BLUES Ladies stars Karen Carney and Jo Potter were in action for England as they narrowly lost out to the USA 1-0 in Milton Keynes last Friday.
The Three Lions put up a brave fight but were undone by Alex Morgan’s 25th-minute header which gave the Americans, who are ranked number two in the world, a narrow win in a pre-World Cup friendly at Stadium MK.
It could have been a different story but England striker Jodie Taylor had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside after Fran Kirby’s strike bounced back off the crossbar.
Experienced midfielder Carney played the full 90 minutes and fellow Blues ace Potter lasted 79 minutes before being replaced with ten minutes to go.
Jade Moore was also selected as part of Mark Sampson’s squad but did not make an appearance from the bench.
“We have showed against USA that we can mix it with anyone.” said England head coach Sampson.
“There are things we know we need to improve on, but let’s not forget the condition of the players at the moment. They are still in pre-season.
“Our objective is to keep getting closer and closer to these top-tier nations, to keep knocking the door down, so come the summer we have got a far better chance of beating them.
“You can see the improvements the players have made from the Germany game and that is huge from my point of view.
“The players are getting fitter and fitter as they approach the start of their domestic season, and I’m really confident that by the time the World Cup starts we will be in a position to give anyone a tough game.”
“I’m pleased that we showed we’ve got good strength in depth in the group and moving forward we know we have got different styles in our play.
“There are plenty of positives, but we can’t hide away from the fact that we want to be winning these games.”
