{"id":247504,"date":"2025-10-29T00:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T00:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247504\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T00:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T00:46:11","slug":"agyemang-injury-for-england-deflates-bronzes-birthday-celebrations-against-matildas-friendlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247504\/","title":{"rendered":"Agyemang injury for England deflates Bronze\u2019s birthday celebrations against Matildas | Friendlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A chorus of Happy Birthday echoed around Pride Park after England\u2019s Euro 2025 warrior Lucy Bronze had fired in England\u2019s second against Australia, but the party mood was marred by a nasty looking knee injury to a distraught Michelle Agyemang<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was better from the Lionesses in Derby, a more structured and controlled performance than the one on display in the 2-1 defeat against Brazil<\/a> on Saturday night, Aggie Beever\u2011Jones and Georgia Stanway scoring either side of Bronze\u2019s effort. It is hard to say whether that was down to the change in personnel and positions, or just that the cobwebs needed to be shaken off in the first fixture since their big win in Switzerland before things started to click into place.<\/p>\n

Either way, there were many positives to take from the 3-0 win against the side they knocked out of the World Cup in 2023 in the semi\u2011finals.<\/p>\n

Agyemang\u2019s injury was the sour note as both teams ended up with 10 players on the pitch. Australia\u2019s Alanna Kennedy was sent off shortly before England\u2019s first goal and Beever\u2011Jones needed to come off after England used up all their substitutions.<\/p>\n

It had been expected that Sarina Wiegman would shuffle her pack a little. Debuts were handed to Lucia Kendall and Taylor Hinds, Beever\u2011Jones started on the left alongside Alessia Russo and Beth Mead, while the goalkeeper Hannah Hampton returned to the starting XI having shaken off her elbow issue.<\/p>\n

Kendall had been diplomatic at the start of this international window, the 21-year-old was \u201cjust here to learn as much as possible\u201d, she said, expectations of minutes low. Yet, in her first start, following her first call-up, the Southampton academy graduate looked a natural fit in the middle alongside Keira Walsh and Ella Toone.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest I was not really surprised with her performance,\u201d Wiegman said. \u201cStraight away you saw her understanding and reading of the game. She keeps things very simple. I just wanted her to go out and play and enjoy herself and I think that\u2019s what she did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kendall\u2019s fellow debutant Hinds was similarly impressive: pitted against Chelsea\u2019s dynamic right-back Ellie Carpenter, she coped well.<\/p>\n

Alanna Kennedy thwarts Alessia Russo\u2019s goalward charge \u2013 the Matildas midfielder was then shown a red card. Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/p>\n

England had promised a faster start in front of 26,544 fans at Pride Park and they delivered, the opening goal arriving in the 20th minute to end a run of four games in which they had conceded first. Cooney\u2011Cross played a short pass to Kennedy and the London City Lionesses defender was robbed of the ball by Russo, who stepped towards the edge of the box with just the goalkeeper to beat before Kennedy upended her. Kennedy was sent off and while the initial free-kick was powered low into the wall, Bronze was on hand to push it back to Beever-Jones who fired in.<\/p>\n

It was a deserved lead and a welcome one for the hosts. \u201cThey are a world-class side and started well even before the sending off,\u201d the Australia head coach, Joe Montemurro, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take it as a massive learning curve for us. I\u2019m a bit frustrated we didn\u2019t get a chance to affect any part of our gameplan. We didn\u2019t start well, that\u2019s the honest truth. We didn\u2019t get any rhythm and then the game changed when we went down to 10 players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiegman\u2019s side extended their lead shortly before the break, Walsh\u2019s defence-splitting pass found Toone and the Manchester United midfielder flicked it back towards an unmarked Bronze to guide in.<\/p>\n

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It was a flatter affair after the break, the cushion earned, and a quadruple substitution from the hosts arrived just after the hour with experimentation high on the agenda of this four-game \u201chomecoming series\u201d and legs rested before a return to club football.<\/p>\n

Sam Kerr exited in the 70th minute, the Chelsea forward restricted to one shot in that time by a more solid looking England. The decision to restore Kerr\u2019s captaincy has proven controversial in Australia, despite being found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer. Montemurro said: \u201cWe\u2019ve made a decision internally for what we believe is the best for the group. I won\u2019t make political decisions, it\u2019s purely football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concern for Michelle Agyemang as the young substitute is stretchered off late on. Photograph: Marc Atkins\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The injury to Agyemang then marred proceedings: the Brighton forward, on loan from Arsenal, was distraught after she went down off the ball before being taken down the tunnel on a stretcher. Beever-Jones needed to come off soon after with a dead leg, and with five changes already made the hosts played the remainder as a 10 v 10 affair.<\/p>\n

It was comfortable for England in the end, a penalty from Stanway sealing the 3-0 win after substitute Missy Bo Kearns was tripped in the box.<\/p>\n

The fluidity had been disrupted a little by the many changes and the lengthy injury stoppage, but the performance offered plenty from which to learn. Those things will be looked at in the coming days, but concern for Euro 2025 starlet Agyemang will dominate as teammates and fans alike wait for news regarding the extent of her injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A chorus of Happy Birthday echoed around Pride Park after England\u2019s Euro 2025 warrior Lucy Bronze had fired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}