STADIUM OF LIGHT — Sunderland played host to a homecoming. This was England’s first game since Sydney, and the regret and rue of losing a World Cup final can easily fester if left untreated.
The Stadium of Light allowed their public to massage egos and shower a little love on those who felt a long way from home on that miserable August evening. This was the start of something, a cycle that will take them to Switzerland and a hopeful title defence. It was also the end of something else; the commiserations en masse are the epitaph of the World Cup campaign.
Neither evolution nor revolution – more like progression. Three changes of personnel but the same shape and the same ethos. Play on the front foot, use the wing-backs to create overloads out wide and thus suck in opponents to create space for Lauren James infield. Two of the changes were enforced – no Keira Walsh through injury and no Alessia Russo until Tuesday in the Netherlands.
England’s brightest spark was a replacement. Katie Zelem is no Walsh replica and few in the world could replace her, but Zelem was tidy and, when required, progressive too. She misplaced a single pass in the first half, created two chances and assisted the first of two England headers from those stealing in at the back post like a thief in the night.
If the positivity is allowed to end there after competitive victory, it must. Scotland have lost to Ireland and Iceland in 2023, missing out on the World Cup when that was a realistic expectation. But they troubled England deeply with significantly less of the ball and fewer resources when they got it.
Kirsty Hanson scored one scruffy goal and came closer than anyone on the pitch after half-time. Her lobbed shot, bouncing back off a crossbar, made Earps look like a boundary fielder ruefully watching a pinch hitter’s work sail over his head and six rows back.
There is mitigation. The sluggishness of Arsenal in the Champions League was marked down to a late World Cup and over-zealous start date to 2023-24. This international break tastes like cold soup to WSL managers and coaches. The players will not fully concur, but there was an emphatic preseason energy to England’s second half.
But the Lionesses are striving for flawlessness under a perfectionist. In that environment, a pressure deliberately self-created to demand the best, any mistake is a cause for censure. England’s defence make enough to keep Sarina Wiegman in paracetamol. They have now conceded in five of their last six games and nine of their last 13. They are too good to come under sustained scrutiny by non-elite nations; that’s not the point. Their errors are in concentration and subconscious complacency.
Alex Greenwood is a fine example. She is an impeccable central defender with the ball at her feet and the feet of an opponent. There is no excuse for her to sloppily underhit and misplace a pass on the edge of her own penalty area. The rise in the quality below the highest echelon of international football is reflected best in your chances of being punished for your carelessness.
That defensive record is less forgivable given the leader who stands behind them. We are used to flair players being cheered every time they get the ball – a No 10, perhaps, or a winger with socks rolled below the knee and the promise of swagger in their smile. It is far rarer for a goalkeeper.
Mary Earps commands that hero worship. She is the best goalkeeper in the world by a distance and the fitting personification of Wiegman’s work in this country. Her save from Caroline Weir at 0-0 was exceptional and met with a goalscoring cheer. We can marvel at her improvement and mither that we have to see the evidence so frequently.
Is this a cousin of that other great cliche? Is being criticised for victory like winning when playing badly, the reverse back-handed compliment? Perhaps. But it didn’t feel much like it when another England player squandered possession in midfield and England’s goalkeeper bailed them out again.
“Mary, Mary, Mary,” rang around the chant in the Stadium of Light. England’s emergency service is spending a lot of time on the road with the blue light flashing.
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