19 mins: More nice play from England as Taylor and Kirby combine, and the latter opens out her body to try curling in a shot from the left side of the area, but doesn’t get nearly enough power on the shot and it’s easily saved.
16 mins: Incidentally, the replays of that penalty claim in the 9th minute suggest it should certainly have been a spot kick. Taylor’s shins were taken out by the keeper, otherwise she would’ve been in.
15 mins: This New Zealand defence might as well be soundtracked with a swannee whistle. Yet another ludicrous pass – this time from Bowen, I think – along the ground, back into their own crowded penalty area, is jumped all over by Taylor who tries to clip over the keeper, but Nayler does well to dive at her feet and smother the chance.
14 mins: Another chance for England as Taylor absolutely rinses Moore for pace, she takes it around the keeper but nobody could keep up with her so her cut-back was mopped up by that wheezing defence. Erceg hoofs clear with the urgency of someone throwing a hand grenade out of a house.
12 mins: Sloppy as New Zealand have been with their passing at the back, England have made sure they’re in the position to capitalise on those mistakes. On the touchline, Neville seems keen to ensure the energy is high, that the players don’t slack even when taking throw-ins.
9 mins: More circus defending from New Zealand lets Taylor in. She takes a slightly heavy touch, tries to go round the keeper but goes to ground, with a hint of a foul from Nayler before the striker can get the shot away. No penalty given, and there’s no real protests of note either.
7 mins: England look lively so far. The passing is crisp, the movement is sharp. They get a free-kick out on the left, which is played short to Kirby who clips it into the box where Taylor flicks the header on, but straight at the keeper.
5 mins: Ooof, very nearly a calamity for New Zealand, as Moore underhits a backpass and Nayler is slow to come off her line: not a brilliant combo, and the scuttling Fran Kirby very nearly gets in to nick the ball, but the keeper eventually lumbers into the correct position and clears. Nayler miscontrolled a pass just before that too: nerves? Uncertainty? A sense they’d rather be kicking back on the beach with a beer?
3 mins: Bronze tries to clip a pass from deep on the right over the top, looking for the run of Taylor, but it’s just too far ahead of her.
1 min: New Zealand kick off, and knock it around at the back a bit. England stand off initially but press when they advance up the field a bit more. Someone in the crowd has a drum, which may get trying.
England assistant Bev Priestman is being interviewed by the BBC, and she sort of suggests that this team won’t be the one to start against Scotland, at least partly because they don’t want to give any of their opponents a look at what that team might be. It is worth remembering that Neville has never named an unchanged team, so none of this is a particular surprise.
It looks bloody glorious at the Amex, by the way. Sun shining on the south coast, beautiful pitch, full house: magic.
And here’s Suzanne’s interview with Georgia Stanway, on the bench today but who should still play a good part in the tournament ahead.
At 16 Georgia Stanway upped sticks to pursue football. “‘Not many people leave Barrow’ – that’s what’s said,” says the forward. But that is what it took. And now, at 20, she is the youngest member of Phil Neville’s squad for the World Cup. She is no shock inclusion nor is she along for the ride. Stanway is determined to feature and will likely get game time in France.
But England, though. Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s scene-setter for the game ahead today:
While this is the last chance for some of the squad players to give their manager a starting XI selection headache, Neville has been frustrated with this latest round of friendlies and is desperate for the tournament to begin. “We’ve prepared for them for so long now that the talking is over,” he said. “Let’s just get out to France. There’s nothing more we can do on the training ground with them. They’re prepared, they understand the system, they have a clarity of everything.”
The Heraf affair turned pretty ugly, all in. The Austrian coach was accused of assorted sorts of bullying, intimidation and other forms of highly unprofessional behaviour, with no fewer than 12 players sending letters to NZ Football outlining concerns. He denied it all, claiming that the players simply couldn’t handle his “European” style of management and basically that they were a bunch of great big softies.
What of New Zealand, then. Well, they got absolutely hosed by the USA a few weeks ago, losing 5-0 but a 2-1 win over Mexico not long after that might have settled nerves a little. In any case, things are better than they were a year ago, when half the team refused to play under former head coach Andreas Heraf because of, among other things, his tactics that made Jose Mourinho look like Zdenek Zemen.
“You can see how I couldn’t stand to wear that fern on my chest any more when his vision was to cower in a corner and not get beat by too much,” said Abby Erceg, the former captain and one of the players who chose no international football over Heraf’s international football. However, since former USA and Australia coach Tom Sermanni took over last year, things have looked up rather, and they secured qualifications with a series of batterings over the admittedly modest competition in Oceania.
They actually have one more warm-up game after this, against Wales on Tuesday, before their tournament starts against the Netherlands a week later.
So that looks like Lucy Bronze will play at right-back, with Fran Kirby just behind Jodie Taylor in a 4-2-3-1. Jill Scott is on the bench, while Demi Stokes, Jade Moore and Rachel Daly are the three members of the squad not on the bench at all.
Team news
England
Telford; Bronze, Houghton, McManus, Greenwood; Staniforth, Walsh; Parris, Kirby, Duggan; Taylor. Subs: Bardsley, Brighton, Scott, Williamson, White, Stanway, Carney, Mean, Roebuck, Blundell.
New Zealand
Nayler; Percival, Erceg, Bott, Moore, Stott, Riley, Gregorius, Hassett, White, Bowen. Subs: Esson, Olla, Green, Kete, Longo, Morton, Duncan, Wilkinson, Skilton, Satchell, Cleverley, Chance.
Updated
Preamble
Here we go then. One more tune-up before the big dance. The general vibe about all of these games ahead of a big tournament is that the players would rather be doing anything else, itching to get started with the actual important stuff, which in England’s case is a week tomorrow against Scotland in Nice.
But this one might actually mean something. Phil Neville has been keen to mix things up a bit, to give as many players as possible a go so as to make sure everyone’s on their toes ahead of the World Cup, something made all the more convincing by the fact few know what England’s first-choice starting XI will be, the midfield in particular basically being three names thrown in the air and landing in whatever arrangement lands. There is a sense that there are genuinely players who have a chance of breaking into the team, or cementing their places…or perhaps that’s just what Neville wants us/them to think.
“I have trust in every single one of my players,” said Neville. “That means there are 23 players available for selection tomorrow and fighting for a place against Scotland, Argentina and Japan. They know their value and know their profile in certain positions and certain games that will help us become successful.”
Will this game offer any clues to his first-choice team? Does he even have a first-choice team? It will be a slightly curious occasion, a game which everyone would rather not be playing and where everyone is mainly trying not to get injured while at the same time attempting to make a good impression. Should be interesting, at least. Stick around.
Kick-off: 13.00 BST.