England’s women learnt a big lesson on Saturday night in a warm-up friendly for next summer’s European Championships.
That is to not make careless mistakes; otherwise better sides will expose those faults.
They learnt it the hard way in Paris, throwing away a two goal lead to draw 2-2 with Olympic semi-finalists France.
Individual lapses in concentration
There were more positives rather than negatives out of a decent team performance but individual lapses in concentration at the Charlety Stadium cost Hope Powell’s side.
Powell (pictured) told BBC Sport afterwards: “There were more positives than negatives. All in all it was a good contest and the good thing is we didn’t lose.
“France are a really good side and are highly ranked. We didn’t play particularly well in the first half but scored two goals. We actually played better in the second half but gave them two goals.
On a poor pitch surface, it was the home side that made the better start, with only some desperate tackles and blocks from England’s defenders keeping the scoreline at 0-0 until the 34th minute.
Les Bleus goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi lost her bearings and handled the ball outside of her penalty area. She was lucky to escape a dismissal, probably as this was a friendly game.
Her mistake was pounced on though and Steph Houghton is becoming one of the best players worldwide in the women’s game.
The Arsenal Ladies left back smashed the resulting free-kick into the top corner to give the visitors a slightly fortunate lead.
Showing fresh impetus
Rather than sit back and allow the French to return to their attacking flow, Powell’s side showed fresh impetus and added a second just five minutes later.
Rachel Yankey’s excellent cross was headed home by Jill Scott. The support was stunned and the Three Lions female side finally had a chance to beat France after many years of disappointment.
While it was nice to see an England unit play as a team rather than focus on individual talents, some wayward passing and the inevitable substitutions did interrupt any consistent rhythm to the match.
Powell did say afterwards: “It’s good to give players experience and most of them gave a really good account of themselves.”
However, it was a half-time change that backfired which brought France back into the game.
Winning only her second cap for the national side, Toni Duggan’s dreadful backpass was intercepted by the dangerous Marie-Laure Delie, who tapped the ball into the empty net.
Chances were at a premium for the hosts after that but they received another gift in the last eight minutes.
The year of their lives
An ambitious long ball over the top from the back worryingly caught out the English backline.
Delie pounced and lobbed Bristol goalkeeper and substitute Siobhan Chamberlain who was in a bad position to level the scores.
While France will take on fellow European qualifiers Holland in another friendly on Wednesday, the curtain has come down on England women’s campaign for 2012.
They have stretched their unbeaten run to five games and when you add in the Team GB experience from the Olympics, many of these players have had the year of their lives.
The draw for the 2013 UEFA Women’s European Championship takes place on 9 November, with the competition hosted in Sweden next summer.
Although there was a careless way this lead was thrown away, the experience will help the England team in the future.
To still hold one of the best European teams at home is a good achievement and paves the way forward that in 2013, Hope Powell’s England will have to be considered as dark horses to end up winning the competition.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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