Playing in Boca Raton, on a pitch that would have been deemed poor even in Sunday league football, England struggled to find any rhythm and the first half was one of negative tactics, and the inability of the England team to create or hold onto the ball, up against a France side that looked fluent and dangerous in the attack.  The saviour for England was the poor finishing of France, who squandered several really good chances to score.

It wasn’t until the final few minutes of the first half that England began to find some composure and string decent passes together and they created perhaps their best chance of the game when Demi Stokes went close, after a delightful through ball from Jill Scott.

The second half couldn’t have been more different, England finally took the game to France, defended high up the pitch, creating an off-side trap that France were unable to beat.

England now had their own chances, but they too were unable to find the back of the net.  In the end a draw was probably a fair result, which on its own shows how much improvement the team has made.  Three games in a short period of time, and in  pre-season for England, has no doubt been difficult.

Eni Aluko came on for Toni Duggan and earned her 100^th cap – as a tribute Steph Houghton gave her the captain’s armband.

Mark Sampson commented after the game that the team were in a good place after a tough tournament, against three of the best sides in the world.  He felt the girls would learn a lot from this and would be able to kick on and improve again.

In the final match of the tournament the USA beat Germany 2-1; Anja Mittag scored first for Germany but the USA came back with two goals within 6 minutes with Samantha Mewis leveling the score and Alex Morgan scoring the winner.  Morgan was awarded the Golden Boot for her goals in the tournament and Hope Solo the Golden Glove for only letting in one goal.  Although teams were so closely matched that none of the games were won by more than one goal.

Apologies for the quality of the image.

Teams:

England (4-4-2): 1 Karen Bardsley (Manchester City); 12 Alex Scott (Arsenal), 5 Steph Houghton (C; Manchester City), 15 Casey Stoney (Arsenal), 14 Claire Rafferty (Chelsea); 4 Fara Williams (Arsenal), 7 Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), 17 Katie Chapman (Chelsea), 11 Demi Stokes (Manchester City); 8 Jill Scott (Manchester City), 19 Toni Duggan (Manchester City).

Substitutes: 20 Eniola Aluko (Chelsea) for Duggan 56, 2 Lucy Bronze (Manchester City) for A Scott 69, 10 Karen Carney (Chelsea) for Stokes 71.

Substitutes not used: 3 Alex Greenwood (Liverpool), 13 Siobhan Chamberlain (Liverpool), 16 Laura Bassett (Notts County), 18 Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City), 22 Fran Kirby (Chelsea), 23 Gemma Davison (Chelsea).

Head coach: Mark Sampson

France: 21 Meline Gerard, 4 Laura Georges, 5 Sabrina Delannoy (C), 8 Jessica Houra D’Hommeaux, 10 Camille Abily, 11 Claire Lavogez, 12 Elodie Thomis, 14 Louisa Necib, 18 Marie-Laure Delie, 22 Amel Majri, 23 Kheira Hamraoui.

Substitutes: 19 Griedge Mbock Bathy for Georges 54, 9 Eugenie Le Sommer for Necib 59, 15 Elise Bussaglia for Abily 77, 6 Viviane Asseyi for Lavogez 86.

Substitutes not used: 1 Laetitia Philippe, 2 Kelly Gadea, 3 Marion Torrent, 7 Charlotte Bilbault, 13 Marie-Charlotte Leger, 16 Sarah Bouhaddi, 17 Aurelie Kaci, 20 Kadidiatou Diani.

Head coach: Philippe Bergeroo

Referee: Gillian Martindale (BRB)

Next up for the England team is next month’s Euro qualifier against Belgium at Rotherham United (on Friday 8 April, 7.55pm KO).

Tickets for the game are on sale now priced £5 for adults and £2.50 for children. A family ticket (two adults and two children) is available at £10 and group booking discounts apply.

Tickets can be bought via TheFA.com/Tickets, by calling 08444 140 754 or in person at the Rotherham United ticket office.

Worse was to come when Fara Williams believed she had been fouled by Alexandra Popp only for the referee to award Germany a penalty.  Williams rightly thought that Popp had kicked her foot and was outraged by the decision.

Toni Duggan’s had headed England into the lead on 9 minutes but unfortunately it was not enough.

Fara Williams was awarded her 150th cap and was given the honour of leading the side out onto the pitch in Nashville – amazing achievement from the 32 year old.

England have now lost both their games in the competition and will face France, who were beaten earlier in the day by the USA 1-0. They will play France on Wednesday with both sides looking for their first win of the competition.

Next up in the double header at Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Florida was the tie the locals were waiting for World Champions USA against England.

As in the last occasion these two had met, in February last year at Milton Keynes the game had few clear cut chances and the winning goal was created out of nothing by Crystal Dunn who’d come on as substitute just ten minutes earlier.  Dunn collected a pass from Meghan Klingenberg and created space for herself by spinning away from the defender and rifled the ball into the top corner well out of Karen Bardsley’s reach.

England will be disappointed but they come into this tournament having last played in November and it is a measure of how far the team has come that they now expect encounters with the top teams in the world to be winnable.

The team now go on to Nashville where they will Germany on Sunday with USA and France as part of the second double-header in this tournament.

Teams:

USA: 1 Hope Solo, 2 Mallory Pugh, 4 Becky Sauerbrunn, 5 Kelley O’Hara, 7 Meghan Klingenberg, 10 Carli Lloyd (C), 13 Alex Morgan, 14 Morgan Brian, 15 Emily Sonnett, 17 Tobin Heath, 22 Lindsey Horan.

Substitutes: 12 Christen Press for Horan 63, 16 Crystal Dunn for Pugh 67, 8 Julie Johnson for Morgan 80, 11 Ali Krieger for O’Hara 80, 6 Whitney Engen for Klingenberg 90.

Substitutes not used: 3 Samantha Mewis , 9 Heather O’Reilly, 18 Ashlyn Harris, 19 Jaelene Hinkle, 20 Lauren Barnes, 21 Alyssa Naeher.

Goal: Dunn 72

Head coach: Jill Ellis

England (4-4-2): 1 Karen Bardsley (Manchester City); 2 Lucy Bronze (Manchester City), 5 Steph Houghton (C; Manchester City), 6 Gilly Flaherty (Chelsea), 3 Alex Greenwood (Liverpool); 4 Fara Williams (Arsenal), 7 Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), 8 Jill Scott (Manchester City), 11 Demi Stokes (Manchester City); 19 Toni Duggan (Manchester City), 9 Jodie Taylor (Portland Thorns).

Substitutes: 18 Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City) for Greenwood 65, 10 Karen Carney (Chelsea) for Williams 77, 22 Fran Kirby (Chelsea) for Taylor 78, 20 Eniola Aluko (Chelsea) for Duggan 88.

Substitutes not used: 12 Alex Scott (Arsenal), 13 Siobhan Chamberlain (Liverpool), 14 Claire Rafferty (Chelsea), 15 Casey Stoney (Arsenal), 16 Laura Bassett (Notts County), 17 Katie Chapman (Chelsea), 21 Carly Telford (Notts County), 23 Gemma Davison (Chelsea).

Booking: Greenwood

Head coach: Mark Sampson

Referee: Tatiana Guzman (NIC)

Attendance: 13,027
You can find out more about the England team a the FA site here.

Captain Steph Houghton says England are in America for one reason only – to win the tournament.

Mark Sampson’s side will take on the host nation at 12.45am GMT (Friday 4 March) before facing reigning European champions Germany in Nashville on Sunday and France, ranked third in the world, in Boca Raton next Wednesday.

Tonight’s match is live on BBC One.

And although the opposition couldn’t get any harder on paper, Houghton believes her side must have the belief they can come out on top against their high-calibre opponents.

The 27-year-old said: “We have to believe that we’re good enough [to win the tournament]. The confidence in this squad is sky high.  We have to have that winning mentality, like we showed against Germany at the World Cup, especially because at that time we were coming off the back of that semi-final defeat to Japan.

“The world rankings don’t lie in terms of USA, Germany and France being one, two and three.  It’s important for us to be playing those types of teams.  We shouldn’t be going into these games fearing the worst. We should be looking to get the win.”

All FA WSL are still in pre-season, with the season set to begin on Wednesday 23 March, and England haven’t played a match since November, while in contrast USA have played six matches since the turn of the year.

But Houghton will refuse to use a lack of match fitness as an excuse for a poor result in Tampa.  She said: “A lot of the girls have had pre-season friendlies with their clubs.

“At the moment the whole squad is feeling fit, fresh and raring to go. You do miss these types of games when you haven’t played international football for two or three months. But we can’t use that as an excuse. It’s up to us to be firing on all cylinders.

“Hopefully we can get some really good results over here.”

England’s next home game is a UEFA Women’s Euros 2017 qualifier against Belgium in Rotherham on Friday 8 April (7.55pm KO).

Tickets for the game are on sale now priced £5 for adults and £2.50 for children.  A family ticket priced £10 (two adults and two children) is also available and group booking discounts apply.  Tickets can be bought via www.TheFA.com/Tickets or by calling 08444 140 754.

Pictured above Steph Houghton with Continental Cup 2014.

For more information please visit the FA here. 

Report courtesy of the FA

England She Believes schedule:

v USA, 12.45am, Friday 4 March

v Germany, 10.45pm, Sunday 6 March

v France, 10pm, Wednesday 9 March

England’s opener against the hosts and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup winners USA in Tampa, Florida will be live on BBC One on Friday 4 March (12.45am GMT KO).

They then travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on European champions Germany on Sunday 6 March (10.45pm GMT KO) and finish against France in Boca Raton, Florida on Wednesday 9 March (10pm GMT KO).

All the matches will be live on the BBC, across a mix of BBC One and Red Button coverage with all matches streamed online via the BBC Sport website.

England’s next home match will be a UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 qualifier against Belgium on Friday 8 April (7.55pm KO).

Tickets for the game, which will take place at Rotherham United’s AESSEAL New York Stadium, are on sale now priced £5 for adults and £2.50 for children.

A family ticket (two adults and two children) is available at £10 and group booking discounts apply.

Tickets can be bought via www.TheFA.com/Tickets, by calling 08444 140 754 or in person at the Rotherham United ticket office.

You can read more about the England women here.

Full Squad:

Goalkeepers: Karen Bardsley (Manchester City), Siobhan Chamberlain (Liverpool), Carly Telford (Notts County).

Defenders: Laura Bassett (Notts County), Lucy Bronze (Manchester City), Gilly Flaherty (Chelsea), Alex Greenwood (Liverpool), Steph Houghton (Manchester City), Claire Rafferty (Chelsea), Alex Scott (Arsenal), Demi Stokes (Manchester City), Casey Stoney (Arsenal).

Midfielders: Katie Chapman (Chelsea), Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City), Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), Jill Scott (Manchester City), Fara Williams (Arsenal).

Forwards: Eniola Aluko (Chelsea), Karen Carney (Chelsea), Gemma Davison (Chelsea), Toni Duggan (Manchester City), Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Jodie Taylor (Portland Thorns).