England 7-0 Jamaica (Toone 10+, 45+4, Bronze 32′, Stanway 59′, Russo 71′, Beever-Jones 85′, Mead 90+6)
Leicester City’s pitch is normally a glorious carpet, one that now looks as if it has been eaten by moths.
The Lionesses’ 7-0 victory over Jamaica was all the more impressive given it came on a surface with huge lumps missing. A send-off fit for European champions in substance, but not in surroundings.
As the ball bobbled awkwardly outside the penalty area, Ella Toone looked as bewildered as anybody as to how she twice managed to score. Leah Williamson watched a tumbleweed of a pass laze along to Greenwood as she tried to mount a counter-attack.
Appalling pitches in women’s football, even for worthier occasions than a warm-up friendly against Jamaica, are nothing new. After the League Cup final at Pride Park, Erin Cuthbert surmised that Chelsea had won their first of three trophies last season in spite of a surface “not fit for a final”.
“You expect in England to have the best groundsmen and pitches in the world,” echoed her manager, Sonia Bompastor.
You expect it particularly at Leicester, who until last month were a Premier League team, owned by a family of billionaires. It is always welcome when England take the show on tour, away from the humdrum of Wembley, and particularly if it can help them to prepare for a month of unfamiliar surroundings.
But this was a half-hearted attempt to get the King Power ready for a rare opportunity to host the national side in front of local fans. England Men have had their fair share of sub-par pitches away from home – including at last summer’s Euros against Denmark in Frankfurt – but it is hard to imagine them playing on a surface like this in the UK.
It is not only a sign of disrespect to a Lionesses side who have reached the final of their last two major tournaments – pitches of such a low standard not only reduce the quality of the football, they risk causing injury.
They have been questionable, to put it mildly, at the Arnold Clark Cup in the past, but never with such implications for a summer of this magnitude.
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Losing anyone to injury was simply not an option for Sarina Wiegman, who started her strongest possible XI in a hint of what her line-up will look like for England’s opener against France on 5 July.
Georgia Stanway, Alex Greenwood and Lauren James are all being quietly nursed behind the scenes. All have had significant injury problems in the past 12 months.
It is just as well England came through unscathed, as Wiegman could have attacked this friendly in two ways. The big question looming over this Euros is whether England have enough depth. We did not really find out.
With Hannah Hampton starting – and surviving a howler that was disallowed due to Jamaican obstruction – the two back-up goalkeepers Anna Moorhouse and Khiara Keating will go to Switzerland without a single cap between them.
When Beth Mead fell to the floor under a late challenge from Natasha Thomas, disaster might have struck. Instead she rallied to score England’s seventh.
These are the moments that mean everything and nothing in the build-up to a major tournament. England hardly need reminding that greater tests lie ahead, especially given that this was a Jamaica side missing Khadija Shaw, Becky Spencer and Drew Spence.
Leicester, too, might feel they have bigger fish to fry as they search for a men’s first-team manager, brace themselves for a potential points deduction and prepare for another season in the Championship juggling myriad, complex financial rules. It might be an idea to get their house in order first.
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