Fran-tastic Kirby leaves Marta in shade
PHIL NEVILLE said he ‘would take my No10 over Brazil’s today’ after matchwinner Fran Kirby overshadowed Fifa’s world player of the year Marta in England’s fifth successive win.
Kirby won the battle of the No10s on a day Marta failed to live up to her billing as the best player in the world.
The diminutive Chelsea forward headed Nikita Parris’s cross in off the bar in the second minute to set the tone for a dominant England display. But on a dank afternoon at Notts County, Marta lasted only a quarter of the game before she limped off with a tweaked hamstring.
‘I don’t think Fran realises her full potential,’ Neville, England’s head coach, said, ‘but we will get her there, that’s for sure. She’s buying into what we’re doing and we aim to challenge her every single day. There was a 10-15 minute period in the second half where I thought she was world class. It was the positions she was taking up, the turns — she can do virtually everything.’
Kirby and Parris wreaked havoc in the first half as England, third in the world rankings, looked a class apart from the former world champions, now ranked eighth.
Marta curled one shot just wide before her early withdrawal but emerged from a rainy Meadow Lane afterwards with her head buried in her hood.
England, on the other hand, looked only too glad to be playing, in only their second home game in eight matches this year. They have not lost as hosts in three and a half years and look well set to challenge for the World Cup in France next summer.
They left themselves vulnerable, however, by not adding a second goal and Neville expressed his frustration afterwards. He said: ‘It was not ruthless enough with our finishing... with the type of football we were playing.
‘The players came in disappointed. When they (Brazil) had a couple of late free-kicks they were thinking “is it one of those smash and grab kind of games”.’
England will take on Australia, ranked sixth in the world, in good heart at Fulham on Tuesday.