Report: USA 1-1 WU20s England

England women under-20s drew 1-1 in a friendly against the USA in Fayetteville on Thursday evening as part of their FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup preparations.

After an even opening five minutes, goalkeeper Katie Cox was called into action not once but twice, as she prevented USA striker Alex Buck before racing off her line to clear a dangerous ball over the top of the defence.

After Lucy Newell had a volley saved, England generated the best chance of the opening 20 minutes when Lola Brown lofted a deep free-kick into the box which USA struggled to deal with, as Newell threatened again - this time with a header - which was deflected onto the crossbar before the offside flag was raised.

The Lionesses continued to apply pressure on the USA defence and finally broke their resistance when Brown met Harbert’s cross to tee up Vera Jones inside the box, who sent a rocket into the right-hand side of the net.

Lexi Potter almost doubled England’s lead when her header from a Brown cross was saved, before USA found an equaliser five minutes before half-time.

Micayla Johnson picked up the ball on the left-hand side and navigated her way through the England defence before curling a magnificent effort into the top right corner.

After the break, the USA almost doubled their lead when Cecily Wellesley-Smith produced a goal-saving challenge to deny HopeAnne Munson, who had dribbled from beyond the halfway line before being faced with Wellesley-Smith’s perfectly executed tackle.

As the game ticked over the hour mark, the USA had the momentum and forced a superb save out of Cox, who denied a shot from point-blank range to ensure the score remained level.

Cox pulled off another couple of saves to keep the USA at bay, first parrying Onyeka Gamero’s rocket behind for a corner, before impressively tipping over another dangerous effort over the bar from the consequent set-piece.

The England goalkeeper was called into action again to deny the hosts a winner in the final few minutes, making herself big during a one-on-one which saw the USA forward strike the bar.

And then England had the chance to win it in the final minute of normal time when substitute Lily Dent’s header in the box was saved by the home goalkeeper.

Both teams had late chances to win the game, but on the balance of play, a draw was a fair result.

With just two months before the World Cup in September, England will face another challenging test against Colombia on Wednesday.

England: 1 Katie Cox (Chelsea), 2 Ria Bose (West Ham United), 3 Chloe Sarwie (Chelsea), 4 Lexi Potter (Chelsea), 5 Lucy Newell (Manchester United), 6 Cecily Wellesley-Smith (FC Rosengård, on loan from Arsenal), 7 Eleanor Klinger (Stanford University), 8 Laila Harbert (Arsenal), 9 Denny Draper (Leicester City), 10 Lola Brown (Chelsea), 11 Vera Jones (Chelsea)

Substitutes: 17 Vivienne Lia (Hammarby, on loan from Arsenal) on for Brown 45, 12 Rachel Maltby (Aston Villa) on for Sarwie 45, 19 Princess Ademiluyi (Gotham City) for Draper 45, 23 Eva Hendle (Chelsea) for Jones 60, 18 Chloe Hylton (Carolina Ascent), for Harbert 60, 14 May Cruft (Rangers) for Potter 60, 15 Chloe Paxton (Sunderland) for Newell 60, 21 Layla Drury (Manchester United), for Klinger 73, 20 Lily Dent (Brighton & Hove Albion) for Bose 73, 16 Grace McEwen (Brighton & Hove Albion) for Wellesley-Smith 73

Substitutes not used: 22 Sophie Poor (London City Lionesses), 13 Kaiya Jota (Stanford University)

Head coach: Lydia Bedford