Young Lionesses Targeting Senior Squad Place
England Women’s Under-23s coach, Emma Coates has spoken after her team's resilient 1-1 draw to Portugal in Northampton on Monday night, of how hungry her talent-packed squad is for senior status following a visit to training from Sarina Weigman.
The ex-Doncaster Belles manager dealt with challenges this week as talented centre-back Anouk Denton was called into the senior squad. But Coates explained how it was not detrimental to the team’s preparations.
“I think it's an indicator of success for us. We’ve got a squad for a reason” she continued, “the fact it happened on camp and Sarina came down to training, the girls are now chomping at the bit, because they know how close they are.”
Coates during training session in 2022. Image Source : @lionesses on X
The game started brightly for the England side, and they were heavy on the attack with narrowly missed opportunities early in the game. Portugal capitalised off a loose England pass at the back, and gained the lead.
Southampton substitute Keira Barry, on loan from Manchester United, equalised with a great strike not long after entering the fray. She credited her team mates for their resilience and part in the goal, “the girls did an absolutely amazing job in the first half, so it made it easy for me to come in after seeing all their hard work.”
“I gave us a breath of fresh air, fresh legs and meant the hard work finally paid off. ”
Keira Barry during post match interview after 1-1 Portugal draw in Northampton
The team struggled in their previous game, suffering a heavy defeat to rivals Germany at an away fixture in Fulda, so head coach Emma Coates was overjoyed at the improved performance. “We reviewed the game, connected to the plan for this match. We had clarity on the role and task of this game and they executed a bit better than the start of the week.”
Young Lionesses Freya Godfrey, Lexi Potter and Mari Ward greeting fans after the game
Coates’ side have two more fixtures in November against Norway and USA. “I think we’ll get similar challenges. Norway can be physical and a little direct. The USA provides a different challenge - the speed of their play, transition and attacking play. They’ll be very different, which is similar to these two games, but that’s the importance of this program. It’s giving these players different experiences to help them make that step to the next level.”