England vs Spain 12/03/20

12 March 2020

The two nations that have had identical returns from their opening two games at the SheBelieves Cup go head-to-head at the Toyota Stadium as England W take Spain W.

England have bounced back after a 2-0 defeat to the United States in the tournament curtain-raiser, picking up a narrow 1-0 triumph over Japan, with all three goals scored/conceded across those matches coming in the second half of play. Curiously, only one of the Three Lionesses’ 20 previous fixtures has ended in a draw (W11, L8), with eight of their last nine results (win/loss) yielding a single-goal margin. Also, all five of their defeats before the abovementioned loss to the USA had come via the same 2-1 scoreline. Another tight match is on the cards definitely, considering seven of their eight previous clashes against Spain have ended separating the sides by under 1.5 goals (W5, D2, L1), although the last five have all seen England score at least two goals.

Meanwhile, after beating Japan 3-1 in their opening game of the tournament, ‘La Roja’ have succumbed 1-0 to the United States, bringing a four-game unbeaten run to a halt (W3, D1). Both goals they’ve conceded at the tournament so far have come either inside the final three minutes of the first or second half of play. Spain’s success in this encounter will heavily depend on whether or not they can open the scoring. Indeed, they lost all four of their previous matches in which they’ve shipped the opening goal. But, when they win, Jorge Vilda’s players tend to do it with some dignity – All 12 of their last victories have seen them score two goals or more, with 11 producing a multiple-goal margin.