France Women v England preview: Mo Marley leads Lionesses in friendly
Friday 20 October 2017 22:31, UK
England Women face France in a friendly in Valenciennes on Friday (kick-off 8pm) after a week dogged by off-field controversies.
On Wednesday, the FA "sincerely apologised" for comments made to Eni Aluko and Drew Spence by former England Women's head coach Mark Sampson.
Sampson was sacked last month and independent barrister Katharine Newton concluded in a report published this week that both Aluko and Spence were subjected to "discriminatory remarks on the grounds of race" by their former head coach.
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport chair Damian Collins said the four FA bosses who faced the committee should consider resigning over the Sampson affair.
Mo Marley is in temporary charge of the Lionesses as they take on France and then continue their World Cup qualifying campaign next month.
The England coach says she is not directly "emotionally attached" to the ongoing situation involving Aluko and Spence, but admitted the players have "been finding it tough".
"Individually, everybody is finding it really difficult," she said. "I've always said I'm not emotionally attached to it because I was not part of it, but you can sense everyone is finding it tough.
"My job is to try to bring some energy and keep the mood positive. As I said to them last night, 'Let's get on the pitch and do what we all love'."
England beat France for the first time in 43 years at the quarter-final stage of this summer's European Championships.
Marley will also be in charge for World Cup qualifiers in November against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kazakhstan. The Lionesses started their qualifying campaign with a 6-0 win over Russia in September.
Team news
England will be without Chelsea forward Fran Kirby after she suffered a knee injury on Thursday.
Goalkeeper Karen Bardsley and striker Ellen White are also out with injury while defender Laura Bassett misses the friendly having recently relocated to play in Australia for Canberra United.
