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LONDON — Reigning European champions England added another notch to their goalposts with a win over current World Cup champions the United States in a friendly at Wembley. The Lionesses prevailed 2-1, with Georgia Stanway’s penalty the difference after Lauren Hemp and Sophia Smith had both struck.
– Report: England 2-1 United States
Here are the major takeaways from a gripping October international friendly between two of the world’s best women’s national teams as both sides continue preparing for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
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Rapid Reaction
1. England prove themselves against world champions
Who is the big dog in world football? That was the question coming into what was still, at the end of the day, just a friendly match with little fundamentally riding on it.
England’s narrow win could go down as a result for the European Champions, who matched the visitors well, but it was a little bigger than that. It serves as a wider example not just of the team showing they were no longer afraid of a U.S. team known for making opponents uncomfortable, but of the ability of the team to be more fluid in Sarina Wiegman’s system. The choice of Lauren Hemp at centre-forward following Ellen White’s retirement and Alessia Russo’s late injury should have left the attack unbalanced, yet the winger showed her intelligence throughout even if the defence looked less than perfect with Williamson out of it.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)
For the U.S., who are still trying to recover from a disastrous showing (by their own standards) at the Olympics over a year ago, the match again raised more questions than it answered. Even where Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma shone for their country, doing all they could to book their tickets to the World Cup next summer, the fragility of a midfield lacking long-term absentee Julie Ertz proved to be the…
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Source : espn
