What Happened: England-USA, Euros playoffs and an Arsenal mailbag
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at what went down in the international break and highlights some of the latest pieces to read on The Cutback.
Welcome to another edition of The Cutback’s newsletter What Happened. This is your weekly round-up of the biggest talkings points in women’s football. This mail-out will always be free to read and sent to your inbox every Monday.
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It’s the international break which means no WSL to talk about but there were some big friendlies and 2025 Women’s Euro qualifier playoffs.
Before we get onto that, some housekeeping. London subscribers, my podcast Counter Pressed is co-hosting a karaoke night with Baller FC in Dalston on 19 December.
We’re raising a bit of money for charity and having a great Christmas sing along. If you’d like to come then you can grab a ticket.
Arsenal fans, Max Radwan will be answering your burning questions this week in a special mailbag piece. If you’d like to get a question into Max, drop it in the chat here.
Right, lets get onto the football.
England’s defensive boost
England took on Emma Hayes’ USA at Wembley on Saturday night in a much-hyped friendly. The number two and number one teams in the world ended up playing out a very respectable but fairly dull 0-0.
There was a very impressive light show before kick off that helped add even more to the occasion. I guess when four-time World Cup winners and multiple Olympic gold medallists come into town you need to roll out the red carpet. Unfortunately, the game itself lacked some of the razzmatazz of the pre-match laser show.
The most important thing for England was not losing this game. In the last international break, England suffered a chaotic 4-3 loss to Germany and just about scraped through in a 2-1 victory over South Africa. There have been some concerns around Sarina Wiegman’s team so this game against a big rival and highly favoured and competitive team was a great opportunity for a reset. It was also a perfect way to remind fans and the opposition what England are made of.
Both teams were missing attacking players and you could tell in the lack of creativity across the pitch. England were without Lauren Hemp, hands down the most consistent English player in the WSL at the moment, and Ella Toone, who always showcases her best work with England alongside Alessia Russo.
Meanwhile, USA were without their strong attacking trio of Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman, a huge let off for England.
I do think we would have seen a very different game if both teams had their strongest XI.
What a difference two years makes….
This game played out very differently to the friendly we saw between England and USA in October 2022, just a few months after England had won the Euros. England won that game 2-1 and it was hectic. There was lots of VAR interruptions and so many turnovers, with most of the game being played in transition.
We had two VAR moments on Saturday but apart from that it couldn’t have been more different. The intensity was lacking from England until the second half and USA didn’t look at their ruthless best either.
England’s midfield, which hasn’t looked good for months, struggled with constant misplaced passes. Across the pitch it felt like England were really missing some chemistry and connections.
The midfield of Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway, who have played alongside each other for years now, stuttered throughout. Jess Park, who played in the 10, dropped deep to support them but ended up leaving Russo completely isolated and having to take on two to three USA defenders on most opportunities.
England’s wingers also struggled with Jess Naz getting a surprising start on the right and Beth Mead playing on her un-favoured left side. England looked better when Fran Kirby came on in the second half as she created more space with her runs and faster link up play. Generally, when England increased the tempo they caused USA more problems. This game was crying out for a player like Lauren James to spark something out of nothing and drag some USA players out of position.
In terms of the USA, they’ll be frustrated not to have won the game given they had the better chances. Their midfield wasn’t clicking either. Lindsey Horan struggled, Sam Coffey picked up an early yellow card which limited her game so they relied mainly on Rose Lavelle and Alyssa Thompson to be their brightest sparks.
An improved defence
The most positive thing for England was a much more solid defensive display.
Clean sheets have been hard to come by in recent games and the fact that England were only under pressure for small chunks of the game is progress.
Lucy Bronze was England’s best player on the night and showed the levels she can still reach at 33, much like she has at times for Chelsea this season.
We also got to see Alex Greenwood play at left-back, a rare treat. It makes such a difference seeing a natural left footer play at left-back. I also think Jess Carter struggled there against Germany and given she has played at centre-back for club for the last few seasons she has the positional awareness and pace to play alongside the slower Greenwood and Leah Williamson.
Wiegman brought Mary Earps back in for this one and it had a positive impact. Hannah Hampton has been great for Chelsea this season and deserves an England number one spot, but there is something about Earps in big games. She makes the defence calmer, they seem to trust her more and she is great at commanding the team. Hampton’s distribution is her biggest asset but England didn’t really need that on Saturday. They needed calm and composed and Earps brought that, with a hint of aggression.
In a pretty drab game the defensive improvements are a very positive takeaway.
Later this week, Jessy Parker Humphreys will be assessing the USA game and England’s match against Switzerland so keep an eye out for that.
If you haven’t read Jessy’s piece on Chelsea’s left-back revolution then make sure you catch up.
Euro Playoffs
There were some very important competitive fixtures happening in Europe. Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland are all in Women’s Euro 2025 playoff action this break. They had the first legs of their second games over the weekend and it was a mixed bag.
Wales are facing Ireland and its all to play for going into the second leg after it finished 1-1 in Cardiff. It was a tense and even game with both sides having chances that could have swung the tie in their favour. It’s going to be really tight and nervy in Dublin on Tuesday.
Wales are aiming to qualify for their first ever major tournament so it feels like there is more pressure on them to deliver, especially as they have experienced playoff heartbreak before. Ireland made it to the World Cup in 2023 but have never been to a Euros before.
Scotland will be the most frustrated after a really disappointing 0-0 first leg at home to Finland. Matt Dallinson wrote about Scotland’s first round playoff success and their historic struggles against Finland.
Matt will be doing a round up of this second round game but judging by our texts over the weekend he’s feeling very stressed. Scotland’s only striker for this game was Martha Thomas and she could only last 60 minutes as she had been ill in the lead up to the game. Scotland looked nervous and back to their worst and slowest. Now they head away with a big task, I hope they can do it.
Northern Ireland were drawn the toughest playoff game as they had to face Norway, ranked 16th in the world. Norway took a 4-0 advantage in the first leg at Inver Park and it could potentially get ugly in the second leg. Norway beat Albania 14-0 in the first round of the playoffs. There are seriously heavy hitters in their squad including Caroline Graham Hansen, Frida Maanum and Guro Reiten. I just hope they can keep it close.
The second leg games are all happening on Tuesday night.
That’s it from me today. See you same time next week.