Match report as England and Spain play out entertaining goalless draw at Norwich's Carrow Road; England were held to a 1-1 draw by Canada in their opening game of the Arnold Clark Cup; The Lionesses play Germany at Molineux son Wednesday to round off their cup campaign
Monday 21 February 2022 06:23, UK
England drew their second straight game of the Arnold Clark Cup after being held to a goalless draw by Spain.
After a 1-1 draw against Canada in the opening round, England went into the game looking to make a mark against a Spain side built around a core of players from Champions League winners Barcelona.
Sarina Wiegman made eight changes from the Canada clash and the Lionesses kept Spain quiet for the most part, but also struggled to impose themselves on the match.
There were just five shots on target in the 90 minutes and neither was able to break the deadlock, in front of 14,284 fans at Carrow Road.
However, the result was an improvement for England who were beaten 1-0 the last time these sides met, at the SheBelieves Cup in March 2020.
"It was high-intensity, it was a game of a very high level," England boss Sarina Wiegman told ITV Sport after the game.
"A 0-0 sounds boring but it wasn't I think very open game. We both wanted to score goals, I think they had more of the ball but that's fine, we were dangerous, I think we had something like six chances, and they had some too. Tonight, we'll watch the game again and then we'll see if we get any more out of it."
Spain dominated the early possession, rarely letting England string passes together, although it was the home side who had the first shot, when Jill Scott tried her luck from distance but it was always going wide of the target.
It was a game of few chances in the opening exchanges, with Spain dominating 66 per cent of the possession inside the opening 25 minutes, but there were no shots on target from either side.
England's leading goalscorer Ellen White had a chance to add to her tally of 48, but her glancing header was wide of the target.
The first attempt on target came in the 41st minute, when Mapi Leon drove down the pitch before feeding in Ivana Andres, but her curled strike was straight at goalkeeper Hannah Hampton.
Norfolk-born Lauren Hemp had a shot rebound out off the post just moments after being brought on at the break.
England continued their bright start to the second half when Jordan Nobbs was played in behind the Spain backline, she was first to the ball and only had the keeper to beat but dragged her attempt wide.
In the 58th minute, Spain also had a chance to break the deadlock, when Athenea del Castillo's effort was blocked, but fell to Lucia Garcia whose shot was wide of Hampton's goal.
Spain goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez had to be alert in the final 10 minutes to punch the ball away after it went over White's head, as England continued to press for the opener, but it remained goalless in wet and windy conditions.
Hampton also had to be alert to hold onto a sharp strike from Del Castillo in added time.
The game was an extra special occasion for local girl Hemp, who feels the draw against an organised Spain side is ideal preparation for this summer's Euros on home soil.
"It's unbelievable. It's every kid's dream to play for England and to be able to do that at the place I call home is just amazing. I am lucky to be here, I couldn't ask for more," she said.
"I think Spain were unbelievable. They played us off the park at times, we tried to counteract that and I thought we did well, we created chances ourselves. We were just gutted with the end-product. We had loads of chances and we just couldn't put them away today.
"I think we've got a lot of positives to take. Like I said, they have a fantastic team but I think we done great against them. We'll take the positives away. There's still a lot to work on, it's all a process heading into the Euros.
England drew their opening Arnold Clark Cup fixture against Canada 1-1, with a glorious Janine Beckie strike denying Wiegman's team victory after Millie Bright's opener.
England face Germany at Molineux on Wednesday, kick-off 7.30pm. Spain take on Canada at the same venue, kicking off earlier at 2.30pm.
