panic but rather, a call to adjust.
Charlotte Harpur
What did Sarina Wiegman say?
When asked about giving opportunities to members of the squad, Wiegman said: “Yes, I think so. We’re playing Germany. That’s a high-level team. Players are knocking on the door, competing for minutes and I’m not going to make changes for the sake of it. I’m going to start getting ready for the 2 July, all of my decisions are based on that.”
On Germany being able to through her side easily, she added: “We did give up a lot of chances. But we also look at how those chances developed. And most of them developed in transition moments. High press — we didn’t get it right, it’s a team thing how we defend today. It started with moments we lost the ball in moments when we didn’t want to lose the ball. We didn’t press right. Germany are very powerful and good in counter attacks and they exploited us really well. It was a chain reaction. That’s what we need to improve. We had too many unforced errors and then Germany were gone. They have so much power and explosively up front.”
What next for England?
Tuesday, October 29: South Africa (H; Coventry Building Society Arena), friendly, 7.45pm UK, 3.45pm ET
Saturday, November 30: USWNT (H; Wembly Stadium), friendly, 5:20 pm GMT, 12:20 pm ET
Tuesday, December 3: Switzerland (H; Bramall Lane), friendly, 7:45 pm GMT, 2:45 pm ET
Recommended reading
(Top photo: Marc Atkins / Getty Images)
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=671c31d24e5d4b90a75ab040230f65fa&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fathletic%2F5869652%2F2024%2F10%2F25%2Fengland-women-germany-women-come-back-too-late%2F&c=5954103167094894690&mkt=de-de
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-25 14:18:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
