England 2-0 USA
Women's U23 training match
Saturday 4 July 2009
Bisham Abbey
England and America faced eachother on 4 July for an informal training match, with three periods of 30 minutes allowing greater flexibility for the coaches to try out different players and formations.
Additionally there were no restrictions on substitutes, with a ‘roll on, roll off’ policy agreed by both teams prior to the match.
The first period saw England dominate and comfortably controlling the play. Despite enjoying the greater possession and a number of attacking opportunities, England did not register a goal to reward their impressive play.
In the second 30 minutes England hit early with Rachel Williams grabbing a goal after just five minutes of the period. Although Brent Hills' players were quick out of the blocks, USA saw more of the ball in this period and pushed England back into their own half for the majority of the remaining time.
Despite greater possession, the US rarely got into the penalty area and were restricted to a speculative long range effort as the England keeper was caught out of her area. A few of half chances fell England’s way but generally neither goal was threatened.
Into the third period, England retook the initiative and showed greater stamina in warm and humid conditions. The chances began to come and England got a deserved second goal with eleven minutes remaining in the game.
Dunia Susi broke through the American defence, latching onto a fine through pass, and the Chelsea defender cooly slotted the ball past Olsen to double England's lead.
England
1 Marie Hourihan, 2 Sophie Perry, 3 Ellie Gilliatt (14 Mel Sutcliffe, 30), 4 Rachel Williams (16 Lizzie Edwards, 53), 5 Fern Whelan, 6 Sophie Bradley (c), 7 Becky Hall (12 Dunia Susi, 70), 8 Charlotte Young ,9 Ellen White (18 Gemma Davison, 38) ,10 Natasha Dowie, 11 Dannii Bird (15 Claire Rafferty, 49)
Substitutes Not Used
13 Carly Telford, 17 Kim Dixson
USA
24 Kristin Olsen, 2 Lindsey Kowal, 3 Megan Jesolva, 20 Brianne Young, 5 Caitlin Farrell, 14 Laura Heyboer, 7 Bianca D’Agostino, 8 Ashley Bowyer, 9 Veronica Perez ,10 Katie Schoepfer, 11 Kendra Chandhoke
Substitutes
12 Crystal Wagner, 6 Liz Redmond, 21 Ella Stephan, 15 Megan Ohai, 19 Kiersten Dallstream, 18 Kristin Arnold
http://www.thefa.com/England/WomensUnder-23Team/NewsAndFeatures/2009/EngUSAfriendly.aspx
