The Lionesses take on the Chinese team – Women's Friendly International
Introduction
Greetings and welcome to the non-competitive match between the English side and China at Wembley Stadium. This promises to be an exciting contest with the European Championship holders competing against the reigning Asia Cup winners.
England’s national stadium is packed for the match, which will see the celebrated Fran Kirby honored pre-match after her international retirement before the Euro tournament this past summer.
The team news will be revealed soon, but there was a late squad update for England. On Friday, Khiara Keating withdrew from the squad with a small issue, and so ex-first choice Ellie Roebuck has been called up.
With Hannah Hampton out of action, it will be intriguing to observe who head coach Sarina Wiegman selects in goal. That news and all the other updates are incoming before the start of the match at 5:30 in the evening GMT.
Lineup Announcements
The team news is in. Anna Moorhouse is the starting keeper for England in the unavailability of Hannah Hampton and Khiara Keating.
England's starting eleven: Moorhouse, Bronze, Charles, Walsh, Le Tissier, Morgan, Mead, Stanway, Russo, Toone, Hemp.
Substitutes: Hings, Baggaley, Kendall, Wubben-Moy, Beever-Jones, Kelly, Kearns, Park, Blindkilde Brown, Roebuck, Clinton, Denton, Fisk, Godfrey.
We are awaiting China’s team news now; when it comes through, I will provide the update.
Captaincy Update
Keira Walsh is captaining the Lionesses with Leah Williamson still injured. She shared these thoughts before this encounter:
Walsh steps up as England meet fresh challenge in battle of continental titleholders.
Debut Alert
Tonight’s game will be Anna Moorhouse's debut for England. She belonged to the European Championship squad who claimed victory this past summer, but she did not feature with Hannah Hampton in the starting goalkeeper role.
Recent Action
The initial encounter of the final of the Women’s Nations League took place yesterday; catch up with all of the events:
Women’s Nations League: Spain’s Cata Coll denies Germany to keep final in the balance.
Live Feed
Real-time coverage from the fixture will be provided with major incidents and timely updates as the match proceeds.
