Key events
Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir, the Belgium manager, says her big hope for the evening is that she sees “more energy, more belief in themselves. I want to see my team believe in the plan throughout 90+ minutes.”
As we kill time while the clock ticks gently towards kick-off, here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report on England’s emphatic victory over these very opponents in Bristol on Friday:
In tonight’s other game in Group A3 Spain were 4-0 up against Portugal in less than half an hour, and that’s how the score remains with a few minutes to play before half-time. The Spaniards are, as I type, 13-0 up in shots.
The teams!
The line-ups have been announced, and here they are:
Belgium: Lichtfus, Cayman, Tysiak, Deloose, Janssens, Philtjens, Vanhaevermaet, Teulings, Detruyer, Wullaert, Eurlings. Subs: Evrard, Bastiaen, Elyn, Delacauw, Missipo, Van Kerkhoven, De Caigny, Dhont, Wijnants, Blom, Toloba, Mathys.
England: Hampton, Bronze, Charles, Williamson, Bright, Walsh, Clinton, Park, Parris, Mead, Beever-Jones. Subs: Earps, Moorhouse, Turner, Carter, Morgan, Le Tissier, Parker, Kirby, Toone, Symonds, Naz, Agyemang.
Referee: Maria Caputi (Italy).
Hello world!
Halfway through their Nations League group-stage campaign and England sit proudly atop the group popularly known as A3, having won at home against both Spain and Belgium and drawn in Portugal. Belgium have not a single point to their name, though they were 2-1 up in Valencia back in February before the Spaniards scored two stoppage-time goals to turn the game around and, as various members of the England group have been talking about this week, they last time this fixture was played, a year and a half ago, the hosts won it 3-2.
“We didn’t play our best and it was at the back of the World Cup so we were struggling with our levels a bit,” Sarina Wiegman said. “How I see [this game] is that we really want to kind of get revenge on ourselves. We want to show that we are better than we were then and we can do a lot better.”
England are missing a string of senior players, including Lauren Hemp, Georgia Stanway and Alex Greenwood, who all have knee injuries, as well as Lauren James and Alessia Russo, who both pulled out over the weekend, and Chloe Kelly. The 19-year-old Arsenal forward Michelle Agyemang, who according to left-back Niamh Charles is “so pacy” and “can probably change a game in an instant” has been called up and could make her debut.
So, welcome! And may I suggest you start your evening by reading the Tom Garry preview I shamelessly stole most of that information from? You’re too kind.