England’s Toone Anticipates “physical” Battle Against Australia

England midfielder, Ella Toone is anticipating a “physical” battle against Australia in the Lionesses’ second homecoming series friendly.

Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses are coming into this friendly at Pride Park, Derby, tomorrow (28 October) off the back of a 2-1 defeat against Brazil, but they are yet to lose consecutive matches under the Dutch boss who took charge in September 2021.

Toon in particular has enjoyed a lot of personal success since Wiegman’s arrival with 22 goals in 64 appearances under the Dutch manager’s reign, and the 26 year-old felt that Brazil gave the Lionesses a new challenge.

“Physical games aren’t my cup of tea usually but I thought we did really well against Brazil. They definitely posed a threat that we haven’t been challenged against before and we know that we’re capable of putting up with that.”

Toone proceeded to admit that she expects Australia to pose another physicality test across the pitch but acknowledged that the Aussies will be motivated by how England denied them a home final in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“We know that the Australians are going to be the same – they’re going to be physical all over the pitch.

“For Australia, we broke a lot of their hearts out at the World Cup, so for them, it’ll feel like a revenge game and for us, we just want to go out there and put on a big performance.

“We know that it’s going to be difficult but like I say, we want to put on a big performance for the fans that are going to be watching us.”

Toone also iterated that England will have their own motivation as they seek to atone for the lacklustre performance against Brazil, as she explained that they don’t consider this match a friendly despite its designated status.

“We’re England – we want to win every game. These two games are friendlies but to us, there are no friendlies in football. We want to win every game that we play in.

“It’s difficult when you lose a game but there’s a game right around the corner to put things right. For us, we’re going to go out there, put on a big performance, hopefully perform well and get the win.”