Hope left frustrated
Monday, 09 March, 2009
England come from behind twice to rescue a draw against France.
England 2-2 France
Cyprus Cup
International Friendly Tournament
Saturday 7 March 2009
Larnaca, Cyprus
Disappointment was the overriding feeling of Hope Powell and her England players after outplaying France but having to settle for a 2-2 draw in the second of their Cyprus Cup group games.
England twice had to come from behind, Karen Carney and Casey Stoney hitting the equalisers. But, despite having by far the majority of the possession, they could not find a winner and almost lost the game when their crossbar was struck in stoppage time.
France, two places higher than England at eighth in the world rankings, had gone into the game as favourites and with an excellent record against England.
And National Coach Powell said: "Historically, France have always had the edge and we were a little bit unsure of ourselves early on in the match. But had we taken the game to them from the start like we did in the second half, we could have won.
"I was pleased that we showed the character to come back twice and it’s good to know we can do that. But overall I’m disappointed we only drew the game. The girls are disappointed too. They realise that we were the better team, but when you’re the better team you’ve got to win the game.
"Going forward now, though, we can believe we have the ability to beat teams like France. It’s a shame we’re not playing them again in a couple of days' time to prove the point, but hopefully we’ll get to play them again in the future."
England will go into their final Group A game, against Scotland on Tuesday, as group leaders by virtue of having a better goal difference than France with both teams having collected four points from their first two matches.
If England beat Scotland by a big enough margin to win the group, they will meet the winners of Group B in Thursday’s Final.
Powell said: "There will be changes to the side, but we’ve got enough quality and depth in the squad to manage Scotland. But we also had enough to beat France and didn’t do that, so I’m not getting ahead of myself. We’ll go into the game aiming to win it and hopefully, if we do that, we’ll finish top of the group."
England
1 Rachel Brown, 2 Lindsay Johnson (12 Alex Scott, 46), 3 Casey Stoney (C), 5 Anita Asante, 6 Stephanie Houghton, 8 Jill Scott, 4 Fara Williams, 7 Karen Carney, 10 Emily Westwood, (19 Katie Chapman, 68), 11 Sue Smith, 9 Kelly Smith (15 Eniola Aluko, 56)
GoalsCarney 28, Stoney 75
France
16 Sarah Bouhaddi, 2 Delphine Blanc, 4 Laura Georges (17 Gaetane Thiney 73), 5 Sabrina Viguier, 3 Ludivine Diguelman, 7 Corine Franco, 6 Sandrine Soubeyrand (C), 12 Elodie Thomis, 14 Louisa Necib, 15 Elise Bussaglia (13 Eugenie Le Sommer, 46), 9 Candie Herbert (11 Laetitia Tonazzi 73)
GoalsFranco 15, Thomis 72
