The biggest foes face off, neighbour and half of the countries that make up the United Kingdom.
England and Wales are not the football scrap that is England and Germany, which has a rich football history. This game is about national pride.
England bounced back from a surprise 2-1 defeat to France to dominate against the Netherlands, keeping a clean sheet.
While Wales have lost both of their games and are on the verge of being kicked out of the competition, Jess Fishlock did score the first goal in the France game, the first Wales women’s goal at any major tournament, and it had to go to the all-timer that is Fishlock.
We also saw Sophie Ingles return to the pitch after tearing her ACL in September.
England Strengths
- attacking firepower- Lauren James, Georgia Stanway, Alessia Russo and Ella Toone can score multiple goals.
- Tactical resilience- coming from a disappointing result, and showcasing why they are the favourites for this competition
- Young talent- the young supers-sub of Michelle Ageymang offers fresh attacking depth.
Wales
- Will want to win or score against their biggest rival and stick it up to the English
- They must ensure England cannot score; they prevent the Dutch from scoring for 45 minutes.
- They have Veterans in Jess Fishlock and Sophie Ingles, who bring experience and have played in big games for the club.
- Bus crash on the way to training before the France game likely impacted the players mentality also the training session was cancelled.
England: If they win and the French win, then the Lionesses will go through. It could be a goal difference, so the more goals, the better.
England and Wales have played each other four times since 2013, all of which were won by England. Overall, England scored nine goals to Wales' 0 goals.
This is not just a football rivalry; it spans all sports, especially rugby.
The English will not see this as a big rivalry like Germany or Spain in the women’s game, but for Wales, it would mean a lot to be the Lionesses
The rivalry between Team GB and Northern Ireland has been amplified in women's football at the Olympics. In 2012, no Welsh players were present, and only 16/18 of the players were. In Tokyo, only Sophie Ingles was chosen as one of three non-English players in the squad, which does not represent the countries.
Recently, a Tesco in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, displayed a Lucozade advert featuring England players, which was labelled as ‘deeply disturbing'.
Add comment
Comments