Emma Hayes frustrated as England beat her USA on homecoming at Wembley | Women’s football

The gap between expectation and reality can be wide, and the close chess match between England and the United States didn’t quite provide the action that matched the Clash of the Titans narrative that had been established before the game.

In front of 78,346 fans who were curious to see who would emerge from the friendly in better shape, the European champion under Sarina Wiegman or the Olympic champion under London-born Emma Hayes, the answer was: neither.

Hayes had been cheerful before kick-off, declaring: “Life is so short, I want to have a good time.”

The football in the first half didn’t quite provide the good atmosphere that the enthusiastic audience had hoped for. After lasers, fireworks, smoke and thumping music, everything felt a bit flat, a complicated strategy battle rather than a blast.

The visiting team were relatively more organized and efficient when they had the ball, and their pressing stifled England when they were off the ball, meaning they only had two touches of the ball in the penalty area in the first half, while the USA had 15 touches of the ball with England, but Wiegman’s team wasn’t particularly bad either.

Jess Naz, making her third appearance for the Lionesses, put in an excellent performance ahead of Lucy Bronze on the right, who dropped back into cover when the Chelsea full-back made a raid and caused the USA problems defensively when even with poor quality from the last ball she missed.

Mary Earps, who had the advantage in goal this time over Hannah Hampton as Hampton had played here last time, was solid between the posts and had to play twice in the first half. She had to fend off Alyssa Thompson’s shot after six minutes and was denied by Casey Krueger after Thompson’s shot was deflected into her path by a block from Bronze.

With a lack of bite on the pitch, attention was easily drawn to the touchline, where arguably the two best managers in women’s football were at work, occasionally gesticulating. Hayes sometimes paused with his arms folded, Wiegman kept them folded behind his back.

There was a change for the USA after the break, Emma Sears swapped with Yazmeen Ryan. Both were playing their third international match and benefited from the absence of the strong striker trio Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson.

After the restart there was a little more energy, the crowd was more vocal and ready to tip the knife-edge game one way or the other. Within four minutes, the net bulged after USA captain Lindsey Horan poked home from close range, but the flag was offside. Hayes punched the air in joy before doing it again in frustration.

England were also better positioned, with more control and patience in possession. This was also reflected in the statistics: within the next 20 minutes, the Lionesses increased their number of ball contacts in the opponent’s penalty area to ten.

However, just after the hour mark, disaster almost struck for the home side when Alex Greenwood controlled the ball in the penalty area when he blocked Ryan’s shot. But replays showed the ball clearly coming off the Manchester City defender’s chest and VAR intervened, with referee Lina Lehtovaara overturning her decision on the pitch after looking at the pitchside monitor.

The arrival of Korbin Albert in place of Thompson elicited the loudest reaction from the crowd in the first 73 minutes. There were boos in the stadium for the player, who had to apologize in March for posting homophobic content on social media.

England added experience in Fran Kirby and European Championship match-winner Chloe Kelly, but the home side struggled to find gaps in a solid visiting defense marshalled by the exceptional centre-back Naomi Girma.

In the final stages it appeared as if the USA would take the lead, but the draw was a fair result. Against top opponents, Hayes and Wiegman will have learned a lot and there is still a lot to do. For Wiegman this needs to be done quickly, with Nations League football in the new year and England defending their European title in the summer.