England Women’s Under-19s head coach Mo Marley was more than satisfied with this week’s work following a competitive double-header against USA.
The Young Lionesses played two games in three days against a strong Stars and Stripes outfit as part of a wider training camp in their pre-Euro finals preparation at St. George’s Park.
They lost the first match 2-1 on Wednesday before goals by Taylor Kornieck and Civana Kuhlmann gave the visitors a 2-0 victory on Friday.
Most of the England squad have not contested a competitive fixture since the end of the WSL Spring Series in April but fared well in warm conditions.
And Marley reckons the games have provided an important insight into where the team are at and highlighted areas of improvement ahead of next month’s European Championship in Northern Ireland.
She said: “Both games have summarised where we are. We’re just not quite sharp enough yet.
“We’ve got almost five weeks. We know that the girls are out of season. We put the games in to help us get at the pace of it in line with the Euros.
“We know we’re not where we need to be quite yet but that’s set us on our way now.
“That’s real opposition. We played the USA this time last year and I think they’re much stronger this year.
“With the off-season, the players are taking responsibility for their own personal development in that time frame.
“We’ve had two camps at the end of the FA WSL break and we’ve had 10 days of prep starting the pre-season programme and we’re back on 30 July.
“How we planned this camp was crucial. The level of opposition was massive.”
Much like in the first game, a 2-1 reverse, the USA came out of the traps and racked up a two-goal lead.
The home side’s response was positive on both occasions with Marley witnessing an overall improvement in the second contest.
She added: “I actually thought we started really well. In the previous game we had a slow start, that’s understandable where we were in the season.
“I thought we started much better on Friday. We grew back into it. We’re in pre-season, those are the minor differences.
“I think in both games you’re looking at minor errors which have a significant difference of the outcome.
“We were a bit nervous after the first goal then came back into it. We changed the shape a little bit.
“I thought they were quite well organised. They held it out. They didn’t need to push, the only way they were going to get a goal was on the counter-attack.
“We know we’re not quite at those required levels yet.
“The WSL season finished then they have to have a break. It’s been a long programme.
“Some of the players have been playing WSL as well as development football and needed a break. A lot of them are still only 18, you can’t just keep relentlessly going.
“Now they’re only one week into pre-season so to do what we’ve done against a top level team, I’m quite happy.
“I think we are where we need to be based on where we are in the season.”
England will face Italy, Netherlands and four-time winners France in the Euro finals group, with the action getting under way on Tuesday 8 August.
