Lover II- ML

257. Deserved

England v Germany at Wembley, a repeat of the Euros final over two years ago. The game today was just a friendly, yet neither team saw it that way as they walked through the tunnel and into the active stadium.

Both teams naturally had very strong sides, England with what's becoming the staple front three of Kaia, Alessia and Emilia and only a few changes to give game time to others.

All the England players knew they needed to mark their place in Sarina's squad for the Euros next year, mainly the young players or the ones who had unpredictable spells with the national team.

And against Germany was the best test.

It took three minutes for Gwinn to put the ball past Hannah Hampton from the spot. It came from Leah giving the ball away in their own half and Millie fouling Dallmann in the box, getting a yellow card in the second minute and giving away a penalty.

Alessia got a goal that was ruled offside and then Germany were suddenly on the break again with England exposed.

Carter was dragged way too far into midfield, so when she switch was made across the pitch, Gwinn had all the space in the world to drive into the box and shoot low into the bottom corner.

They were ripping England apart, Leah was shaking her head and Carter was neglecting to make eye contact with anyone.

But she didn't learn from her mistake, because a cross Emilia puts into the box is headed away before being played down Germany's left for Bühl to run at Lucy.

Kaia sees Carter drifting infield again, so she begins her sprint back from Germany's box to not leave them completely exposed.

That cross field ball comes again without a look up from Bühl; that just showed how predictable England's defence were being tonight.

But Gwinn had to race Kaia this time to the ball, almost getting there before the Englishwoman's body flies in for a slide tackle and toe pokes the ball from her feet out for a throw in.

Once her momentum had stopped, Kaia was pushing off her stomach and shouting at Carter furiously across the pitch. The Gotham defender wasn't a centre back tonight, she was supposed to be left back but kept leaving a gapping hole.

Kaia had been forced to focus on their defence because of this, and at 25 minutes in, she was already sick of it and the lack of discipline Carter was showing for a senior player.

Leah could see Kaia was getting beyond pissed off, so she spoke to Jess in a small break and told her to stay wide and not get drawn to the ball, focus and hopefully they wouldn't concede again.

But ironically the next Germany goal came from the other side of the pitch, between Lucy's legs and beating Hampton at the near post.

England got some luck from a very soft penalty Gwinn ironically gave away, it was barely handball but it was a way for England to get back into it.

As captain Leah picked the ball up and pushed it into Kaia's stomach, both of them in their own critical and colder mindset so there was no pep talk.

That was the way they both worked best, so Kaia put the ball on the spot and shot the ball with venom into the side netting, giving Berger no chance.

Only then did Leah offer a low five as Kaia jogged past her to get the game going again with this momentum.

That momentum led to a good build up of play that had Georgia lifting the ball over Berger to make it 2-3 before halftime came around.

At 53 minutes, Kaia drove into the box and played a quick one two with Alessia who back heeled the ball behind the defensive line, leaving Kaia one on one and she slots the ball between the keepers legs to equalise.