Key events
9 min: Stanway comes clattering into Magaia, a high-kick across the chest. That reads as bad as it was, actually, but it’s early doors in the match, so there’s no booking. Then Ramalepe clips Mead on the old achilles, and the referee might need to establish some order soon.
7 min: Le Tissier rolls a pass down the right wing for Naz, who is clipped on the ankle by a strange almost horizontal two-footed lunge from behind by Makhubela. That reads like a worse challenge than it actually was, to be fair. Anyway, the resulting free kick is swung in by Mead and an easy pluck for Swart.
6 min: South Africa get their first significant moment with the ball, and pass it around the back awhile.
4 min: … Swart claims amid a six-yard box melee. A fast start by England, though.
3 min: Kelly tees up Park for a shot down the inside-right channel. The ball’s blocked, then clumsily put out for a corner. One leads to another, then …
2 min: England spend the first couple of minutes getting a feel of the ball.
Both teams take a knee of love and solidarity – there’s no room for racism – and then England get the ball rolling. A great atmosphere in the Cov Arena.
The teams are out! South Africa’s anthem is one of the great rousing bangers, while England’s, well, we tried our best. Both of the kits pass muster, though, England in purple with red and blue flashes – The Creation in reverse, basically – while South Africa sport pink for their breast-cancer charity. We’ll be off in a minute.
Leah Williamson clocks up her half-century of appearances for the Lionesses tonight. There’s a lovely surprise printed on the inside of her shirt this evening. Just the 122 more caps to catch up with Fara Williams, then.
South Africa welcome back their captain Thembi Kgatlana, who missed the defeat in Denmark due to visa problems. Their star player is winger Linda Motlhalo, formerly of Glasgow City and now Racing Louisville of the NWSL. Sphumelele Shamase and Thubelihle Shamase, identical twins, are on the bench.
Sarina Wiegman speaks to ITV. “We have two friendlies … we’re getting ready for the Euros next summer … it’s an opportunity to try out lots of things … to see many players … that’s what we’re going to see tonight … everyone has a point to prove every night … you want to show consistency … tonight [Mary Earps] is going to do that … [Jessica Naz] is very quick … we want to get runs behind and be a danger for the opponent … we have many players playing well for their club … it’s an opportunity for players to show themselves at international level.”
England ring the changes after the Germany match – as expected, with experimentation in mind. Only three players keep their starting place: Georgia Stanway, Beth Mead and captain Leah Williamson. There’s plenty of new blood in the team, in the shape of Spurs forward Jessica Naz (who has just two caps to her name and makes her first start), Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton (three caps) and United defender Maya Le Tissier (five caps), while on the bench, Chelsea striker Aggie Beever-Jones hopes to add to her single cap, while Aston Villa defender Lucy Parker waits to make her debut.
The teams
England: Earps, Le Tissier, Morgan, Williamson, Greenwood, Park, Clinton, Stanway, Naz, Kelly, Mead.
Subs: Moorhouse, Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Carter, Parker, Walsh, Toone, Kirby, Russo, Hemp, Beever-Jones.
South Africa: Swart, Kgatlana, Dhlamini, Mbane, Makhubela, Magaia, Ramalepe, Cesane, Motau, Motlhalo.
Subs: Dlamini, Magagula, Manenhela, Mhlongo, S Shamase, T Shamase, Mthandi, Holweni, Biyana, Michael, Majiya.
Preamble
The reigning champions of Europe take on the reigning champions of Africa at the CBS Arena in Coventry tonight. It’s a heavyweight clash, though both sides have some heavy weights on their mind: England’s first run-out of the autumn saw them concede three goals in less than 30 minutes against Germany at Wembley last weekend, and though Sarina Wiegman’s side rallied to limit the final damage to a 4-3 defeat, a loss is a loss is a loss. Desiree Ellis’s Banyana Banyana are also coming off the back of a lopsided game, having held Denmark to a goalless first half in Aalborg last Friday, only to ship five goals in the second half. So both teams will be looking to bounce back, though the hosts are realistically the more likely to do so: England are currently ranked second in the world, while South Africa are 50th in Fifa’s official list.
Wiegman is expected to experiment, all the while gaining knowledge against the “different style” of tonight’s opponents. “It will be a little different from the Euros but later on in our journey, towards the World Cup, I think this is great to play a team like South Africa,” says Wiegman. “That will be another learning moment for us. Can we dictate the game?” We’ll begin to find out at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
