Read Louise Taylor’s match report:
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England 0-2 Sweden
England slipped to only the second defeat of Phil Neville’s 11-month reign as two first-half goals clinched victory for Sweden in a game in which Steph Houghton won her 100th cap.
Goals by Sofia Jakobsson and Anna Angevard in Rotherham condemned England to their first loss on home soil since a 1-0 defeat to USA in Milton Keynes three years ago. Neville had made wholesale changes from the 3-0 win over Austria in Vienna on Thursday, with Houghton, the England captain, among those restored to the starting lineup, alongside her Manchester City team-mates Jill Scott and Nikita Parris.
England’s porous defence were punished for a lax first-half display, with Jakobsson drifting infield unchallenged after escaping the attention of Beth Mead before looping an effort beyond Carly Telford, the England goalkeeper. Things went from bad to worse before the interval, when Angevard doubled the visitors’s lead, swivelling before smashing home from Jakobsson’s clever cross.
Neville summoned Toni Duggan at the interval, but England struggled to truly trouble the goal of Hedwig Lindahl, the Chelsea goalkeeper. The Barcelona forward tested Lindahl from distance, while Izzy Christiansen, the England midfielder blazed over inside the box. But a stubborn Sweden stood firm to frustrate the hosts.
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Full-time: England 0-2 Sweden
A disappointing defeat for Phil Neville’s side.
90 min: There will be three added minutes.
86 min: The game is fizzling out, with Georgia Stanway showing the odd burst of pace and quality, but Sweden have been so slick defensively.
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83 min: A neat move by England, with Stanway teeing up Parris but the forward is crowded out once more. Sweden have been gloriously stubborn at the back.
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80 min: Carly Telford makes a decent save, as the England goalkeeper gets down low to her right to prevent Fridolina Rolfo from adding a third for Sweden.
77 min: England, roared on by another belting rendition of Baby Shark, press in search of finding a goal, even if it’s a consolation. Meanwhile, a couple more changes for Sweden, with Seger replaced by Folkesson. Hurtig is also on.
75 min: Rubensson looks for Jakobsson, but there’s Houghton once more. The England and Manchester City skipper has impressed on her 100th appearance. She has been pretty streetwise, whereas some of England’s less experienced players have been caught out making some clumsy fouls and errors.
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74 min: Neville makes his second and third changes of the afternoon, in a bid to swing the pendulum back in England’s favour. Sweden’s defence look so imperious, though. And they’ve definitely won the midfield duel.
72 min: Izzy Christiansen is replaced by Georgia Stanway and Melissa Lawley is also summoned, in place of Rachel Daly.
70 min: Sweden are enjoying arguably their best spell of this second half, with Seger putting a foot on the ball and kickstarting another move. England, at least, are pressing with a greater intensity, a little more aggression.
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69 min: Andersson wins Sweden a corner, relatively out of the blue. It is a dangerous ball in, but Bronze does well to nod a free header clear.
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66 min: Jill Scott hooks the second ball from the corner into the six-yard box but Hedwig Lindahl reacts quickest, with the Sweden goalkeeper gobbling up possession. Plenty of promise and encouragement from England, but very little to show for it. They still trail to those first-half goals.
65 min: Rolfo slides in a lovely ball in behind the England defence, but Steph Houghton does remarkably to read it and snuff out the danger. England go straight up the other end, with Bronze rampaging down the right and she wins a corner. Bronze has caused havoc this second half down the Sweden left.
64 min: Scott fouls Asllani on halfway, more out of frustration than anything. The Sweden forward has proved a tricky customer for England all afternoon.
63 min: Toni Duggan has made helluva difference for England, with the hosts now bossing the tempo and possession. And now Parris falls in the box under the challenge of Eriksson, but the Chelsea defender shepherded the forward superbly. Will Neville be tempted into a couple of more personnel changes?
60 min: Sweden make a double change, with Anvegard replaced by Rolfo, of Bayern Munich, on. Samuelsson is also withdrawn for the visitors, with Natalie Bjorn on. Meanwhile, it is announced that the crowd in Rotherham is a healthy 9,561.
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58 min: A spectacular effort from distance by Duggan, but Lindahl claws the ball away from goal! Duggan jinks infield, taking aim on the edge of the box from an acute angle but Lindahl gets a strong left hand to it. England have successfully upped the ante, but can they pull a goal back?
57 min: Bronze does brilliantly, driving into the box before cutting the ball back for Izzy Christiansen ... but she spoons over. Ah.
55 min: Houghton sweeps clear the danger at the back, but Jill Scott wants too much time on the ball and Sweden nick the ball away. England get back on the front foot, again down the right flank, with Nobbs attempting to tee up Daly. Bronze is pressing higher up the pitch, and England are finding joy down the Sweden left.
54 min: England are growing into the game, but they are still yet to really frighten Sweden. Daly has just fizzed in Parris, but the forward is flagged offside.
53 min: Phil Neville is geeing up his England side on the touchline, but there is not an awful lot to get excited about. Sweden are stifling his side.
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50 min: Baby Shark rings around the New York Stadium in Rotherham. There’s a sentence I never thought I would write.
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49 min: The ball drops kindly in the box for Parris, but Sweden swarm the Manchester City forward. It was a clever ball into the box, redirected by Millie Bright but in the end Sweden get rid. Lindahl boots it clear, only as far as Nobbs, but her volley is tame.
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48 min: Jill Scott takes over down the right, but Andersson stands firm in the Sweden defence. Lindahl wellies the ball upfield from a resulting free-kick.
47 min: Beth Mead has been replaced by Toni Duggan, the Barcelona striker who captained England to a 3-0 win over Austria on Thursday. Duggan’s first touch is a good one, keeping a move alive down the left as England press forward.
46 min: England gets us back under way in Rotherham.
Half-time: England 0-2 Sweden
England have it all to do, with goals by Sofia Jakobsson and Anna Anvegard the difference at the interval. The hosts have been underwhelming, bereft of ideas going forward and particularly sloppy at the back. By contrast, Sweden have looked a classy side, with Seger influential. This wasn’t the script for Steph Houghton’s landmark 100th appearance in an England shirt.
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45 min: There will be one minute added time, just enough time for Eriksson to whip in a Sweden corner after good work by Jakobsson.
43 min: Bronze does well down the right, charging down the flank before standing up a cross in search of Daly. But Lindahl cuts it out.
42 min: A spell of England pressure ends with another unforced error, so to speak. Parris overhits her pass for Greenwood and Sweden win the ball back.
39 min: Daly and Nobbs almost combine down the left, but Sweden snuff it out. The final ball has eluded England so far. In midfield, they’ve been totally overrun with Seger putting in a classy performance and Anvegard everywhere.
37 min: Asllani is pulled back by Bright, and England can’t live Sweden at the moment. It’s one-way traffic, with the visitors looking assured, comfortable, and ultimately more dangerous, than the hosts in possession.
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35 min: Houghton has a stab at goal, but her right-footed effort is easy for Lindahl to deal with. England have not lost a home fixture since February 2015, slipping to a 1-0 defeat to the USA in Milton Keynes.
GOAL! England 0-2 Sweden (Anvegard, 33)
Jakobsson stands up a cross, and Anvegard swivels and smashes the ball home. The 21-year-old midfielder has doubled the visitors’ lead. Very lax defending by the hosts, who were half-asleep as Sweden recycled possession after going close via Seger moments before. England have it all to do.
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32 min: Seger nods against the woodwork! Sweden come within inches of a second, with a deep corner dropping at the back post, where Seger beats Houghton to the header. A stark warning for England.
29 min: Mead tees up Nobbs, who bends an effort goalwards. It takes an age to get there, curling towards the far corner but Hedwig Lindahl, the Chelsea goalkeeper, palms the shot away. That gets the home crowd back on song.
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28 min: Seger is back up on her feet. Bronze was booked for that challenge. And now Nikita Parris skates down the right; she’s been unusually anonymous so far.
25 min: Asllani looks to thread through Samuelsson, but Sweden are eventually crowded out. England are giving the visitors a little too much respect in the final third. And, right on cue, a 50-50 between Bronze and Seger, the Sweden skipper, sees the latter grounded. Bronze comes off lightly in comparison.
23 min: That goal seems to have sharpened England’s focus, with Sweden conceding another foul, this time way out on the left wing. Christiansen again delivers but Jill Scott cannot steer the ball goalwards. Still, England rebuild and look to sustain a concerted spell of pressure on the Swedish back line.
22 min: Christiansen whips it in, but Bright cannot direct her header on target.
21 min: Ilestedt backs into Beth Mead, and England win a free-kick 30 yards from goal. A positive reaction by Phil Neville’s side.
GOAL! England 0-1 Sweden (Jakobsson, 20)
A sweet strike by Sofia Jakobsson, who drifts inside on to her left foot and lashes the ball home. England were sloppy in their defending, with Beth Mead letting Jakobsson go after Greenwood initially closed her down on the flank. Once Jakobsson came inside, there was only one thing in her mind and the ball looped over Telford in the England goal.
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17 min: Jakobsson raids down the Sweden right but faced with Millie Bright, she’s soon stopped in her tracks. Jill Scott then seizes the ball, spraying the ball over to the opposite flank, where Houghton has drifted out to the right.
15 min: Another healthy spell of possession for Sweden. England, while largely untroubled, are struggling to dictate the tempo as they’d like.
12 min: Parris has a little mazy run down the right, before cutting infield. But she cannot pick out Jordan Nobbs. Another good move. England look assured in both boxes, but Sweden are seeing plenty of the ball in midfield. And now Jakobsson wins the visitors another corner. Rubensson, on her 59th appearance for her country, swings it in but England clear their lines.
11 min: Alice Greenwood, the Manchester United captain, does well to fend off the Sweden challenge down the left and England rebuild. Mead takes over, but she cannot control the return pass from Rachel Daly. A few green shoots for the hosts.
10 min: Sweden are still edging things, having won the first corner of the game and now a free-kick, 25 yards from goal. Houghton clears, and England look to break through Beth Mead but the Sweden goalkeeper gobbles it up.
7 min: Houghton plays a flighted ball over the top of Sweden midfield but it does not outwit their defence, as Amanda Ilestedt clears with Daly in close proximity.
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5 min: Somebody in the crowd is playing the trumpet or similar. With it, they are playing Baby Shark. A family favourite ...
4 min: Houghton buys a foul out of Asllani. Clever play. Carly Telford will boot the ball upfield and look to get England in the ascendency.
3 min: Izzy Christiansen has England’s first effort on goal – but it’s always rising. It opened up nicely for her, on the edge of the box, after Lucy Bronze made a promising foray down the right.
2 min: A shaky opening couple of minutes by England, with Sweden dominating plenty of the early possession. A lively start by Anna Anvegard.
1 min: Sweden are straight on the front foot and Kosovare Asllani, once of Manchester City, drops an effort just wide early of the post. A very sluggish start by the hosts.
Peeeeeeeeeeeep!
Sweden get us under way ... at the New York Stadium.
The entire stadium rises to applaud Steph Houghton, on the day of her 100th cap. Her family are watching on. It’s a really hearty moment. We’ve had the pre-match handshakes and national anthems, so we are just a minute’s silence – to mark Remembrance Sunday – away from kick-off.
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Headline team news: there are wholesale changes for England, a totally different XI to the one that dispatched Austria. There is a landmark 100th appearance for the England captain Steph Houghton, while Nikita Parris, another Manchester City player, is among those restored to the starting lineup. For the visitors, there are a few familiar faces in the shape of the goalkeeper Hedwig Lindahl and the centre-back Magdalena Eriksson. Both won the Women’s Super League with Chelsea last season.
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The teams!
England: Telford; Bronze, Greenwood, Houghton, Bright; Scott, Christiansen, Nobbs, Mead; Daly, Parris
Subs: Earps, Roebuck, Blundell, McManus, Williamson, George, Staniforth, Duggan, Carney, Stanway, Lawley, Ubogagu
Sweden: Lindahl; J Andersson, Eriksson, Ilestedt, Sembrant; Samuelsson, Seger, Anvegard, Rubensson; Asllani, Jakobsson
Subs: C Andersson, Musovic, Bjorn, Karlernas, Hurtig, Folkesson, Carlsson, Rolfo, Roddar, Schough, Spetsmark
Referee: Petra Pavlikova
Preamble
Back on home soil after a convincing win in Vienna, Phil Neville’s side can extend their unbeaten run to nine matches with a win over Sweden. Steph Houghton, the England captain, will win her 100th cap against Peter Gerhardsson’s Sweden, who are ranked ninth in the world. Neville is expected to name a more experienced side in front of a sellout crowd in Rotherham, with debutants Chioma Ubogagu and Georgia Stanway both striking last time out. This is another opportunity to foster some momentum towards next summer’s World Cup in France. “As a group of staff and players we have been relentless in our work towards the World Cup,” the Lionesses manager said. “We want to arrive in France in the best possible shape. We all just want to fast-forward to next June and get the tournament started because it’s a hugely exciting time to be involved with this team.” While we await some concrete team news, here’s a reminder of Neville’s 23-strong squad:
Goalkeepers: Mary Earps (Wolfsburg), Ellie Roebuck (Man City), Carly Telford (Chelsea) Defenders: Hannah Blundell (Chelsea), Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Lyon), Gabby George (Everton), Alex Greenwood (Man Utd), Steph Houghton (Man City), Abbie McManus (Man City), Leah Williamson (Arsenal) Midfielders: Isobel Christiansen (Lyon), Karen Carney (Chelsea), Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), Jill Scott (Man City), Lucy Staniforth (Birmingham), Georgia Stanway (Man City), Melissa Lawley (Man City) Forwards: Rachel Daly (Houston Dash), Toni Duggan (Barcelona), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Nikita Parris (Man City), Chioma Ubogagu (Brisbane Roar, loan from Orlando Pride)
Kick-off: 1.30pm (GMT)
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