As far as ideal preparations for a home European Championships go, lifting an international trophy was a good way to start. England’s participation in the Arnold Clark Cup was always going to be judged by performances rather than results but in the end manager Sarina Wiegman was able to deliver both. The Lionesses were crowned overall winners of the inaugural competition, sealed by a 3-1 victory over Germany at Molineux.
The purpose of the Arnold Clark Cup was to offer England some much-needed matches against top-ranked opposition and the fixtures against Germany, Spain and Canada delivered the tests they had been looking for. England impressed in long spells of each of their three fixtures, while also having to defend and control games against some of the best teams in the world, and it offered a proper look at Wiegman’s side following the procession of some of their recent World Cup qualifiers.
