England may not be finding life after Mark Sampson overly easy but they discovered a sanctuary of sorts on the pitch before succumbing to Viviane Asseyi’s late winner.
Despite this latest defeat by an old enemy, an encouraging second-half show will have done Mo Marley’s hopes of morphing from caretaker to long-term manager no harm.
Unable to leave their troubles behind, England found themselves in the eye of another storm as Lee Kendall, their goalkeeping coach, was ordered to fly home from northern France on Friday as Tim Dittmer, the men’s Under-21 equivalent, arrived to replace him.
Kendall has not been suspended by the Football Association but is the subject of an internal investigation over claims of unacceptable behaviour. This relates to Eni Aluko’s revelation that he used to address the Lagos-born forward in a mock Caribbean accent.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tough week, change is hard,” said Marley. “Lee is not with us but I’ve had to separate myself from it and bring stability to the team.” At the end of an awful week for the FA, Sampson and the women’s game in general, this friendly offered England a chance to remind everyone why they have risen to No3 in the world.
The former coach may be widely depicted as a national villain but the reality is that Sampson was largely popular with a squad who not only liked him but respected the ability which led them to World Cup and European Championship semi-finals.
His sacking last month for inappropriate behaviour in a previous job at Bristol Academy provoked disappointment in the camp and Marley acknowledges it may take some erasing. On Wednesday a long festering, multi-dimensional, crisis deepened when the FA was forced to apologise to Aluko and her Chelsea team-mate Drew Spence after Sampson was found to have subjected them to ill-judged, racially discriminatory jokes.
As Aluko took the floor in front of a Parliamentary Select Committee which would later call senior FA officials to account, Sampson’s highly promising career appeared shredded along with his reputation.
A man once regarded as something of a golden boy in FA circles, is considering taking legal action against the governing body and has severed contact with his former employer. He clearly feels he was in effect thrown under the bus once those in Wembley’s corridors of power began feeling the heat of Aluko’s complaints.
If the squad have not relished the attendant scrutiny, it helped that his interim successor is a familiar face, Marley having coached most of this squad at Under-19 level. She has applied for the job full-time and has two more auditions in the form of next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia and Kazakhstan.
Under the new management of Corinne Diacre – the former coach of Clermont Foot, a Ligue Two men’s side – France wanted revenge for England’s Euro 2017 quarter-final victory in the Netherlands.
That represented a first defeat against their cross-Channel rivals since 1974 but both sides looked like teams in transition during an untidy yet fairly even first half. England had plenty of possession but did not always do a lot with it before needing to defend well at times. Siobhan Chamberlain excelled in repelling Valérie Gauvin’s header and Steph Houghton made a decisive block to deny the same striker.
Sue Campbell, the head of English women’s football, said on Friday night the players will have a say in the selection of Sampson’s long-term successor but they certainly looked to be performing for Marley as they began the second half in highly convincing mode.
Even so, England again had Chamberlain to thank for frustrating France by saving from Eugénie Le Sommer. Asseyi, though, enjoyed the last word, heading the winner when Marley’s goalkeeper misread a cross.
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