England Women announce squad for the SheBelieves Cup, can they retain the title

Published on: 18 February 2020

England Women have announced their squad for the SheBelieves Cup, but can they retain the title? We give you the lowdown on the upcoming tournament...

What is the SheBelieves Cup?

The 2020 SheBelieves Cup - held in the USA - is the fifth edition of the tournament and features four international women's teams. It begins on March 5 and finishes on March 11.

The USA and England have featured in all four previous competitions - and do so again this year - while Japan will feature in their second successive tournament. Spain will be making their SheBelieves debut.

Germany, France and Brazil have also featured in previous years, with the USA winning two of the four tournaments thus far (2016, 2018) while France and England won the others (2017 and 2019 respectively).

SheBelieves is played in a round-robin format with each team playing each other once and whoever tops the table at the end of the tournament wins the trophy. If the points are tied, goal difference is used to decide the winner.

The six games will be played across three different locations. This year's tournament starts at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida before moving to the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The final two games will be played at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Lionesses' rollercoaster year

This year's edition begins on March 5 - exactly a year after England won the 2019 competition. They beat Brazil and Japan and drew with reigning champions and hosts, the USA, in what was seen as the perfect pre-World Cup preparation.

Fast forward 365 days and after the highs of reaching a World Cup semi-final, the Lionesses have struggled to rediscover their form.

They have only won two of their six friendlies since their third-place play-off defeat to Sweden, beating Portugal and the Czech Republic, and drawing another against Belgium. The remaining three games have been defeats against Norway, Brazil and Germany, with the latter in front of a record-breaking crowd at Wembley.

The upcoming SheBelieves Cup will be the last tournament for the Lionesses before their home European Championships in 2021. As hosts, they do not have to qualify and although there is the Olympics in the summer - which Phil Neville will take charge of - this will include other British nations and not just England.

Familiar foes

None of the teams at the SheBelieves Cup will be unknown opposition for England. They faced Japan and the USA at the 2019 World Cup, with Spain also playing the eventual tournament champions.

The Lionesses beat Japan 2-0 in their final group game - Ellen White scoring both goals as England topped the group - with both teams advancing to the knockout rounds. Japan were eventually knocked out by finalists the Netherlands, but England progressed all the way to the semi-finals.

Waiting them was the dominant force of the USA, but after a game that included a missed Steph Houghton penalty, a disallowed Ellen White goal and Millie Bright's late sending off, it was the USA who won 2-1.

It was also the same scoreline that saw the USA beat Spain in the last 16, with two Megan Rapinoe penalties sending their opponents home.

Who is Vlatko Andonovski?

Long-time USA coach Jill Ellis officially stepped down in October and was replaced by Vlatko Andonovski. Starting his career in his home country of North Macedonia, he spent six years playing indoor soccer in the USA before moving into coaching. He has managed at the Kansas City Comets, FC Kansas City and Reign FC before being appointed as USA manager.

The USA have been in formidable form since his arrival too. They have played and won all seven games, scoring 34 goals and conceded just two - both in a friendly against Sweden. Five of these games have come in the CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying campaign where the USA have not conceded against any side.

The players to watch

Who will everyone be talking about 2020 SheBelieves Cup? We take a look at just a few of the contenders...

Rose Lavelle - USA

Rose Lavelle was one of the standout stars for the USA in France, although she was arguably overshadowed by the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, who is currently pregnant with her first child.

This could give Lavelle the perfect platform to make a name for herself. She dazzled with her fancy footwork at the World Cup and scored a sensational goal in the final. She was awarded the Bronze Ball behind team-mate Rapinoe and England's Lucy Bronze and was also named as one of 10 'Players Who Dared to Shine' by a FIFA Technical Study Group.

The 24-year-old, who plays her club football for Washington Spirit, already has World Cup and CONCACAF Women's Championship victories under her belt. Will she be adding the SheBelieves Cup this month?

Bethany England - England

One of the most talented strikers in the Women's Super League, Beth England was surprisingly omitted from England's World Cup squad last summer. After a year on loan at Liverpool in the 2017/18 season, England returned to Chelsea with a new determination and finished the 2018/19 campaign as the WSL's third-highest scorer with 12 goals, only beaten by Nikita Parris (19) and Vivianne Miedema (22).

This season, England one again trails Miedema in the WSL scoring stakes - three goals behind with 13 - but has finally settled into her role as Chelsea's main striker. Her form has also seen a quick accumulation of five England caps and two goals in friendlies against Brazil and the Czech Republic.

The SheBelieves Cup will represent her first competitive games for England, with manager Neville saying: "She was really unlucky before the World Cup and I said to her when we brought her into the squad that she would be getting opportunities after Christmas.

"She's playing in a team full of confidence and every time I see her play, she's added a little bit to the game. Without doubt she, along with Ellen White, are the best two centre-forwards in England on form and she deserves her place in the squad."

Mana Iwabuchi - Japan

Despite being 25 years old, Mana Iwabuchi is already a seasoned international. She has featured at three World Cups, winning the tournament in 2011 and finishing as runner up in 2015, and is one of Japan's most influential players.

Used primarily as a striker, Iwabuchi helped Japan to win the Asian Cup in April 2018 - in which she was named as MVP - before winning gold with Japan at the 2018 Asian Games a few months later, adding to her Olympic silver medal from London 2012.

She has previously played in Europe, spending five years with Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich in Germany, before returning home where she now plays her club football for INAC Kobe Leonessa. She did not feature at last year's SheBelieves Cup, but 2020 represents the perfect chance to add to her 27 international goals for Japan so far.

Jennifer Hermoso - Spain

Another impressive attacking player, forward Jennifer Hermoso has proved herself invaluable to Spain as they seek to match the past successes of their male counterparts.

A versatile attacking threat, Hermoso has played for many of Europe's biggest clubs, including two stints at Atletico Madrid and Barcelona - where she currently plays - and Paris Saint-Germain.

She has 68 caps for Spain with 30 goals and was the country's highest scorer at the World Cup, netting three times, including a goal against the USA in the last 16. She was part of the Spain side that won the Algarve Cup in 2017 - a tournament Japan also played in - and will be hoping for more silverware at the SheBelieves Cup this year.

What they've said

England manager Phil Neville: "I want us to approach it in the same way as we did last season when we won the competition. I want to see the togetherness, the spirit and the determination to win. When you stand on a platform with a trophy and a medal around your neck, that breeds confidence and give the team the belief that they can beat the best teams in the world.

"This is the best competition outside of the major tournaments. You're playing against the best team in the world and two other really good teams as well in circumstances where there is a two day turnaround in games, the travel and the crowds. This is vital in our programme and we want to win the competition."

USA coach Vlatko Andonovski: "As a team, we have lots of positive feelings coming out of Olympic qualifying, but I think we all know that there's still a lot of room for growth for this group and there's no better way to continue that process than to play teams like England, Spain and Japan.

"Our end goal is the Olympics, but we're looking forward to a productive camp in Orlando and the challenge of playing three fantastic sides over the seven days. The rhythm of the SheBelieves Cup schedule directly matches what we will face in group play at the Olympics, and the value of getting a test run against this level of competition cannot be overstated."

Former England international Sue Smith: "The SheBelieves Cup is a marker to see where you are as a team. You're playing against some of the top teams in the world, you've got the opportunity to test yourself and it's a chance to go and beat some of the best teams and keep that trophy because it's a really prestigious trophy, considering it has been something England have been involved in for a few years now. But the fact they've won it already makes it a little bit more special."

Source: m.allfootballapp.com

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