It was not exactly a flawless performance but England head north to Valenciennes for Sunday’s last-16 game trailing a perfect record. Three wins out of three dictates that Phil Neville’s side top Group D, clearing the way for a meeting with one of the tournament’s best third-placed finishers by the Belgian border on Sunday.
Two goals from the recalled Ellen White – the first created courtesy of some superb skill on Georgia Stanway’s part – avenged the Lionesses’ defeat by Japan in the semi-finals of Canada 2015 yet was not quite sufficient to quell certain caveats about their ability to overcome the very best opponents.
Neville is clearly wedded to rotation in much the same way that he clearly cannot bear to remove his now hallmark match-day waistcoat. Here he made eight changes to Japan’s two. No coach at France 2019 has refreshed his starting XI as much as England’s.
With Nikita Parris, Fran Kirby and Beth Mead dropped to the bench, Toni Duggan, Stanway and Rachel Daly were deployed in attacking midfield roles as the Lionesses showed off their strength in depth. Indeed the start of the first half was arguably the best they have played since arriving in France, the only problem being that they seemed to lack the necessary powers of concentration to sustain such technical excellence and intelligent movement.
Whichever names combined on the pitch, this was always going to be a test of the Lionesses’ new found possession game and some of Japan’s razor sharp passing and rapid movement showed that England’s evolution still has some mileage to traverse. The difference was that, whereas Neville’s players took their chances, the 2011 champions and 2015 runners-up spurned a hatful after exposing sometimes alarming defensive vulnerabilities in the English backline.
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Yet such quibbles could not detract from Neville’s apparent Midas touch. His decision to recall Karen Bardsley in goal swiftly seemed vindicated when the Manchester City goalkeeper performed wonders to get both hands to Kumi Yokoyama’s wickedly swerving 35-yard free-kick and divert it for a corner.
The same could soon be said of his replacement of Kirby with Stanway in the No 10 role. An amalgam of a superb swivel and the use of her deceptive body strength to hold off Hina Sugita enabled Stanway to slip a superlative pass through to White.
Preferred to Jodie Taylor as the lone striker, White retained her composure commendably waiting for Ayaka Yamashita to advance before slickly lifting her shot beyond her and into the bottom corner. Neville celebrated so exuberantly he kicked over a row of water bottles before remembering his manners and picking them up.
With dusk descending on the hills overlooking the stadium, darkness came quickly but, as lights started coming on in scores of villas perched above the ground, they served chiefly to highlight the vast rows of empty seats. It seemed a shame so few were present to watch that Stanway/ White cameo but Fifa has clearly failed to address the logistical problems which make this such an awkward to reach venue from central Nice. Admittedly a new tram system is under construction but it is not due to open until shortly after the tournament ends.
Having finally boarded England’s train, Daly was making the most of her first World Cup start and forced Yamashita into a fine save following a stunning advance which saw her accelerate between Asako Takakura’s two centre halves.
Yet by now England’s passing was not always fast enough and, as the game wore on, there were chapters of play when they relaxed and lost the necessary intensity, allowing Japan to out-manoeuvre them.
There had been no such problems on the pitch at half-time where the Lionesses substitutes’ took part in enthusiastic Rondos – Neville’s beloved possession-based training exercise – which have become to represent something of a wider mission statement for this squad.
England initially raised their game as the second half unfolded, contributing some reassuringly speedy one-twos in the gloriously balmy night air at the end of a long hot day on the Cote D’Azur.
Maybe the heat fatigued them but once again the Lionesses failed to sustain their encouraging start to the half, turning increasingly slapdash as Japan repeatedly second-guessed them.
Granted Daly’s lovely chip to Lucy Bronze enabled the right-back to unleash a menacing cross but Duggan’s connection was far from true and Japan’s impressive goalkeeper made an eye-catching save to keep the resultant half-volley out.
Even so, only a sublime Steph Houghton tackle prevented a near certain goal from the substitute Yuika Sugasawa.
The time had come for Neville to make changes of his own and one, Karen Carney, reminded everyone of her enduring ability by releasing White with a typically clever, beautifully weighted pass. All that remained was for White to redirect the ball into the bottom corner.