Match report
And follow USA v Japan here …
A deserved win for the Lionesses, indeed. Be sure to check out the full match report when it crosses and join me if you like for tonight’s nightcap between the United States and Japan, a 2015 World Cup final rematch which kicks off in an hour.
Full time: England 2-1 Brazil
And there’s the final whistle on a promising showing by the Lionesses to respond from a chronically uneven opening half. They tightened things up after the break, pressing a bit higher up the pitch and generating more frequent chances to keep Brazil on the back foot. The goals from Ellen White in the 49th and Beth Mead in the 75th were enough to secure the full three points and a winning start for England in the four-team, round-robin tournament.
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90 min: The fourth official signals for a minimum of two minutes of added time. Can England land the plane?
89 min: Geyse carries it about 20 yards into the area with a trail of England players in her wake, but her cross finds nothing and it’s cleared safely toward the middle third.
87 min: Another sub for England as Staniforth enters for Kirby, who’s earned the break.
84 min: A dangerous moment for England as Geyse wins a free kick near the touchline about 20 yards from goal. Thaisa enters for Jucinara as an attacking sub before it’s taken, but it’s cleared out by the England back line and the crisis is averted.
82 min: England have racked up a few corners over the last few minutes. Nothing has come of them but they’ve kept the pressure on Brazil.
80 min: (Toni Duggan came on for Ellen White after the goal.)
78 min: More acrobatics from Aline prevent Parris from making it 3-1 to the Lionesses. Hard to believe it’s only the keeper’s sixth international appearance.
GOAL! England 2-1 Brazil (Mead, 75 min)
Beth Mead puts England in front with an absolute peach of a goal! The super sub almost seems to be crossing it to the far post, but instead rips it past Aline. A wonderful finish.
🎯 woah England 2-1 Brazil #SheBelievesCup pic.twitter.com/0O2oVEe71T
— Zach (@zac13_) February 27, 2019
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70 min: That will do it for Marta, who exits for Geyse at the 70th minute. Additionally, Raquel comes on for Beatriz.
68 min: Four on the attack for England and Parris is through, a step in front of her defender but onside. She tries to target the upper-right corner but Aline comes off the line to make the save. Aline playing lights out and making a strong case to be Brazil’s first-choice keeper. It’s a corner for England but it’s quickly cleared.
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66 min: Neville makes a couple of switches: Beth Mead enters for Karen Carney and Rachel Daly comes in for Izzy Christiansen.
63 min: After the restart Carney immediately finds Kirby and England are threatening again ... but another bad giveaway keys a Brazil counter and Bronze is slow to track back, exacerbating matters. Adriana has a golden chance but misses the target.
62 min: A ball is played through to Ellen White, who is a half-step late in arriving as Aline charges out for it. Aline is down after the collision but not for long and the referee spares the book.
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61 min: Bronze plays through to Parris, but she’s unsure of what to do and a chip drifts wide but stays in with England. An aborted finish but more positive build-up play from the Lionesses here. The connectivity has been much improved in the last 10 minutes.
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60 min: Four runners in the box for Bronze, but her entry pass is fired back toward the middle third as we hit the hour mark.
58 min: England are very nearly on top after a cross into Parris deflects off Erika and requires a hair-trigger reaction by Aline to keep things level. Wow.
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56 min: Now it’s the Lionesses pressing the attack. They’ve won a free kick and it goes out off a Brazil defender for a corner, England’s second of the match. Not much of an effort, though, an easily cleared to the halfway line.
52 min: Brazil are quick on the attack after the restart, immediately threatening to score. Now they’ve won a free kick but nothing comes of it.
GOAL! England 1-1 Brazil (White, 49 min)
Fran Kirby has acres of space to wait for Ellen White to make her run and she threads a gorgeous through ball that White curls into the bottom right corner of the net. A lovely first-time finish for White, who is now the all-time leading scorer in this four-year-old competition. All level in Chester!
49th min..we got a game! England 1-1 Brazil #SheBelievesCup pic.twitter.com/0efazEqkja
— Zach (@zac13_) February 27, 2019
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48 min: The Lionesses win a free kick about 35 yards from the goal on a Leticia foul, but it’s a quick restart amid England’s high press and nothing comes of it.
46 min: And we’re off and running in the second half!
Half-time: England 0-1 Brazil
That’s it for the first half, a mostly evenly matched affair with only Andressa’s spot kick separating the sides. Standouts for England were Parris, Greenwood and Bronze. Some nice chances for the Lionesses but an alarming number of careless giveaways will no doubt be mentioned in Neville’s half-time talk.
45 min+6: Brazil win a corner and Marta will take it, her second of the game. Dangerous moment. But her offering is short and the referee immediately blows the whistle for half-time.
45 min+5: A pair of nice chances for England as the half-time whistle draws near. First, Greenwood finds an opening on the edge of the area and rips a shot on goal, but Aline easily corrals it. Then moments later Bronze whips a cross into the area but no England players are there to redirect it on target.
45 min+4: England work it down the left flank but Leticia snuffs out the mounting threat near the end line.
45 min: Strike that: Parris is back out there. Well then. No Beth Mead just yet. The fourth official signals for five minutes of added time.
44 min: Parris walks off the pitch on her own, which is good to see. She will be replaced by Arsenal’s Beth Mead, who will try to provide width for Neville’s side.
43 min: A smart cross into the area by Greenwood toward the far post finds Parris tangled up with Jucinara and the England forward goes down with an injury. It appears to be a rolled right ankle. The medical staff have brought out a stretcher and it seems her afternoon may be done.
40 min: Another turnover by England spoils a nice spot of build-up, but Brazil give it right back and the Lionesses will start again from the back. Houghton coming up high plays it forward to Parris, who attempts to split her defenders and gives it away.
37 min: Brazil have numbers in attack but Izzy Christiansen slips in at the last moment to disrupt a pass to Marta, who would have a golden chance from nearly point-blank range.
33 min: Ludmilla, who’s had a few chances in the first half hour, is down for the second time today and it looks like we’ll be getting our first substitution of the match. She’s taken off on a stretcher and it appears it will be an attacking sub as Debinha enters, a 64th international appearance for the North Carolina Courage forward.
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31 min: A ball is crossed in by Parris and moves the keeper way out of position as it falls to Fran Kirby, who misses a wide-open target by inches to the right. Oh dear! The pace is picking up.
28 min: Bronze, moments after being shown a yellow card for a late foul, gets it back for England, who have numbers on the attack. She slides it over to Christiansen at the top of the area but she whiffs on it, allowing Brazil to moved quickly into a counter-attack. They’re down the pitch in a breeze and Marta’s shot from the left side toward the back post has Telford beaten, but it’s safely over the bar for a goal kick.
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26 min: Karen Carney whips in a long cross from outside the area over Kirby, possibly deflected off the Brazilian defender Monica first, but Parris can’t head it cleanly on goal and it’s out for a goal kick. A good idea by the Chelsea winger.
25 min: Marta slipping back into deep-lying playmaker role, where she’s been most effective today. Miraildes has a go from distance but it’s way off the mark.
22 min: No major chances for either side as they trade possession mostly in the middle third. England are finally able to organize a steady build-up, but Kirby is a step slow in sending it through to Parris and the flag goes up.
GOAL! England 0-1 Brazil (Andressa, 16 min)
Andressa steps up and puts Brazil on the board with a well-taken penalty to the right of Telford, who simply guesses wrong.
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15 min: A bit of a rudderless patch as we reach the quarter-hour mark ... and it’s an awful giveaway by England in their own half. Oh dear. Marta has it and she’s on the run as England’s defenders scramble back, cutting back on Houghton in the area for space ... and she’s shouldered down by Bronze in the area. And the referee points to the spot!
right call on this penalty..Brazil leads 1-0 #SheBelievesCup pic.twitter.com/Hbil0TM6ZI
— Zach (@zac13_) February 27, 2019
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12 min: Brazil are generating more opportunities after a sluggish start, mostly testing Telford from distance.
9 min: Another foul by Brazil as the Birmingham City forward Ellen White is hacked down. Yet England give it away immediately and moments later Adriana, making her eighth international appearance today, has a go on goal but it’s wide of the target.
7 min: Brazil win their first corner of the match and it will be Marta, the six-times Fifa World Player of the Year, to take it. It curls dangerously toward the net and it’s punched out by Telford directly to Walsh, who looks to counter but coughs it back up to Brazil in hasty transition.
5 min: Ludmilla is whistled for an overzealous challenge on left back Alex Greenwood as Brazil struggle to get their teeth into the match.
3 min: The corner is taken but Aline is all over it, punching it out toward the halfway line. The high-pressing Lionesses are quick to take back possession and keep the pressure on Brazil.
2 min: England are operating from what looks like a 4-2-3-1 and they’re quick to move it into the final third, but the offside flag goes up on a ball into the area. Moments later Bronze is played through to the end line and sends it in to Kirby, but her shot is deflected over the bar for the first corner of the match.
1 min: And they’re off! The 2019 SheBelieves Cup is under way with England attacking from left to right in their white shirts and blue shorts and Brazil from right to left in their traditional first strip.
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It’s a chilly afternoon with temperatures of 4C (39F) expected to drop over the course of the match. And the players have emerged from the tunnel on to the pitch!
England won 1-0 when these sides met in October for a friendly at Meadow Lane on the strength of Fran Kirby’s early header. The Lionesses outshot Brazil by a 23-11 margin on the day.
Worth mentioning that a few experimental rules will be piloted in this competition. Here’s the official release from tournament organizer US Soccer, which requested and received approval for the experiments during the next week and a half. These changes could be ratified as soon as 2 March at the 133rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the IFAB in Aberdeen, Scotland.
- A player being substituted must leave the field of play at the nearest point on the boundary line.
- Yellow and red cards for misconduct can be issued to team officials.
- On a goal kick and a free kick for the defending team in their own penalty area, the ball is in play as soon as the kick is taken so a player – or opponent as long as they started outside the penalty or were not given the proper time to exit the penalty – can play the ball before it leaves the penalty area.
Something to keep in mind today.
The teams!
The team sheets are out. Here’s a look at the XIs to start.
England
XI: Telford, Bronze, Greenwood, Walsh, Houghton (c), McManus, Parris, Christiansen, Kirby, White, Carney
Subs: Bardsley, Earps, Duggan, Stokes, Bonner, Williamson, Ubogagu, Daly, Stanway, Mead, Stanforth
Brazil
XI: Aline, Leticia S, Jucinara, Erika, Andressa, Miraildes, Marta (c), Adriana, Beatriz, Ludmilla, Monica
Subs: Leticia, Luciana, Thaisa, Tamires, Debinha, Tayla, Kathellen, Poliana, Juliana, Geyse, Raquel, Luana
Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva (USA)
Here is it, your starting XI!
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) February 27, 2019
🏴 vs 🇧🇷 | #SheBelievesCup pic.twitter.com/JoI7TSI5vp
Hoje tem #SeleçãoFeminina em campo! Daqui a pouco a bola rola para a estreia das meninas na #SheBelievesCup! Faltam 100 dias para a Copa! #GigantesPorNatureza
— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) February 27, 2019
🇧🇷🏴 | #BRAxING pic.twitter.com/sQ9iCr1g8o
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Hello and welcome to Talen Energy Stadium in scenic Chester for England’s opening match in this year’s SheBelieves Cup. The Lionesses, ranked fourth in the world, are ramping up their preparations for this summer’s World Cup (which kicks off 100 days from today) in the four-team, round-robin competition starting with today’s match with Brazil. Phil Neville’s women will look to one-up their second-place finish in last year’s tournament and it all starts today against a Seleção that’s down to No 10 in the Fifa rankings and looking as vulnerable as any Brazil side in recent memory.
Here’s a look at how the inestimable Suzanne Wrack sees the challenge ahead:
Friendly tournaments do not always inspire but the SheBelieves Cup has gone beyond the standard fare. Now in its fourth year, the tournament brings together four of the top international teams in women’s football, with the USA – the host nation – the constant.
This year, as the USA, England, Japan and Brazil prepare to take the field in Philadelphia, Nashville and Tampa, the competition offers a glimpse at their World Cup credentials. The decision of the BBC to broadcast all of England’s pre-World Cup friendlies – split between BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four – means all of the SheBelieves Cup will be free to air.
As well as a look at how Phil Neville’s Lionesses stack up against the World Cup holders, the USA, we will also see how well they handle the 2015 World Cup runners-up, Japan, whom they will also face in Group D this June in France.
The England manager is sticking with players already in the fold, yet to be swayed by the form of Chelsea’s top scorer, Beth England, or Birmingham’s defensive rock Aoife Mannion.
Neville’s decision not to include the 24-year-old England – who has signed a new deal at Chelsea that keeps her at Kingsmeadow until 2021 – in his plans could prove costly, despite his insistence that his team is picked on form and performance.
The Lionesses benefit from some of the finest attacking talent in the world, with the WSL’s all-time top scorer, Nikita Parris, and Barcelona’s Toni Duggan currently the squad’s in-form forwards. But is that enough? Faith in Birmingham’s Ellen White and Chelsea’s PFA player of the year, Fran Kirby, poses challenges. They are both credible starters when fit but have struggled with injury. White only recently returned from a back problem while Kirby is not long back after damaging a hamstring in November. Their fresher legs could well be a boon come June, but they need to find their feet quickly and to be match fit straight away. It is a risk.
The loss of Jordan Nobbs to an ACL rupture at Everton in November was a huge blow to England’s hopes in France. As a precaution, Jill Scott – who is even more vital to the midfield in the absence of the creative powerhouse Nobbs – has been left behind “in order to manage her return to full fitness ahead of this summer’s World Cup”, according to the FA.
Preamble
Bryan will be here shortly.
