The Spain manager Jorge Vilda has hailed Sarina Wiegman’s European title rivals as the “best England team ever” before their Arnold Clark Cup meeting at Carrow Road on Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve prepared well for this game, they’ve been training really well and we’ve been doing exercises based on dealing with high intensity opponents,” said Vilda. “I personally believe that this is perhaps the best England team ever. They’ve got plenty of youth in the side, players who play with coverage.”
England host Spain in the second round of the inaugural friendly tournament that includes Germany and Canada and Vilda believes it is “potentially the best game of the tournament”.
For the three European teams it is an opportunity to test players and formations before this summer’s Euros, while the Olympic champions Canada can ramp up their preparations for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.
Spain conceded in the 88th minute of their opening match against Germany to deny them three points against the eight-time European champions at the Riverside. While Millie Bright’s stunning volley in a blistering first half for England against Canada was undone by a shift of momentum in the second that led to the Manchester City forward Janine Beckie’s equaliser.
The rise of Spain on the international stage has been rapid and fuelled by the impressive rise of the all-conquering Barcelona, with 10 of the 22 player squad and nine of the starting XI against Germany from the Champions League holders. “They have developed very well. We know they have a lot of Barcelona players and they’re very tactical and technical,” said Wiegman, who led the Netherlands to the Euro 2017 title on home soil. “They tied the first game, but before that they won lots of games, so we’re aware. But we also think we have the opportunity to harm them too.”
The England manager was coy when asked what she thought about Spain’s Ballon d’Or, Fifa Best and Uefa player of the year Alexia Putellas. “She’s a great player, and a lot of people think she’s a great player,” said Wiegman with a smile.
Wales Women suffered penalty shootout heartache in the Pinatar Cup as they were edged out by Belgium in the semi-finals after the match had finished goalless. Gemma Grainger’s side had comfortably beaten Scotland 3-1 in their previous fixture but were unable to find the net against a Belgian side who remain unbeaten at the event in south-eastern Spain.
Megan Rose Wynne came close for Wales towards the end of the game, with both sides having chances during normal time, while the goalkeeper Olivia Clark also had to make some key saves to keep the match level.
The tournament’s highest-ranked side then missed their first penalty of the shootout after it rebounded off both posts, but Wales were unable to capitalise. Charlie Estcourt and Lily Woodham both failed to convert, leaving Wales facing a third-place play-off against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday.
The Republic of Ireland went down to an early goal as Russia booked their place in the final with a 1-0 win. Elizaveta Lazareva struck in the seventh minute to give Russia the lead and the Republic of Ireland could not find their way back into the semi-final despite creating opportunities. Abbie Larkin, Leanne Kiernan and Amber Barrett all came close to scoring the leveller in the first half, but the Russian defence stood firm.
The Irish had got their campaign off to a winning start with a 2-1 victory over Poland, but made a number of changes for Saturday’s game, including three debutants, with one eye on the upcoming Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
First-half goals from Abi Harrison and Martha Thomas earned Scotland a 2-0 win against Slovakia. Harrison beat the offside trap to turn home a Caroline Weir pass and give Scotland the lead after only three minutes. Thomas doubled their advantage shortly before the half-hour, tapping home from a Claire Emslie cross.
Scotland also had two goals disallowed in the first half, Thomas and Weir both seeing efforts ruled out for offside. Victory ensured Pedro Martinez Losa's team bounced back from their 3-1 defeat to Wales on Wednesday. They will take on Hungary in the fifth-place play-off. PA Media
Spain’s fulcrum was more forthcoming in her praise of her team’s opponents on Sunday. “England are a great team, one of the best in the world,” said Putellas. “I always love playing against big teams like them.
“I believe that we have improved a lot since [Spain last played England, securing a 1-0 win at] the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. We are a better team now. Tomorrow will be a really tough test. It will be a really high quality contest. We’ll need to be at the top of our game to win. We need to do the little things right.”
With a crowd of 8,769 in Middlesbrough for England’s game against Canada, Spain will have a chance to see what it feels like to play in front of a hostile crowd in Norwich. “We need to play well and try and quieten the crowd because they’ll be a lot of fans on England’s side, like there will be in the Euros this summer,” said Putellas. “That is exactly what we need to do if we’re going to be on the right side of the result come the end of the game tomorrow.”
For Wiegman, the result is not the most important thing, with building towards the Euros uppermost in her mind. “Of course we want to approach every game to win but also we know this is a step in the preparations for our Euros in the summer,” she said. “So, yes, we want to win, but [against Canada we] had a tie and we just stay neutral because we know we’re working on how we want to take the next step. It’s nice when you win and it gives us a good energy but we shouldn’t be urgent about it because it’s a step in our progress to the Euros.”
After Sunday’s double header, England play Germany in the evening game on Wednesday at Molineux, after Spain face Canada, to complete the tournament.
