Beth Mead snatches win for England after Patrícia Morais howler

With Phil Neville feeling the heat, a scrappy Beth Mead goal salvaged a win for England against a stubborn Portugal team to end a bruising five-game winless run. A disjointed and blunt performance from the visiting team saw them struggling to create in Setúbal but goalkeeper Patrícia Morais’s error allowed Mead to pounce and means the England manager gets the vital win that breaks the cycle.

Neville said before the game that England are going through a period of suffering but that this time will pay dividends when the major tournaments come. “We want to be testing our players,” he said. “Can they have the mental, physical and technical resilience to get through 90 minutes under pressure, in front of big crowds when you have not won for five games? It will pay dividends when we get to the Olympics and Euro 2021. That’s the period we’re going through.”

However with the sun setting behind the Arrábida hills that overlook José Mourinho’s birthplace of Setúbal, Portugal were not willing to be a part of a change in narrative. Slipping into 4-1-4-1 Francisco Neto’s team stayed compact and frustrated the visiting side. It was extremely effective. Neville’s makeshift midfield of Lucy Bronze, Lucy Staniforth and Kiera Walsh, dominated possession but struggled find space between the lines leaving Beth England woefully isolated on her first start.

The Lionesses looked a little lost on the patchy turf of the Estádio do Bonfim and a Rachel Daly header from an Alex Greenwood corner inside two minutes, straight at goalkeeper Morais, was not a sign of things to come.

With Portugal targeting Greenwood, through Carolina Mendes and Ana Borges, the left-back seemingly became frustrated with a lack assistance from Mead in front of her. With 10 minutes played the home team looked to catch England on their first real break of the game, Lyon’s Jéssica Silva (a cousin of Bernardo Silva) wriggled free of Greenwood on the right and fed Mendes, who forced a clearance from Steph Houghton.

Bronze struggled with her positioning when England were out of possession but had the drive and know-how with the ball to look a threat whenever she touched it. Shortly after Portugal’s first effort the European player of the year played a piercing low through-ball to England but Morais read the move and got there a fraction ahead of the striker.

Mead had problems shaking Matilde Fidalgo from her tail but Bronze dummied a pass from Staniforth that allowed the Manchester City player to escape her Arsenal marker. Mead raced into the box and fired across goal but the stretching England could not quite get there.

Found by a cross-field pass from Houghton, Mead again looked to carve the opening, she drove to the byline before whipping a cross to the back post but just beyond the England and Nikita Parris.

As half-time approached Bronze screamed for a penalty after she was pulled back while through one-on-one but the referee waved away her appeals, perhaps because she had lost control of the ball.

Against Brazil on Saturday England had gone in at the break happy but without a goal to show for a strong performance. And on the stroke of half-time here they would again spurn the chance to take the lead. England found room on the left and popped a shot towards the back post but Monica Mendes was there to clear just ahead of Parris.

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In search of a less disjointed performance Neville shuffled the pack, pushing Bronze back into her more natural right-back berth by bringing on Jordan Nobbs for Rachel Daly and swapping England for Jodie Taylor.

Mead finally poked home the scrappy breakthrough goal on 72 minutes. It was a gift from the goalkeeper Morais, who dropped a looping cross at the near post leaving Mead to tap in from close range.

It is a win. And Neville will not care how it has come. “Ultimately you have to win football games. I’m not stupid, you have to win games,” he had said before this increasingly crucial tie. He may have been without a host of key players but this is a squad that should be able to cope regardless and with Germany in front of over 77,000 at Wembley up next they have a much bigger test ahead of them.

source: theguardian.com