|
England, who were without the services of their injured captain
Leah Williamson, returned to Wembley in front of 76,893
supporters for the first time since winning the European
Championship in July.
Hemp tapped the ball home in the 10th minute to open the scoring
for England after Beth Mead's cross found her on the edge of the
six-yard box.
U.S. forward Sophia Smith smashed the ball into the bottom
corner from the edge of the penalty area in the 28th minute to
level the scores, but parity lasted just five minutes.
England retook the lead when midfielder Stanway scored from the
penalty spot after Hailie Mace was adjudged to have fouled Lucy
Bronze after the VAR spotted a high boot to the face.
The U.S. thought they had levelled before the break when Trinity
Rodman fired home from inside the box in the 34th minute after
Megan Rapinoe teed her up with a backheel but the goal was
disallowed by VAR for offside in the build-up.
Both sides spurned a host of chances early in the second half.
Smith could have scored her second in the 47th minute but her
effort went just wide while England forward Chloe Kelly was off
target in the 54th and Lucy Bronze hammered another shot into
the side netting a minute later.
Rapinoe threatened to score in the 60th minute after she
collected a cross from Lindsey Horan but her shot was deflected
by England defender Millie Bright.
The U.S. were awarded a penalty in the 80th minute for a
handball by Hemp but the decision was quickly overturned
following a VAR review as the ball had not struck the England
player on the arm.
"USA played as we expected, they gave us hard times sometimes. I
thought we played well in moments, better first half than
second," England manager Sarina Wiegman told ITV Sport.
"Whatever happens we know this is just a starting point for the
World Cup, but it shows you are at a very high level."
'PROTECT THE PLAYERS'
All of the players were wearing teal armbands to show their
solidarity with sexual abuse victims in the U.S. National
Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and were seen holding a banner
saying "protect the players" ahead of the match.
An independent investigation this week showed abuse and
misconduct "had become systemic" in the American top-flight and
that the league, teams and governing body, U.S. Soccer, failed
to adequately protect players.
"It was a very special moment when the players got together and
had the banner in front of them," U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski
said.
"It gave me goosebumps to see the support from the fans who
applauded that moment... It was a statement that we have to stop
the sexual violence, and the players did an incredible job using
this game and this event as a platform to fight against it."
England host Czech Republic in their next friendly on Oct. 11
when the U.S. travel to Spain.
(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi in Gdansk and Rory
CarrollEditing by Toby Davis)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
