Tom Garry is in Leuven tonight, and has sent this update from the ground:
As the sun drops behind the horizon at the end of a perfect, blue-sky spring Tuesday in the picturesque, student city of Leuven, both sets of players are warming up in front of me to the beating soundtrack of a long playlist of Belgian dance anthems.
In terms of the England team news, Sarina Wiegman had three big decisions – who to play up front with Alessia Russo injured, who to play on the left wing with Lauren James injured, and who to start in goal after more than a year of questions over whether Mary Earps or Hannah Hampton is the ‘number one’? The latter now appears to be the answer as Wiegman has selected Hampton for a third consecutive Lionesses game, giving her strongest indication yet that Earps has been replaced in the pecking order.
In attack, Wiegman has gone for the experienced Nikita Parris and the Chelsea youngster Aggie Beever-Jones, while one further change sees Jess Park replace Ella Toone in the No10 role. Belgium have been boosted by the return of their captain, Tessa Wullaert, who missed Friday’s game at Ashton Gate with a knock. The Inter striker will be the hosts’ most dangerous, pacy threat. England were caught on the counter-attack several times when losing 3-2 on this ground 18 months ago on a bad night all around for the Lionesses, as Alex Greenwood suffered a nasty concussion in that game. The few-hundred travelling fans away to my right will be hoping to make some happier memories this evening.
Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir, the Belgium manager, says her big hope for the evening is that she sees “more energy, more belief in themselves. I want to see my team believe in the plan throughout 90+ minutes.”
As we kill time while the clock ticks gently towards kick-off, here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report on England’s emphatic victory over these very opponents in Bristol on Friday:
In tonight’s other game in Group A3 Spain were 4-0 up against Portugal in less than half an hour, and that’s how the score remains with a few minutes to play before half-time. The Spaniards are, as I type, 13-0 up in shots.
The line-ups have been announced, and here they are:
Belgium: Lichtfus, Cayman, Tysiak, Deloose, Janssens, Philtjens, Vanhaevermaet, Teulings, Detruyer, Wullaert, Eurlings. Subs: Evrard, Bastiaen, Elyn, Delacauw, Missipo, Van Kerkhoven, De Caigny, Dhont, Wijnants, Blom, Toloba, Mathys.
England: Hampton, Bronze, Charles, Williamson, Bright, Walsh, Clinton, Park, Parris, Mead, Beever-Jones. Subs: Earps, Moorhouse, Turner, Carter, Morgan, Le Tissier, Parker, Kirby, Toone, Symonds, Naz, Agyemang.
Referee: Maria Caputi (Italy).
Halfway through their Nations League group-stage campaign and England sit proudly atop the group popularly known as A3, having won at home against both Spain and Belgium and drawn in Portugal. Belgium have not a single point to their name, though they were 2-1 up in Valencia back in February before the Spaniards scored two stoppage-time goals to turn the game around and, as various members of the England group have been talking about this week, they last time this fixture was played, a year and a half ago, the hosts won it 3-2.
“We didn’t play our best and it was at the back of the World Cup so we were struggling with our levels a bit,” Sarina Wiegman said. “How I see [this game] is that we really want to kind of get revenge on ourselves. We want to show that we are better than we were then and we can do a lot better.”
England are missing a string of senior players, including Lauren Hemp, Georgia Stanway and Alex Greenwood, who all have knee injuries, as well as Lauren James and Alessia Russo, who both pulled out over the weekend, and Chloe Kelly. The 19-year-old Arsenal forward Michelle Agyemang, who according to left-back Niamh Charles is “so pacy” and “can probably change a game in an instant” has been called up and could make her debut.
So, welcome! And may I suggest you start your evening by reading the Tom Garry preview I shamelessly stole most of that information from? You’re too kind.
Source: theguardian.com
