England’s women footballers are preparing to compete in the European Championships in Finland next month. In preparation for the finals, they played a penultimate friendly, but found themselves on the losing end. This came after their unbeatable record of 9 wins, no losses.
Iceland was finally able to beat the British team after losing to them nine straight times. England used their fringe players primarily in this match and lost by two. Holmfridur Magnuisdottir and Margret Vidarsdottir scored the two goals for Iceland. Magnusdottir shot a low shot for the goal after 26 minutes.
England’s coach, Hope Powell, used the fringe players to give them a chance to see some real action and she feels that they really gave it a go. Penetration was the problem with the England team, as they did maintain possession a good deal of the time.
England’s goal scoring efforts came in the 43rd minute in the form of a header pounded by Faye White, the team’s captain, but Iceland’s right-winger, Dora Larusdottir, blocked the shot. Jill Scott and Emily Westwood took long shots that were blocked by Iceland’s goalkeeper, Thora Helgadottir.
Coach Powell was interested in playing as many players as possible in order to get a good look at all of them before the Euro finals squad. Her observations answered her questions. She has a rough time of it, trying to decide, as this team has many capable and competitive athletes who would be appropriate choices for the Euro’s.
