England’s Aggie Beever-Jones, Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway scored in a 3-0 victory over 10-player Australia in a friendly on Tuesday at Derby’s Pride Park, as the European champions bounced back from their 2-1 loss to Brazil on Saturday.
The friendly was overshadowed by what appeared to be a serious knee injury to Michelle Agyemang, who was carried off on a stretcher.
In the first meeting between the two teams since England dispatched Australia in the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup, Beever-Jones struck in the 20th minute when her free kick hit the wall and Bronze passed the ball back out to her for a powerful shot into the top corner.
Bronze doubled their lead in the 40th minute when she latched onto a pass from Ella Toone and struck from near the penalty spot. The fans serenaded Bronze, who turned 34 on Tuesday, with “Happy Birthday to You!”
England were awarded a penalty at the death after Katrina Gorry’s sliding challenge on Missy Bo Kearns. Stanway coolly fired home from the spot for a decisive England victory.
Australia were reduced to 10 players in the 19th minute when Alanna Kennedy was shown a red card for tugging down Alessia Russo.
The 19-year-old Agyemang, who played a key role in England’s European Championship victory, crumpled to the ground with an injury that occurred off the ball late in the game, with England manager Sarina Wiegman calling the prognosis “not very positive”.
“Of course it was an awful moment, it doesn’t look good,” said Wiegman, who had not yet received a medical report. “We don’t know yet but I’m not very positive about what I’ve seen.”
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