England debutant Grace Clinton made a magical introduction with a goal in the Lionesses’ 7-2 victory over Austria in their opening game of 2024.
Alessia Russo struck twice and added an assist at Spain’s Estadio Nuevo Mirador, taking advantage of a mistake by her Arsenal team-mate Manuela Zinsberger to open the scoring with an early goal before Clinton opened her England account with a header.
Virginia Kirchberger got Austria back into the game, but Beth Mead restored the Lionesses’ two-goal advantage before the break with Russo completing her brace and substitute Jess Carter flicking in a fifth shortly after her introduction.
Kirchberger nodded Austria’s second with two minutes remaining but there was still time for Mead to pounce on Lauren James’ rebound to bag a brace of her own before Rachel Daly completed the rout in five minutes of stoppage time.
Manchester City defender Alex Greenwood wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Euro 2022-winning captain Leah Williamson and World Cup skipper Millie Bright, both sidelined with injury.
Chelsea forward Aggie-Beever Jones earned a late maiden call-up to the senior side, taking the place of Chloe Kelly, who was being assessed for a minor injury, while Fran Kirby was initially named to the starting XI but pulled up in the warm-up and was replaced by Ella Toone.
Zinsberger spilled Mead’s effort that allowed fellow Gunner Russo to tuck the rebound past the Austria shot-stopper inside three minutes.
England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was called into action for the first time to claim a free-kick, and while Austria’s Eileen Campbell had encroached on the Lionesses’ territory it was Clinton who came agonisingly close to scoring the game’s second when her effort hit the woodwork.
However, she made no mistake moments later, opening her England account after a well-worked sequence of build-up from the back ended in a fine cross from Lauren Hemp for the 20-year-old Tottenham midfielder, on loan from Manchester United, to nod home in the 19th minute.
Austria halved the deficit just inside the half-hour mark after Greenwood was forced to concede a corner and an unmarked Kirchberger gave Hampton no chance, powering her header home.
Mead restored England’s two-goal advantage seven minutes later, cutting inside before firing a lovely left-footed effort into the corner.
Sarina Wiegman made two changes at half-time, bringing on Lotte Wubben-Moy for Greenwood and James for Hemp as England piled on the pressure, Georgia Stanway forcing Zinsberger into a tipped save.
It was Stanway’s determined pressing on her Bayern Munich team-mate Sarah Zadrazil that would allow England to win the ball high up the pitch and thread through to Russo, who bagged her brace with a low finish.
The 61st-minute strike was the end to Russo’s evening, Wiegman ringing more changes, and it was Carter who was credited with England’s fifth goal eight minutes after her introduction in the 62nd minute.
It was largely due to the efforts of Wubben-Moy, who nodded Mead’s corner in the direction of the Chelsea defender, who flicked past Zinsberger.
England failed to deal with another Austria corner, and, just as in the first half, allowed Kirchberger to nod past Hampton, but the celebrations were short-lived.
James was inches away from getting in on the action, beating three defenders before clipping an effort off the crossbar before Mead pounced on the rebound to make it 6-2, four minutes before substitute Daly completed the rout with a clinical finish.
Carsley hopes 'young' England will benefit incoming boss Tuchel
England interim manager Lee Carsley said the widened pool of young players available for selection will help incoming boss Thomas Tuchel.
Carsley was handed the reins to the national team temporarily following Gareth Southgate's departure and has given opportunities to young players during his short spell, which will end with the Nations League match against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday.
The 50-year-old has handed debuts to six players - Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes, Noni Madueke, Lewis Hall, Morgan Rogers and Curtis Jones - during his five-match reign.
"The challenge [for the young players] is to stay there now. It's a tough squad to get into, and they've put themselves in the picture," the outgoing coach said.
"It's good for Thomas [Tuchel, who takes charge on January 1] that the pool has increased.
"I've seen them up close. I know what they're capable of, and they've got the mentality to compete. There are so many quality players, the competition is extreme, and they've got to stay in the race."
Carsley came under pressure after the Three Lions lost 2-1 to Greece at Wembley in October, but a 3-0 win in the return fixture on Thursday has put them in a strong position in their Nations League group.
Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City: Bompastor's side go top of WSL with late show
Chelsea left it late, scoring twice in four minutes, to secure a 2-0 win over Manchester City in the Women's Super League to leapfrog them to the top of the table.
Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten got the all-important goals, condemning City to their first league defeat of the campaign.
The visitors, who were without the injured Lauren Hemp, arguably should have taken the lead in the first half when Khadija Shaw latched onto Sandy Baltimore's wayward backpass, but the forward could only drag it wide of the far post.
In a tight game, Chelsea stayed calm, though Ramirez wasted a chance to square it into the box to give a team-mate an easy tap-in early in the second half.
The Colombian did not make the same mistake a second time. On a quick counter-attack, she brushed Alanna Kennedy aside to reach Maika Hamano's throughball before weaving away from Alex Greenwood to drive it into the bottom-right corner in the 75th minute.
Just four minutes later, they doubled their lead. Reiten was left in acres of space on the right of the box and curled a delightful finish out of Ayaka Yamashita's reach.
Chelsea maintained their perfect record under Sonia Bompastor, making it 10 wins from 10, and moved two points clear of City at the top of the WSL, still with a game in hand over their title rivals.
Data Debrief: Battling to the end
Even so early in the season, there was a lot riding on this in regards to the title race, and City have seemingly blinked first.
They looked far from their usual best, possibly in part due to Hemp's absence, as they struggled to create many meaningful chances.
Chelsea were also guilty of being wasteful early on but looked the more likely to score, managing 15 shots compared to City's eight while also edging the expected goals (xG) count (0.85 to 0.56).
Bompastor also became the first-ever manager to win each of their first seven games in the WSL.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
