A new look England side ended the calendar year with a 1-0 victory at Bramall Lane. As Grace Clinton’s third goal in five international appearances was enough to defeat Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland.

The Lionesses faced Switzerland in their last fixture of the calendar year as they welcomed the Euro 2025 hosts to Yorkshire. England went into Tuesday on the back of a goalless stalemate with USA on Saturday, and they faced a Switzerland side still licking their wounds from a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Germany, just days prior to travelling to Sheffield. Sarina Wiegman made ten changes to her side but remained keen for her team to return to winning ways.

The early stages saw both Grace Clinton and Jess Park combining well to create chances through the middle of the field, with some fancy footwork and neat passing moves nearly creating openings for the home side. The pressure eventually paid off in the eighth minute, with the previously mentioned duo being at the heart of England’s attacks once more. A curled delivery from, England’s best creative outlet, Jess Park, found its way onto the head of Millie Turner, who’s powerful effort struck the left post, and with Swiss keeper Elvira Herzog scrambling back to her feet, Grace Clinton calmly slotted the ball into the empty net.

Chances then came the way of Maya Le Tissier, Blindkilde-Brown and Gabby George, who made her first appearance since 2018, but the Lionesses were unable to double their lead.
Wiegman also handed debuts to two players at Bramall Lane with Ruby Mace and Laura Blindkilde-Brown both impressing on the night whilst making their first senior appearances.

The Lionesses had all the momentum behind them, and a second goal seemed inevitable as Aggie Beever-Jones wiggled her way through several bodies to put the ball on a plate for Maya Le Tissier, who fired her shot narrowly wide of the target.

This sprung the visitors into action and following a mix up at the back from Millie Bright and Esme Morgan, Swiss forward Sydney Scherbtenleib found herself on the charge towards the England goal, but her driven effort was easily dealt with by Hannah Hampton.

Sarina Wiegman will have hoped for more of the same in the second half, but the withdrawal of Jess Park, due to playing most of the game on Saturday against the USA, seemed to hinder England’s creativity, leaving Blindkilde-Brown isolated on several occasions.

Switzerland’s best chance of the game came not long after half time as Iman Beney expertly spun around Millie Turner and found herself with only the keeper to beat, but her well struck effort was met by the firm gloves of Hannah Hampton.

For the first time in the second half, England showed signs of life as the Lionesses worked the ball into the area, teeing up Laura Blindkilde-Brown who seemed destined to double the lead but once again Herzog was on hand to tip the ball around the post and keep the visitors in with a shot of a result.

With twenty-five minutes remaining, Switzerland continued to knock on the door. Substitute Nadine Riesen forced a smart save out of Hampton, getting down quickly to her right to keep her clean sheet intact.
However, Bramall Lane held its breath moments later as a flash of individual brilliance nearly saw the scores level. Meriame Terchoun collected the ball just outside the area and decided to unleash a thunderous strike that Hampton expertly got a solid hand to and knocked the ball over the bar for a corner, which, to no surprise, was dealt with by the ever-reliable Millie Bright.

Substitute Georgia Stanway had the chance to seal the deal in the second minute of the three added on, and seconds after firing wide of the near post, the lionesses found Stanway once more, who’s seemingly unstoppable effort was not to be as she was denied by the inside of the right post.

England will be happy to come away with a win on the night, but with the positive first half performance, the underwhelming second half seemed to leave spectators with a few questions of the home sides creativity. England however have ended 2024 with a win, showing the quality in depth that the squad currently have, something Sarina Wiegman will be glad to see.

Wiegman “not concerned” with lack of creativity

England struggled to create many clear cut opportunities and were unable to grab a second goal which would have given them a much needed cushion on the night, the camp however remains positive:

“I was not concerned about the level of creativity in the first half, but the second half I thought we needed some more creativity and better aligned decisions”. We know we have to improve our ability to score goals, but are we concerned? Not yet”.

Manchester United’s Grace Clinton was a bright spark for England on the night, creating several chances alongside grabbing the winner. Wiegman believes her performance makes it “clear to see that she’s on the way and she’s improving”. The midfielder now has three goals in five appearances for the national side.

Wiegman made ten changes from Saturday’s game against the USA, which she put down to “the team being right for that moment, in that game, after you play against the number one in the world”. With changes, comes disruption, and the Euros winning manager accepted that these are the games you must experiment in, despite the fact the performance may not be as appealing as possible and may lead to less creativity:

“I wanted to see many things and try out many things. We want to be adaptable”.

No Steel City appearance for Bronze due to “very frustrating” error

Wiegman also intended on bringing Lucy Bronze into the mix during the game, but after warming up and getting stripped off ready to come on, the Lionesses staff were made aware that Bronze was not registered to play the fixture, which Wiegman branded, “a human error from our side which is very frustrating of course, and very disappointing”, “We wanted to put Lucy in”.

What next for the Lionesses

The Lionesses will now go back to their clubs until the next international break in February where they will begin their preparations for Euro 2025, which will take place in Switzerland.