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England take on South Africa in an international friendly as they continue their preparations for Euro 2025 next summer. The Lionesses were beaten 4-3 by Germany in a shock result on Friday night and hope to bounce back this evening.
Sarina Wiegman’s side are hoping to defend the European Championship title they won in 2022 and are fine-tuning their team and tactics with just under a year to go until the next tournament.
South Africa are a different side to Germany and reached the last-16 of the World Cup last year so they’re a dangerous team and England will need to be wary. This is the first meeting between the two sides since 2010 and Wiegman hopes it can be a ‘learning moment’ for her players.
“I think this is a great opportunity to play South Africa, it’ll be another learning moment for us, and how we can approach that,” Wiegman said. “We want to try out things, we want the players to see connections and so many games coming after the camp.”
Follow all the action with our live blog below:
Will Mead get on the scoresheet?
Beth Mead has been involved in 13 goals in 15 home internationals under Sarina Wiegman (eight goals, five assists), either scoring (one) or assisting (two) in each of her last three such games.
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:30
Stanway on fire
Georgia Stanway, who netted two of England’s three goals in their 3-4 defeat to Germany on Friday, has scored four goals in her last four games for the Lionesses, as many as in her previous 26 international appearances.
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:25
Preparations underway
The warm-ups are underway at the CBS Stadium with kick off around 20 minutes from now. Can England win tonight?
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:24
Sarina Wiegman defends England team selection after chaotic defeat to Germany
Friday’s friendly, played in front of a 47,967 crowd at Wembley, was the first time the sides had squared off since England’s comeback to win the the Euro 2022 final at the same venue.
The Lionesses conceded three before the half-hour of a five-goal first half that saw Georgia Stanway claw back two before the break including a penalty.
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:20
An unwanted record
England are winless in their last two games in all competitions (D1 L1), only once under Sarina Wiegman have they failed to win three successive games under, doing so in July 2023.
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:15
Lionesses favourites to win
England have won 19 of their last 21 games when hosting an opponent for the very first time (D1 L1), scoring 96 goals and conceding just four times across those matches – the only loss in that period came against New Zealand in June 2019 (0-1).
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:10
England record against African sides
England are unbeaten in their last four games against African opposition in all competitions (W3 D1), most recently drawing 0-0 with Nigeria at the 2023 World Cup before winning 4-2 on penalties.
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:05
Sarina Wiegman not concerned by England criticism in friendlies
Wiegman’s side were 3-0 down inside half an hour against their Euro 2022 final opponents at Wembley on Friday but rallied before eventually losing 4-3.
Preparations are underway for South Africa’s visit to the Coventry Building Society Arena as Wiegman is given another chance to experiment.
Mike Jones29 October 2024 19:00
