Friendly - Germany vs England 26 Nov 15

England Women will travel to Germany in November to play the European champions in an international friendly.

Mark Sampson’s side will travel to the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in Duisburg for the match, which will take place on Thursday 26 November (5pm KO GMT).

It will be the first time the two teams have faced each other since the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada in the summer. England beat Germany 1-0, thanks to a Fara Williams penalty, to secure third place at the tournament.

The Lionesses will then travel back to England where they will face Bosnia & Herzegovina at Bristol City’s Ashton Gate stadium three days later (Sunday 29 November). It will be their first home match since the World Cup, as part of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 qualifying campaign.

Sampson said: “Testing ourselves against the best teams in the world on a regular basis is a vital element in the continuing development of this England team. 

“Any match against a top-tier nation is a tough, tough match but we have consistently learnt crucial lessons after our experiences against the likes of USA, France and Germany. 

“The Germany match will be a wonderful occasion but most importantly an opportunity to test ourselves against a world-class team and learn those key lessons to help improve the group.”

The Lionesses’ next match is in Tallinn where they kick off their EURO 2017 qualifying campaign against Estonia on Monday 21 September (5pm KO BST).

Tickets for the Bosnia match are on sale now priced £5 for adults and £2.50 for children. A family ticket (two adults and two children) is available at £10 and group booking discounts apply.

Tickets can be purchased via tickets.bristol-sport.co.uk or by calling 01179 630 600.

Read more at http://www.thefa.com/news/england/womens/2015/sep/germany-international-duisburg-november#jsKkRh3C0AksbDKr.99

It was said last year it was a home and away fixture.  It's definitely going to be an interesting game and with the qualifying match after, instead of before there won't be a game in which the England girls who are resting or injured (or are midfield) to have a game before playing Germany. Hopefully, Mark has the sense to play against one of the England boys team before they go or it could get really ugly, really fast.  Cause the Germans will most likely want revenge.

Final league games beginning of Oct. Conti final 1 Nov. CL round of 32 wrapped up by 14/15 Nov. Potential CL round of 16 wrapped up by 18/19 Nov. Presumably there is the potential to hold a fairly substantial training camp prior to the friendly and the qualifier which follows, maybe with any players who have CL involvement joining late. Sampson will have to do something anyway, he can't have players sitting idle for the best part of two months as his preparation for an in full swing Germany.

^ That doesn't seem to have happened. It looks like players have stuck to club training only. There have been a couple making dev team appearances but bar them and the Chelsea lot I don't think the rest have played for how long?

Anyway, here is Germany's squad:

Goalkeepers: Karen Bardsley (Manchester City), Rachael Laws (Sunderland), Carly Telford (Notts County)

Defenders: Laura Bassett (Notts County), Lucy Bronze (Manchester City), Gilly Flaherty (Chelsea), Alex Greenwood (Notts County), Steph Houghton (Manchester City), Claire Rafferty (Chelsea), Demi Stokes (Manchester City), Casey Stoney (Arsenal), Amy Turner (Notts County)

Midfielders: Isobel Christiansen (Manchester City), Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), Jill Scott (Manchester City), Fara Williams (Liverpool)

Forwards: Eniola Aluko (Chelsea), Jess Clarke (Notts County), Gemma Davison (Chelsea), Toni Duggan (Manchester City), Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Jodie Taylor (Portland Thorns), Ellen White (Notts County)

http://www.thefa.com/news/england/womens/2015/nov/squad-international-matches-germany-duisburg-bosnia-bristol-fara-williams-toni-duggan

I'm surprised to see Taylor included. Isn't she supposed to be rehabbing a persistent knee injury? That was the stated reason for her not going to the W-League this winter.

Potter, Chapman, Sanderson not fancied any more or something else?

Sanderson seemed to fall out of favour even when still being selected. Potter was never really given minutes and even when she did she was often misused. So those two not being in his plans any more wouldn't be surprising. But I expected him to keep Chapman around.

I'm really suprised at how sparse the midfield is, especially with Nobbs really prone to injury and Fara just coming off a long term injury and only having Liverpool's development squad to gain fitness.  If both of them go out injured during the Getmany game it could be a blood bath.  Really suprised at Chapman not being in it.  Did she suffer a knock against Wolfsburg?  Happy to see Davison retain her spot.  It's great that they are showing it on the Red Button.

This isn't the first time he has selected a sparse midfield. Too often he selects far too many forwards - most of which are pointless inclusions because they can't possibly all feature - at the expense of having a proper defensive element to the midfield, or just a midfield full stop. I hope some of the absentees are absent due to unavailability and not because he just doesn't want them. They are needed.

This squad is more than fine for the qualifier. But if he isn't careful the Germany friendly is going to end up resembling the last one.

That's true he has done so in the past, I was just suprised that for the Germany game he wouldn't go in with more in that department. We're going to win or lose (most likely lose) that game in the midfield and you can't tell me that Fara is even remotely fit enough to take on Germans who have been in season for months now. She's the only remotely defensive-minded midfielder we have in those four.

We could probably win that qualifier without any of our midfielders and after the Germany match we probably won't have one that doesnt the have some sort of injury going into the qualifier.

If I remember correctly, for the World Cup game against them we lined up with Chapman, Williams, Potter and Scott all starting together. Potter was in as a third CB.

This time we have no Chapman or Potter and the players there in their place can't be labelled like-for-like swaps in regards to defensive effort. Then we have Williams who won't even be close to being up to speed.

So the set up for the WC game was a lot more defensive than is possible from this squad.

I have an awful feeling that the Germany game is going to be Wembley 2.0 with the Germans being less gracious a way more revengeful.

Guest wrote:I have an awful feeling that the Germany game is going to be Wembley 2.0 with the Germans being less gracious a way more revengeful.

I don't think the circumstances are in our favour at all this time. Questionable midfield vs a German midfield. Us not playing properly for months vs them being in season. Less than stellar performances in China. etc etc. I hope Sampson isn't overestimating us and underestimating them because last time he did that it was car crash.

The next round of retirements is going to leave us without the necessary amount of ready and prepared defensive-minded midfielders anyway. Might as well get a taste of it now.

The next round of retirements is going to leave us without the necessary amount of ready and prepared defensive-minded midfielders anyway. Might as well get a taste of it now.

True, after the next Euros there is going to be a major problem there and at CB as well. It's so frustrating that the majority of the girls either can't or won't defend properly from the front to back.

I hope Sampson isn't overestimating us and underestimating them because last time he did that it was car crash.

If the propaganda, I mean the articles, coming out today are any indication than I'd say he most definitely is and the "strong squad" he has named will at have to "put in a big shift" (Sampson in the Guardian). It seems his squad sre a bit overconfident (or as Greenwood would say have an arrogance to win) as well if Williams thinks that three developmental squad games (none of which she played 90 minutes) has made her match fit for the Germans and giving it a "really good testing." I especially loved the football league paper (source of Williams quote) article because it gave Sampson a way out when he loses against German by stating he has a dilemma ahead on whether he'll rest players for the qualifiers next Sunday or play them in the friendly Thursday against the "mighty Germans." Which is a very valid point. Maybe Sampson will rest Willians, heck maybe even Nobbs and go with a midfield of Scott and Christiansen against the Germans to keep the other two fresh for that grueling game against Bosnia.

My favourite Williams quote: "We went into the against the German at Wembley last year believing we could beat them. Unfortunately, we came up short that day." I think that belief went out the door by the fifth minute and England were outclassed on every front by them. She does go on to say that defeat motivated them for when they meet them in Canada. However, lbr the main reason England won (in extra time from a pk) was Germany had faced the Swedes, the French and the Americans and just weren't motivated for a third game playoff.

While I'm proud of what our girls accomplished over in Canada and have faith that this squad can be true contenders in two years time. Why can't the team be confident and realistic? A fair assessment from them would be a breath of fresh air in an industry of trite answers and cliches and lead to a team that fans could really get behind because they are genuine (that's why the country feel in love with them over the summer).

The team is being allowed to set whatever narrative it wants for itself right now because there is nobody to set it for them or even just give them a window in which to work. No journalists within the women's game will deviate from the word coming out of the camp because they don't have the bottle to for numerous reasons (all of which are understandable and I get why they won't). And there are no journalists within the men's game who have the knowledge to really show a different picture. If we had either of those things I'm sure a couple of 'and now the dust has settled let's look back objectively' pieces would have appeared, and not brought us back down to earth as such but at least balanced the perception. 

It is in the FA's best interest that such a thing doesn't happen of course, because the longer the wave of positivity goes on the longer they can ride it. It is in everybody else's best interest that it does however, because each quote which comes and every fluff piece that is inspired by the quotes just increases the height of the fall we are setting ourselves up for if the Euros ends in anything less than a final. Though I'm sure many already won't be satisfied unless we win the thing.

Sadly I can't see the situation getting any better. Euros qualifying is just as easy a walk in the park as World Cup qualifying is and you can bet everybody will be wetting their pants again over us battering another lot of amateur no marks instead of viewing that as it should be - inconsequential. That is why games like this friendly against Germany are so important; not just to test the football to also burst bubbles when they get too big. Trouble is, if you win then said bubble only gets bigger.

We have been in this riding high position before (albeit on a smaller scale) and it didn't end well. When we beat Sweden 4-0 in that friendly prior to the Germany one it was the best and worst thing which could have happened, because it will have been, in a large part, the reason why the Germany game was approached in the manner it was. Too many got carried away by that 4-0 result because they were a big scalp at the time and too few failed to acknowledged that the Sweden who turned up on the day pretty much didn't turn up at all. The outcome was us thinking well if we can batter the Swedes we must be ready to go toe-to-toe with Neid's lot. We all know what came next. And this still happened even though the football we were playing in the WC qualifiers around the same time was leaving quite a bit to be desired. 

Fast forward to now and we're on a high again from the bronze medal, our performances in China were less than stellar, and we're about to face Germany in another friendly. That's a fair bit of history repeating itself. So it would be quite fitting to leave Duisburg with our tails between our legs.

It looks like the squad is together at last. Still not sure why the non-Chelsea players couldn't have been in camp long before now. We looked gassed after 30 minutes against both China and Australia and that was a month ago, so another four weeks of nothing isn't going to have done us any good. It's a shame the Bosnia game isn't first in the order because at least then some could have had a proper run out before Germany.

Guest wrote:It looks like the squad is together at last. Still not sure why the non-Chelsea players couldn't have been in camp long before now. We looked gassed after 30 minutes against both China and Australia and that was a month ago, so another four weeks of nothing isn't going to have done us any good. It's a shame the Bosnia game isn't first in the order because at least then some could have had a proper run out before Germany.

I don't think Chelsea looked particularly sharp against Wolfsburg either. I guess we will just have to hope that our lack of fitness is going to be matched by Germany being tired and then at least neither of us will be in fifth gear.

matched by Germany being tired and then at least neither of us will be in fifth gear.

Why would the Germans be gassed, they should be pretty match fit at this time during their season without too much fatigue yet? Are there a lot of injures on their side? I can't imagine that their qualifier game will be overly taxing for them and I think they will be up for putting us in our place.

Guest wrote:Why would the Germans be gassed, they should be pretty match fit at this time during their season without too much fatigue yet? Are there a lot of injures on their side? I can't imagine that their qualifier game will be overly taxing for them and I think they will be up for putting us in our place.

Those who have had CL involvement have had a pretty intense few weeks. Seven games or something like that. So it's probably going to be a largely fine squad with a few tired legs vs a largely unfit squad with a few better off.

But Germany don't actually have a qualifier so they will be fully concentrating on us.

The match is on the BBC red button. Highlights on BBC3 7-8pm. Full 90 minutes on iPlayer afterwards.

Rafferty has withdrawn injured. Rose called up in her place.

[quote]Rafferty has withdrawn injured. Rose called up in her place.[/b]

Interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if Sampson plays a back five and parks the bus against Germany. A one or two nil defeat is an easier sell to the public than a four or five nil shellacking. Also the match is on the red button at 5pm (?) on a Thursday, I can't imagine that a whole lot of people will be watching and a boring park the bus performance with a couple of counter attacks by us can be spun in a positive light for the review show later that night on BBC3.