Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report from Algeciras as England completed a successful training camp.
Sarina Wiegman spoke to ITV, too: “The whole camp pleased me. We had the opportunity to play many players, basically everyone except for Fran [Kirby], see what the level is, see players in some positions and the connection between players.
“I think [Wubben-Moy] definitely take a step forward because she’s developing a lot. That’s what we see weekly at Arsenal and she shows here too. What you can see is the competition in positions is really high.”
We always working on [set pieces], we had a little more emphasis on it. Its really good to see it had some effect and hopefully we can do that again.”
Two-goal Lauren Hemp spoke to ITV: “A very good performance. Thought it was very dominant in possession. We were unfortunate to concede.
“I thought we were great, especially from set pieces. It’s been something we’ve been working hard on. I wasn’t expecting one but I wouldn’t mind getting a hat-trick. Two is enough though, right?
“Lotte Wubben-Moy is a massive credit to the team. We saw her great defensive display today and the goal topped it off. A great performance from Lotte. I’ve really enjoyed the camp. The squad is in a great place and we’re full of confidence.”
And here’s an explanation for Lotte Wubben-Moy’s arms folded celeb of that opener, a goal scored with the lesser-seen back-head flick.
Lotte Wubben-Moy followed through on her celebration promise to young fan, Izzy!
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 27, 2024
Heartwarming stuff from the @Lionesses ❤️#Lionesses pic.twitter.com/pdrm9CsfdC
Here’s those goals from the second half.
A mistake from Italy gifts England another opportunity! ⚽️
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 27, 2024
Rachel Daly gives the @Lionesses their fifth! 🔥#Lionesses pic.twitter.com/N2vCwYqcPf
Ella Toone comes off the bench to bag England's fourth of the evening! 🤩
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 27, 2024
What a performance from the @Lionesses! 🏴#Lionesses pic.twitter.com/30V6UZ8K0h
Full-time: England 5-1 Italy
A late Caruso dig reflects Italy’s distraction and dissatisfaction. The Lionesses roar to a win once more, and a commanding one, too. Lauren Hemp got two, but Lotte Wubben-Moy’s goal started it off, and it was Ella Toone and Rachel Daly who rounded it all off. Wiegman 2.0 looks on a good course ahead of those Euro qualifiers.
90+2 min: Italy on some late ventures, but the danger is cleared with ease.
90 min: Just three more minutes of this Andalusian adventure. England still chasing more but Lauren Hemp’s touch is heavy.
89 min: Hemp and Daly combine and it will be a corner, just about where we started. This time it’s taken short. Plenty remain forward but it never goes back in. The short corner debate continues.
87 min: Wubben-Moy steps up from defence, as she looks to complete the 90, encouraging for a player who was on the fringes for so long.
James smashes in a shot, Giuliani’s foot deflects the ball up but….wide from Hemp’s header. Agonisingly close for Hemp.
Updated
85 min: Calm descended? Or will they attempt to find another goal? Lauren Hemp will want one, that’s for sure.
83 min: Italy’s comeback was hardly sustained, was it? A couple of glimmers, a few corners. And then normal service was resumed.
81 min: Millie Turner is on for England for her first England game, replacing A;ex Greenwood. Guilia Dragoni, a teenager, and Cristiani Girelli, the veteran, replace Lisa Boattin and Michele Cambiaghi
80 min: Rachel Daly: a goal machine, and yet so underrated. Perhaps because she can play left-back, too.
Goal! England 5-1 Italy (Daly, 79)
James is penalised for winning the ball when it was her opponent who was doing the shoving. But Italy make a mess of the free-kick and the back-pass to Giuliani after James’ pressing finds Daly, who is not going to pass this one up. She speeds along, checks and slots.
Updated
77 min: England resume their high press with those fresher legs from their subs. Hemp chasing back, still seeking that goal.
75 min: The skies darkening in southern Spain, 80km from Marbella, remember. Lovely drive, lovely part of the world. Though the players are under blankets on the subs bench.
72 min: Peter Oh gets in touch: “The name Bonfantini sounds like a mashup of the U2 front man and the FIFA boss. [Grabs mic and drops to one knee.] ‘One world, one game, one life, you got to do what you should.’”
Some changes:
For England: Rachel Daly coming on for Chloe Kelly, and as ever looking for a goal.
For Italy: Aurora Galli and Lucia Di Guglielmo replaced by Annamaria Serturini and Emma Severini.
71 min: Almost immediately, Cambiaghi – again, lively – zaps a shot wide.
70 min: Two subs linking for that goal; a sign of the attacking depth Sarina Wiegman can call upon.
Goal! England 4-1 Italy (Toone, 69)
Greenwood’s ball out left to James, who gallops to the byline and Toone, making the late run in the style of the departed Grace Clinton, hits home with a first-time goal.
Updated
68 min: A looped ball for Hemp – still seeking her treble – is volleyed clear.
66 min: Lucy Bronze goes on the attack, loses the ball, and that leaves space in behind and Alex Greenwood reads the danger well to shepherd out Cambiaghi.
65 min: England changes: Georgia Stanway and Grace Clinton are replaced by Jess Park and Ella Toone. Clinton will always remember Marbella and Algeciras, it’s been a heady few days for her.
64 min: England spring into attack, Lauren James the ball carrier, and she unleashes a shot, a fierce one that Giuliani saves well.
63 min: Cambiaghi again close – but not on the end of a fine delivery. This spell has not dispelled the worries the Austria game threw up when it came to set pieces.
62 min: Italy really have stepped it up and their bench are really getting behind their team. Another corner.
60 min: Another Italian corner. They’ve looked better since their changes. This time Cambiaghi is again the target though she’s rather further away this time around.
58 min: England were not in full command there, and Cambiaghi had space and time to head in. Ella Toone is coming on, by the way.
57 min: An attack from Italy after the ball is lost on the left flank requires Wubben-Moy and Lauren James to clear the danger. There’s a corner conceded, though. The first. A second soon comes.
54 min: Another penalty-box melee, and Stanway has a shot blocked.
53 min: A couple of Italian changes have been made, as they attempt to stem the flow. The scoreline suggests they’re in this game; the patterns of play suggest not.
Valentina Bergamaschi off and on comes Cecilia Salvai. Michela Catena also goes off, with Agnese Bonfantini in.
Updated
50 min: Kelly gets the ball in space and smashes in a pearler, and Clinton makes another run, and just fails to get there. That’s very incisive play.
49 min: Just like the first half, all England, all the time, just need to stay awake at the back.
47 min: England begin again on the front foot. And Hemp stumbles in the Italy box though there will be no penalty.
46 min: We go again: Jess Carter and Lauren James replace Niamh Charles and Alessia Russo.
This goal was rather easy for Italy.
Italy pull one back before the break! ⚽️#Lionesses pic.twitter.com/0ZNfNLrpUD
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 27, 2024
Here’s that special moment for Lotte Wubben-Moy.
England take an early lead against Italy with a first international goal for Lotte Wubben-Moy 🤩 #Lionesses pic.twitter.com/jP2JoQUW9Y
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 27, 2024
Half-time: England 3-1 Italy
An inauspicious end to a half that England had so dominated, right from the second minute and that Wubben-Moy header, a popular goal, no doubt. Lauren Hemp has provided the cutting edge and Grace Clinton the drive. Perhaps the defending may need work, though key players are missing there, in fairness.
Goal! England 3-1 Italy (Cambiaghi, 45+3)
England loses the ball in midfield, and Italy break at speed, with Niamh Charles slow to close down Cambiaghi after a neat pass from Cantore. There’s that lack of concentration, the glass jaw.
45+2 min: Chloe Kelly, off the right, cuts in and shoots off the left. She’s hit the ball harder in her time.
45 min: There are three minutes added on of what’s been total Lioness dominance but wait a moment, just as Cantore thought she had a chance out comes Mary Earps to quell any danger. That’s the focus required when your team is dominating.
43 min: More Grace Clinton to the fore. If nothing else, this has been quite the shop window for her.
42 min: England’s forwards have been especially good down the left. Beth Mead missed down the right? Perhaps some second-half minutes to come.
41 min: Wubben-Moy and Walsh link at the back. Theirs has been a watching brief beyond loping up for the corners. That sets up an attack that sees Clinton, who has been excellent, to force a save from Russo and Hemp. Giuliani has had a decent game; she’s been the sole Italian of any note.
39 min: Clinton, on yet another of those bursts, is hacked down. What an impressive introduction she’s had. It sets up a chance for Greenwood to fire in a shot that Giuliani allows to zip wide.
36 min: Hemp nearly has a first-half hat-trick after more chaos in the Italy box after a Russo shot is deflected. It spins just wide.
35 min: Utter aerial dominance from the Lionesses. Getting it launched is proving a rather useful gameplan.
Goal! England 3-0 Italy (Hemp, 34)
England corner. You know the rest. More panicked chat among the Italians as they await. The referee having to calm it down. Kelly hooks it it, and then, on the second phase of play, Hemp heads in after Bronze keeps the ball in.
Updated
32 min: Ooh, a wobble there. Earps and Charles get in a tangle but they are rescued by an offside. That was the drop in concentration that Sarina Wiegman is so keen to remove.
31 min: Grace Clinton, again driving forward, just as she did on Friday, surges on and shoots.
29 min: The ball never seems to go any deeper than the halfway line. Plenty of discourse between the Italians but they don’t seem to be too coherent in position.
27 min: Italy, to their credit, are playing the ball well out of defence. The problem is that England are pressing hard. No rest on the ball at all.
25 min: Russo’s ball out to the left doesn’t quite find Kelly. Italy are back in numbers, attempting to defend in their nation’s traditional style. That’s compressing the space.
24 min: Greenwood plays the ball out wide and England go again. The stats must be utterly in England’s favour.
23 min: England entered this game with doubts over their defending of dead balls. It’s fair to say their problems are in no way as bad as that of Italy.
Goal! England 2-0 Italy (Hemp, 21)
Yes, it came from a corner, and this time Giuliani flapped at the ball. The ball dropped to Hemp and is scuffed, potentially via a deflection, into the net.
Updated
17 min: All England still….
Updated
15 min: England continue to be dominant here. Perhaps changing ten players at once is not the best idea from the Italian point of view.
12 min: Chance for Russo now after more chaos in the Italy box as Lucy Bronze’s cross came in. The ball is cleared.
10 min: Italy at last gaining a platform in the game after that storm of chances. They are not moving the ball around too well, it has to be said.
7 min: More good keeping from Giuliani as Wubben-Moy’s header arrows down. Feels like 11 v one player at the moment. England can simply overpower teams like this.
5 min: The Italian goalie, Giuliani, at first flaps and then does well to clear that corner. Insert your zero tolerance gag here. Or indeed talk of “the networks”
4 min: Chloe Kelly escapes and the ball is headed behind for a corner.
3 min: That was executed to perfection though Italy’s defence has to be questioned. The sideline mic picked up a lot of chat in the penalty area and yet they still allowed the ball to be pumped in.
Goal! England 1-0 Italy (Wubben-Moy, 2)
There we go, Greenwood zings it in and Lotte Wubben-Moy nods it in.
Updated
1 min: The huddles are done and that PA system is doing its thing right until kick-off and the players taking the knee just after Mary Earps scampers back to her goal. So, off we go. England immediately get a corner.
In Algeciras, the sun is still out but there looks to be a coastal wind, bringing with it a chill in the air, and here come the teams. It also looks to be a bigger crowd than Friday.
Those teams: Italy have made 10 changes from the team that drew 0-0 with Ireland. Only Everton’s Aurora Galli is retained.
England: Earps, Bronze, Wubben-Moy, Greenwood, Charles, Stanway, Walsh, Clinton, Hemp, Russo, Kelly. Subs: Hampton, Keating, Carter, Toone, Morgan, James, Mead, Le Tissier, Daly, Park, Turner.
Italy XI: Giuliani, Bergamaschi, Linari, Lenzini, Di Guglielmo, Caruso, Galli, Boattin, Catena, Cantore, Cambiaghi. Subs: Schroffenegger, Tampieri, Bartoli, Severini, Serturini, Piga, Dragoni, Piemonte, Girelli, Bonfantini, Glionna, Salvai, De Rita, Schatzer, Oliviero.
Sarina Wiegman spoke to ITV: “Keira has shown leadership on and of the pitch and we have swapped the captains this week. It is great for her to wear the armband today.”
“It is competition, getting ready for April and seeing a lot of things. When you have all these things on the able you make decisions and this is the team today. They have impressed us. They have improved their game, I think. They are verb front-footed and aggressive and press high and then they are good on the ball and direct. What we are going to try and do is keep the ball and beat the press.”
On Grace Clinton and Lotte Wubben-Moy: “She just went out there and played with freedom with quality [on her debut]. Since she came into camp she has been battling for minutes and she did well and we want to see it again.”
“First of all she has done really good with Arsenal and with us too and we want to see many players so this is her chance to start.”
Updated
That England team is a further Sarina Wiegman reshuffle: Grace Clinton, debutant goalscorer against Austria, lines up alongside Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh, the captain. A long-awaited call for Lotte Wubben-Moy partners Alex Greenwood in defence, with Lucy Bronze, the veteran these days, coming in at right back.
Chloe Kelly replaces Beth Mead on the right. Fran Kirby is unavailable having gone home with a knee injury.
And maybe some pre-match listening.
And about Tuesday.
About Friday night:
The teams are in
Your #Lionesses to take on Italy! 🙌
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) February 27, 2024
🧤 Mary Earps between the sticks
✨ A start for @keira_walsh
💪 @lottewubbenmoy at the back pic.twitter.com/o1Xp5A5VwH
🏟 𝑬𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝑵𝒖𝒆𝒗𝒐 𝑴𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓 #ItaliaInghilterra#Nazionale 🇮🇹 #Azzurre #LeAzzurreSiamoNoi pic.twitter.com/jBWeStaiwQ
— Nazionale Femminile di Calcio (@AzzurreFIGC) February 27, 2024
Preamble
Another Costa del Goals outing for the Lionesses? Possibly a few less than against Austria and let’s hope for a bigger crowd, too, than the 950 who turned out in the bijou stadium with a good view of Morocco and the Rock of Gibraltar. And a rather loud PA system. Anyway, another chance for Sarina Wiegman to shuffle through her pack, full of talented players but with a few questions to answer. Dead balls were a problem and there’s still going to be that problem of holding on to possession when it comes to facing teams like Spain. It’s a rebuilding job, and this jaunt is work in progress. Italy should be tougher opposition than the Austrians so let’s see how this all plays out as the sun sets over southern Spain.
Kick-off is 5pm, UK time. Join me.
