• Friendly: Norway
Women 2-1
England Women• Georgia Stanway gave England early leadEngland gave away the lead for the second game in a row, but five days after drawing with
Belgium, a late goal meant Phil Neville’s side lost against Norway, whom they beat in their
World Cup quarter-final this summer. Georgia Stanway’s 10th-minute stunner was undone first by Frida Maanum’s header from a corner – to add to concerns over England’s back line – and then a Caroline Graham Hansen mazy run and strike into the roof of the net, leaving the England captain, Steph Houghton, on the ground in her way.
Before the match, Neville had said this game would be as far from a friendly as a friendly can be. “Two, three games ago we were in a quarter-final of a World Cup, Norway probably think they were unlucky, they want it. It’s in their home country. They’ve got their biggest crowd. They are not going to rock up and say: ‘Here, you take it’ … It’s going to be a proper game of football and it’s what we need,” he said.