The last time the United States Women’s National Team faced England’s Lionesses was in March 2020. It occurred at the SheBelieves Cup in Orlando, Florida, a matter of weeks before the world locked down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Much has changed in those two-and-a-half years since. And when the Lionesses host the USWNT at a sold-out Wembley Stadium on Friday night, they will do so on a more equal footing than, perhaps, ever before.
The goalscorers in that handy 2-0 victory were Carli Lloyd and Christen Press - multiple titleists with the national team but part of a generation of players who are in the process of moving on. Lloyd has retired on over 300 international caps while the long-term international future of Press - currently out injured with a torn ACL is as yet unresolved.
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While more long-term mainstays like Becky Sauerbrunn, Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn, Lindsay Horan and Rose Lavelle will be present in London, the capacity attendance will not get to see other household names like Alex Morgan or Tobin Heath. This is a transitional USWNT with one eye on the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.
This game comes at a moment of reckoning for women's football Stateside. The publication of an independent investigation into allegations of abuse and misconduct in the professional game this week has caused shockwaves. "Even when you know it, it's horrifying to read," said Rapinoe in a press conference Thursday. There are also plans for a gesture of solidarity between the two sides ahead of the game. "It means everything," said Rapinoe of that initiative. The wider fallout of that controversy is going to be huge.
In the meantime, head coach Vlatko Andonovski is trying to build towards the World Cup - where the United States will be defending their title - while making improvements to a squad that appeared somewhat jaded in its last major tournament - the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - where they crashed out to eventual gold medallists Canada at the semifinal stage.
It was at that tournament that their enduring 44-game winning streak was snapped in a wake-up call against Sweden in the Olympic opener. There were signs then that perhaps the USWNT had reached a bump in the road.
The team may well have recovered by winning the 2022 Concacaf W Championship - scoring 13 times across five matches, conceding no goals and avenging the defeat to Canada in the final - but there remains considerable uncertainty whether this group might go all the way down under next year when it really matters.
That is not to diminish the USWNT’s achievements or their quality, indeed the future prospects of players like Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma look rosy. Plus, Andonovski is defending a 21-game unbeaten streak; his side have not suffered defeat since that Olympics semifinal. It’s just that there are now other sides - led by England - who might feel the world champions are there for the taking.
England’s recent progress has been, on the whole, astonishing. That March, 2020 game against the USWNT was one of the final matches for then-coach Phil Neville. England had ridden the crest of a wave at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, where they were ultimately defeated at the semifinal stage by the Americans. But that momentum couldn’t last and, by the time the SheBelieves Cup finished the following spring, the Lionesses had lost seven of 11 games.
Neville would step away - replaced first in an interim role by Hege Riise - before the FA’s number one target Sarina Wiegman was available. Having led her native Netherlands to the 2017 European Championship title, her pedigree was well established. Wiegman has instilled a quality and a belief in this group of England players who might now feel empowered to face anything the world can offer.
The European Championship victory at Wembley was the feel-good sports story of the summer - making star names of a good number of the England squad - and established a standard to live up to and perhaps an expectation that England were now firmly planted among the elite of the women’s game. Those credentials will now be put to the test on Friday.
Following the establishment of the Women’s Super League as a 12-team, professional league in 2018, England’s rise has been unstinting. Beth Mead, Fran Kirby, Lauren Hemp and plenty others are among the best performers in a league stacked with international talent while Lucy Bronze, Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh are now establishing themselves at European heavyweight clubs on the continent.
There is a rival women’s football powerbase on the rise this side of the Atlantic and it is being led out of England. Wiegman has led the team for 22 matches - winning 20 and losing none.
The USWNT had maybe got used to being top-dogs in this contest - their record against England reads played 18, won 12 - but things are changing. This will be the women’s game's next big definitive rivalry with more moments like Morgan’s infamous tea-sipping celebration in the 2-1 2019 Women’s World Cup semifinal victory over England in store.
This friendly could well be a preview of the World Cup final to come next year. And the way things are going, don’t back against the Lionesses.
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