England 4-0 Japan – Beth Mead wins 50th cap as Lionesses destroy Japan Women

Arsenal’s Beth Mead 50th cap as England Lionesses beat Japan 4-0 in Spain By Michelle

Oh, what a night!  England’s Lionesses made their 4-0 win over Japan look easy..

Before the 7pm kick-off, players of England and Japan paid their respects as they observed 2 minutes silence for Remembrance Day.

There was a false start when Ella Toone took the kick off and then remembered the players are supposed to take the knee.

Beth Mead won her 50th cap for England, and her Arsenal teammate Mana Iwabuchi started for Japan.

Manchester City’s Esme Morgan and Chelsea’s Niamh Charles won their first full caps in defence for England, who were without Arsenal’s Leah Williamson, Barcelona’s Lucy Bronze and Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood.

Both teams had chances and a few shots on target in the first half.  Half an hour into the game Yamashita made a great save.  England won possession in the final third. Mead forced Minami into a mistake, as Toone collected the ball 25 yards from goal. She slid it back towards Mead, whose low first-time shot was half stopped by the diving Yamashita and dribbled just wide of the far post.

GOAL! England 1-0 Japan (38 minutes) England are ahead. Kelly put in another sensational cross from the left that just evaded Mead and Russo in the middle. Sugita collected the ball in her own area, dithered and was tackled by the indefatigable Mead. The ball deflected to Daly, who took a touch and slid a low left-footed shot past Yamashita at the near post.

There wasn’t a huge amount between the teams in the first half, but England looked a lot more dynamic in the final third. They’ve certainly had the better chances so far.

Chloe Kelly added a second goal shortly after the break with a rocket on her weaker foot as she was alert to a beautifully placed cross from Beth Mead which was initially meant for Man United’s Alessia Russo.

Ella Toone put a lovely effort over Yamashita in the 77th minute to condemn Japan to their first defeat of 2022.

England went on to net a fourth in added time.  Jess Park, who was introduced from the bench for her England debut, shot England’s fourth from point-blank range into the back of the net.

Teams

England: Earps; Daly, Bright, Morgan, Charles; Walsh; Mead, Stanway, Toone, Kelly; Russo.

Substitutes: James, Roebuck, Zelem, Wubben-Moy, Le Tissier, Parris, Park, Salmon, Robinson, MacIver, George.

Japan: Yamashita; Miyake, Kumagai, Minami; Shimizu, Sugita, Nagano, Endo; Hasegawa, Iwabuchi, Miyazawa.

Substitutes: Naomoto, Momoko Tanaka, Norimatiu, Seike, Hayashi, Ueki, Kitamura, Takarada, Mina Tanaka, Ohba, Fujino

Sarina Wiegman’s side are now 25 unbeaten and head into the Norway game in excellent form.

Michelle Maxwell

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