England’s Lionesses are competing in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The team’s build-up has been anything but plain sailing, though, with injuries to Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby, as well as the end of a 30-match unbeaten run under Sarina Wiegman, threatening to dampen the optimism heading into England’s biggest test since becoming European champions last summer.
Here’s who they face.
Denmark
Friday 28 July – England vs Denmark, 9.30am (BBC or iPlayer)
Ever treading a tightrope between dark horses and disappointment, Denmark have been sorely missed at recent World Cups.
Their failure to qualify for 2019 was a huge shock after they had made the European Championship final two years earlier, but it came amid an ongoing pay dispute that saw the Danes withdraw from several matches in the build-up, including qualifiers.
This will be a final goodbye for manager Lars Sondergaard, who will be hoping to avoid another underwhelming showing like in 2022, when Denmark scored just one goal and crashed out of the Euros at the group stages.
China
Tuesday 1 August – China vs England, 12pm (ITV or ITVX)
Perhaps the trajectory of China’s women’s team might have been different had its sliding doors moment in 1999 gone the other way, losing out to the USA on penalties in the World Cup final of that year. Shui Qingxia, one of their pre-eminent midfielders of that eras, is now in the dugout.
Whereas the men’s Chinese Super League sought to attract the world’s most high-profile stars to the Far East, the women’s side is an exports business – operating with some success, Li Mengwen and Yang Lina both loaned to Paris Saint-Germain until recently. The vast majority of the squad are nevertheless representing the Super League Women.
They head into the World Cup looking to better their run to the last 16 in 2019, and buoyed by their Asia Cup triumph – though they were humbled at the last Olympics in 2021 when they finished bottom of their group after being hit for eight by the Netherlands.
Who have they already played?
Haiti
England played Haiti on Saturday 22 July, winning the game 1 – 0. Haiti were ranked 53rd in the world, but gave a competitive performance against the European champions.
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