Thanks for following along with us. Be sure to check out Suzanne Wrack’s full match report from Nashville.
“Obviously there’s a lot of things we need to fix from the last two games,” Megan Rapinoe says. “There’s some great lessons in here for us, but we have to learn them. Too many tactical errors, too many defensive lapses. We have to learn from them quickly.”
The US have conceded multiple goals in back-to-back matches for the first time since 2012. Has it dented the World Cup holders’ confidence with 97 days left until France 2019?
“I don’t think so,” Rapinoe says. “You just have to keep pushing. We were really close a few times at the end of the game. But it’s not going to show up. You have to make it happen.”
Full time: USA 2-2 England
A fair result all things considered. An inspired performance over the final 70 minutes following a sluggish start by Phil Neville’s side, while a deflated USA are left to sort things out after one win in four matches to start 2019.
Updated
90 min+4: Rapinoe is sent through and goes down amid a cluster of defenders in the area. She looks toward to the referee but doesn’t get the penalty and the crowd jeers. A very physical finish here but it’s cleared toward the middle third and the full-time whistle blows.
90 min+3: Morgan sprints toward a long ball but Bardsley springs off her line and corrals it before she can arrive.
90 min+1: ... Taylor keys the brisk counter and finds Duggan on the left side, but the Barcelona winger’s shot is saved by Franch.
90 min: Rapinoe wins a free kick from distance. She sends it into the area for Morgan but the striker, sitting on 99 international goals, can’t redirect it on target. Now England are on the counter-attack through Taylor as the fourth official signals for a minimum of four minutes of stoppage time ...
89 min: The England corner is easily cleared and the US are keeping the ball and building up in attack.
88 min: Lloyd enters the game for Crystal Dunn with Ertz shifting to the back line. And Neville answers with an attacking sub of his own, inserting Jodie Taylor for Parris. Both teams going for it. And just like that: England have won their first corner of the match.
85 min: England win a free kick from distance, but Duggan offering sails past the area (and a conspicuously unmarked Steph Houghton) and out for a goal kick. Meanwhile, Carli Lloyd has risen from the US bench and is getting loose.
80 min: Phil Neville is making another substitution as 20-year-old Georgia Stanway, who fired in six goals at last year’s U-20 World Cup, enters for the Ellen White, who didn’t get much service today.
77 min: The industrious Heath wins a free kick for the US near the corner on the left side. Rapinoe drives it to the near post to an onrushing Julie Ertz, but her header skims off the woodwork and out for a goal kick.
74 min: Houghton comes off and it’s unclear if she’s leaving for good. The confirmed sub for England is Beth Meade for Fran Kirby.
72 min: A deflection off a Rapinoe header fires directly into Houghton’s face and the medical staff are on the field to examine her for a head injury.
70 min: The US have been a different team, simply dominating the midfield, since Sam Mewis came on only a few short minutes ago.
GOAL! USA 2-2 England (Heath, 67 min)
The Lionesses have struggled on their set pieces today and it finally comes back to bite them. Another well-placed Rapinoe corner prompts a wild scramble in front of the England net which finally ends when Heath fires it into the goal. It appeared to go off the hand of the last England defender on the line, but it went in anyway. It’s Heath’s 26th international goal and we’re back on level terms at Nissan Stadium.
THE EQUALIZER.@TobinHeath. Too clutch. pic.twitter.com/3poSZodqlq
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) March 2, 2019
Updated
65 min: And Mewis makes her presence knows immediately, springing Rapinoe on a gorgeous ball up the left side. Rapinoe speeds ahead of her trailing defender and swings it in to Morgan, but it’s cleared.
64 min: Another sub for the US as Mewis comes on for Lavelle.
62 min: Oh boy. Dahlkemper is caught with her head in the clouds and is intercepted by a fast-closing Ellen White, who has a point-blank attempte that just misses wide left. The US are lucky to not be down 3-1. Unbelievably sloppy play in the back for the Americans right now.
60 min: And Sauerbrunn comes in for Kelley O’Hara, who put in a strong hour’s work as she works her minutes back up following a right ankle injury that required arthroscopic surgery at the end of last year.
55 min: Christen Press is on for Pugh with Heath dropping back into the midfield. The US have conceded multiple goals in consecutive games for the first time in seven years.
Updated
GOAL! USA 1-2 England (Parris, 53 min)
Wonderful connectivity by England down the center of the park starting with Bronze and ending with Kirby’s nifty flick to Parris, who sneaks inside the back line and slides it past Franch. Parris’s 11th international goal is a thing of beauty and the US are trailing for the first time in the tournament.
➡️ @LucyBronze ➡️ @frankirby ➡️ @lilkeets ➡️ 🥅
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) March 2, 2019
Great move – great goal! 👏 pic.twitter.com/O4t3OUVyl0
Updated
50 min: Bit of a slow start to the second half. Have to imagine Jill Ellis will be looking down the bench for Christen Press (a/k/a Sojourner Truth) sooner than later.
46 min: And they’re off in the second half. And only seconds in Parris is down with injury. She’s back up after a brief pause, though, and we’ve resumed.
Half-time: USA 1-1 England
There’s nothing to separate the No 1 and No 4 sides in the Fifa rankings after two wonderful goals and, after a bit of a wasteful start, some beautiful technical football on both ends.
Updated
43 min: The US win another corner but England deal with it. Half-time drawing near.
40 min: The US have looked sharper in attack in that 3-4-3 today and appear to have reverted back into it after the goal with the outside backs pushing out wide and O’Hara and Dunn pushing up the field.
Updated
GOAL! USA 1-1 England (Houghton, 36 min)
And Houghton bends it the free kick inside the far side by Franch! A bad mistake by the rookie goalkeeper and we’re level in Nashville.
Super @stephhoughton2! 💥 pic.twitter.com/JM8vaCkpz9
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) March 2, 2019
Updated
35 min: England have won an indirect free kick from 16 yards away and have a real chance to equalize immediately.
GOAL! USA 1-0 England (Rapinoe, 33 min)
Dahlkemper springs O’Hara up the right side. O’Hara swings it across toward Morgan, but it’s met by an England defender ... only the clearance is poor and it falls to Rapinoe, who smashes it past Bardsley toward the near post. Bardsley didn’t even move. Absolutely cracking goal.
Perfection doesn't exi—
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) March 2, 2019
💥 @mPinoe 💥 pic.twitter.com/0Zgdrmq1Zi
Updated
30 min: A half hour down and the US have been on the front foot throughout in what for long stretches has looked like a 3-4-3, albeit with nothing to show for it.
Updated
27 min: Heath runs on to a long ball catching England’s back line a step behind and she’s brought down in the area. The referee takes a long look but doesn’t point to the spot, prompting a smattering of boos from the crowd.
23 min: A quarter of the way through and Franch has yet to be tested in her first international appearance. We’ve been told Naeher’s shoulder injury will sideline her from seven to 10 days, meaning Franch will likely get the call for Tuesday’s match with Brazil.
22 min: The US have dialed back the press markedly over the last 10 minutes, content to allow an uncharacteristically sloppy England give it away on their own in attack.
Updated
18 min: Ertz draws a foul from Fran Kirby and the US will have a free kick from distance. Rapinoe sails it in toward Morgan deep in the box but there’s contact and the whistle goes against the hosts. Bardsley, who hesitated to come off her line for a ball she surely was in position to punch clear, has been looking a bit tentative in the early stages.
16 min: Ertz takes a hard shoulder charge from Ellen White at the halfway line, winning a foul for the US. She’s down for a few extra moments but rises and play resumes.
14 min: The US are pressing high and trying to get numbers forward, but both sides have been a bit careless with the ball in the middle third over the last few minutes.
Updated
11 min: And Lavelle hustles back on. Interesting. Looked quite bad but she jogged it off briefly down the touchline and is back on.
9 min: Lavelle limps off the field and it looks as if the US will play with 10 for now with Heath sliding into the center midfield.
8 min: England deal with the corner and now Rose Lavelle (wearing the JK Rowling shirt) is down with a non-contact injury. She looks to be in a lot of pain.
7 min: The US are pouring it on here. A well-scripted attack up the right side through Heath, so industrious on Wednesday, who finds Rapinoe in the area. The forward rips a low shot that’s deflected out for another corner, already the USA’s third.
4 min: The US win another corner and it curls dangerously toward the net, but this one is cleared more efficiently and now it’s England building up the attack.
2 min: Rapinoe’s corner bends sharply into the teeth of the England defense and there’s chaos in front of the net. Nearly an early goal for the US, but McManus manages to clear it off the line.
1 min: And we’re off! The USA in blue are attacking from left to right, the Lionesses in red shirts and white shorts going from right to left. And just like that, the Americans spring an attack up the left side with Rapinoe playing through to Morgan, but it’s cleared past the goal line for a US corner.
The players are on the field. The anthems have been played. We should be under way any moment now. A cool 43F (6C) afternoon with a light wind in Tennessee today.
A bit of a injury news for the United States. First-choice goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was ruled out today with a minor shoulder injury. That means Adrianna Franch, the 28-year-old keeper of for the Portland Thorns and the two-time reigning NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, will be making her first international appearance.
The teams!
Here’s a look at today’s teams. One change for the Jill Ellis’s side from Wednesday’s draw with Japan (more on that in a bit) and four for the Lionesses from their win over Brazil.
A minor sartorial note: Each USA player will be wearing the name of a woman who’s personally inspired them on the back of their shirt in a nod to Women’s History Month. We’ve listed the names appearing on their shirts in italics, in case you were getting excited at the thought of a Sally Ride-Jennifer Lawrence center-back pairing.
USA
XI: Franch (Scurry), O’Hara (Hao), Dahlkemper (Lawrence), Davidson (Ride), Crystal Dunn (Serena), Ertz (Underwood), Pugh (Yoncé), Lavelle (Rowling), Heath (Burke), Morgan (Wambach), Rapinoe (Lorde)
Subs: Naeher (Roberts), Sonnett (Fey), Mewis (Hamm), Sauerbrunn (RBG), Sullivan (Mendoza), Lloyd (Malala), Short (Sowers), McDonald (Angelous), Fox (Delle Donne), Press (S. Truth), Harris (Cardi B), Zerboni (M. Teresa)
England
XI: Bardsley, McManus, Houghton, Stokes, Daly, Walsh, Bronze, Duggan, Parris, White, Kirby
Subs: Carney, Telford, Bonner, Greenwood, Ubogagu, Taylor, Christiansen, Earps, Williamson, Stanway, Mead, Staniforth
Each member of the USWNT has chosen the name of a woman who's personally inspired them to wear on the back of their shirt for the England match today. pic.twitter.com/4GJ2AbrprJ
— Bryan Armen Graham (@BryanAGraham) March 2, 2019
Updated
Preamble
Hello! Welcome to Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for the SheBelieves Cup match between the United States and England. Phil Neville’s Lionesses are off to a cracking start in the four-team, round-robin competition after Wednesday’s gripping 2-1 victory over Brazil, putting them alone atop the table with two games to go. But they’ll face an even taller challenge today against the World Cup holders, who are looking to bounce back from a 2-2 draw with Japan where they conceded a 91st-minute equalizer.
The United States have the advantage in the all-time head-to-head – 10 wins, four losses, one draw – but the matchups have been taut affairs. Their last four meetings were all decided by 1-0 scorelines. The USA won three of them but England nicked the other in this same tournament two years ago on Ellen White’s 89th-minute winner at Red Bull Arena in North Jersey. I was there. It was obscenely cold.
The most recent USA v England clash happened in last year’s SheBelieves Cup with the lone goal coming on a Megan Rapinoe cross that hit off England defender Millie Bright and keeper Karen Bardsley before spinning into the net.
Kickoff is a little over a half hour away. We’ll be back with the team sheets shortly.
Updated
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, why not check out the reports from Wednesday’s opening matches: England’s come-from-behind 2-1 win over Brazil and USA’s come-from-ahead 2-2 draw with Japan.
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