England host Portugal at Stadium MK in an international friendly, prior to 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
This match represents the only official friendly for both England and Portugal ahead of the World Cup, although the Lionesses will play a behind-closed-doors friendly Down Under against Canada a week prior to the tournament kicking off.
Team News
Defender, Alex Greenwood is set to feature for England despite suffering a knock to her shin during training this week.
Millie Bright will miss this friendly as she continues her recovery from a knee injury suffered in March, but is expected to be fit for the Lionesses’ World Cup openeing Group D match against Haiti.
Portugal have no fresh injury concerns to report with a full squad available for selection, including forward – Diana Silva who played for Aston Villa in 2020-21 season.
When is Kick-Off?
England host Portugal at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, on Saturday 1 July in a 3:15pm BST kick-off, live on ITV1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- England are unbeaten in seven meetings across all competitions against Portugal this century (W5, D2).
- Portugal have lost each of their last three visits to England (L3) in all competitions, during which they conceded eight goals without scoring.
- England have kept three clean sheets in their last four meetings against Portugal in all competitions.
- Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses have kept just one clean sheet in their last six matches in all competitions (W3, D2, L1), which came in a 4-0 win over South Korea in February.
- Portugal have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last three matches in all competitions (W1, D1, L1).
Prediction
Having suffered a shock defeat to Australia in April which ended their unbeaten run, England now know that anything other than a defeat is imperative to give them renewed belief heading into the World Cup, so I do expect them to come out at their attacking best.
Sarina Wiegman’s players though must learn from that loss to the Socceroos and focus upon being more creative in breaking down stubborn defensive opposition, especially when the oppositional counter-attack threat is lethal.
This game though is a first chance to assess how this squad will perform without captain, Leah Williamson, and potentially without their World Cup captain – Bright should her knee injury suffer a setback and limit her involvement.
Portugal meanwhile are in a difficult World Cup group with USA, Netherlands and Vietnam, so will be eager to claim a positive result here to take into the tournament where they are underdogs but there is little doubt about their goalscoring form.
England however should have the upper hands in not only quality but also their head-to-head form at home, especially given Portugal’a poor away form on English soil but I do fancy the visitors to nick a goal if can target England’s leaky defence.
Prediction: England 2-1 Portugal
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