All White on night and Becks chips in
WHEN you have friends in high places, it pays to use them. Phil Neville asked David Beckham to give England a pep talk and it has kept the impetus behind the start to his reign.
Neville and Beckham shared in countless successes when they played for Manchester United and the former England captain spent five minutes addressing his old friend’s squad before their second game in the SheBelieves Cup against Germany.
His words clearly registered. England, thanks to two goals from Birmingham striker Ellen White, fought back twice to take a point from a nation who have set the standards in Europe. Should they beat the United States in Orlando on Thursday, they will win they this tournament for the first time.
‘The minute I got the job David said he would come to the game,’ Neville explained. ‘He said a few words about what it means to play for England. His presence shows how far the women’s game has come in England. I think he would have liked the way we played.’
Judging by the way Beckham enthusiastically clapped at the final whistle, he certainly did enjoy it — and with good reason. England were not afraid to play expansively and this was another step forward following the 4-1 thrashing of France in Columbus.
There were mistakes, though. England’s defending for Germany’s opening goal, in the 17th minute, was poor, with Liverpool goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain, who had been presented with her 50th cap by Beckham, and Fara Williams both erring.
It allowed Germany striker Hasret Kayikci to pounce. To England’s credit, however, they equalised within 60 seconds when Williams’s shot from 25 yards deflected off White, who had started instead of Jodie Taylor, to wrong-foot Almuth Schult.
With more poise in the area, they could have gone into the interval with the lead but Barcelona’s Toni Duggan and Stokes both snatched at clear openings.
England should have been in front two minutes after the restart thanks to the best move of the game, Lawley finding Jill Scott, whose cross from the right picked out Fran Kirby. A firsttime shot would surely have led to a goal but the Chelsea midfielder dallied and the chance was gone.
Moments later, Germany regained the lead. A mix-up with Chamberlain and Abbie McManus and a failed clearance led to Chamberlain kicking Lina Magull’s shot against Millie Bright and the ball rolled into her net.
Yet England would not give up and White, the star of the show, pounced in the 73rd minute after racing through to leave her manager overjoyed and Beckham beaming.
‘I was disappointed initially with the score but I spoke to my staff and they reasoned with me,’ said Neville. ‘There’s not many teams who have created that amount of chances against Germany.
‘We did enough to win but we could have lost it, so a draw was a fair reflection. We didn’t play with belief in the first half but the way they came back was fantastic.’