It was not the send-off the Lionesses had hoped for ahead of their opening World Cup match next weekend: a scrappy, frustrating 1-0 defeat by New Zealand, a team ranked 19th in the world. The warm-up friendly, played just a week and a day before England take on Scotland in France, was never going to be a classic match, but an exercise in impatience, nerves, and injury-avoidance will have been far from a confidence-booster for Phil Neville’s squad. It is the second defeat among the five World Cup warm-up friendlies they have played since April. After a perplexing first half with consistent attacking from England and half a dozen decent chances on goal wasted, New Zealand returned from half-time to score within five minutes, shrinking…

Source: The Times June 01, 2019 14:37 UTC