England Women end year with tepid defeat to Sweden

England Women's final game of 2018 will weigh on their minds most heavily as they reflect on a year in which they have, for the most part, adapted well to Phil Neville’s desire for a team that dominate the ball with relentless forward thrust.

Their first-half showing, however, against a Sweden side ranked ninth in the world felt like uncharacteristically thin gruel. They were tepid and ponderous, waiting almost until the hour mark for their first glimpse of a clear-cut chance. Thereafter, they began, with a flurry of close efforts, to exert their will on proceedings.

At times, it was hard not to be startled by the ease with which Sweden unpicked England and the difficulties, no matter how hard they toiled, the hosts endured breaking down the most organised side they have faced in their World Cup preparations.

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Neville has played the last few months with the difficulty mode ramped up, his side having faced three of the current Fifa top 10 in their last four matches, but it says something about the langour in his side’s first-half performance when the moment Izzy Christiansen fired well over from close range, spooning Lucy Bronze’s cross over the bar, felt like an achievement: unlocked.

His side had struggled to settle into a rhythm before the moment, 20 minutes in, when Sofia Jakobsson collected the ball by the right touchline and, unopposed, drifted inside to unleash a curling effort that dipped over a stranded Carly Telford. Sweden then doubled their lead when, after Caroline Seger picked off her marker and smacked a header against the post, Anna Anvegard swivelled to slot the ball home with ease.

There looked little route back for an England side that had struggled to get their dangerwoman, Nikita Parris, on the ball. It is of little coincidence that England’s reinvigorated second-half offering coincided with Parris’ best spell of the game, Parris nudging a header just wide as she met the rebound from substitute Toni Duggan’s arrowed strike from range. A penalty, though, probably would have been generous in the extreme when Parris, haring in behind, was outmuscled by Chelsea’s Magdalena Eriksson.

Perhaps Bronze had a stronger claim when she was hacked down by Linda Sembrant, but England could not conjure up a feat of escapology in front of a crowd 281 people higher than Rotherham United’s average Championship attendance.