Jodie Taylor jogged a few memories with a criticism deflecting goal as England guaranteed themselves a place in the knock-out stages on a clear Normandy night when Argentina once again confounded the supposed experts.
Carlos Borrello’s side had been depicted as utterly hopeless and potentially the tournament’s worst side but, albeit partly thanks to some atrocious time wasting and cynical fouling, were well on course to embarrass Phil Neville’s Lionesses before Taylor’s incisive intervention.
Rotation is one thing but inter-changing goalkeepers at the drop of a team sheet something else entirely. The great rotators of the coaching pantheon have almost always resisted the temptation to keeping swapping their last line of defence but Phil Neville is clearly not bound by managerial convention and likes to keep his keepers on their toes.
Accordingly Karen Bardsley was replaced by Carly Telford in goal in one of four England changes – the others saw Jodie Taylor, Jade Moore and Abbie McManus coming into the starting XI. – against a nation they last met in 2007 in Chengdu, China when the Lionesses prevailed 6-1
Argentina have traditionally conceded hatfuls of goals whenever they have encountered European opposition but their opening game of France 2019 saw Carlos Borrello’s side hold 2011 winners and 2015 runners-up, Japan to a shock draw.
In securing their first ever World Cup point it made plenty of people, Neville included, sit up and take notice. Not that, in the first half at least, it did his side much good.
Estefanía Banini is Argentina’s star but the No 10 dubbed “La Messi” was deployed wide on the left of a five-strong midfield here with several of Borrello’s players assigned specialist minding jobs.
Lucy Bronze, such a dynamic influence for Neville’s side when overlapping from right-back, was singled out for particularly abrasive treatment. Bronze is tough but even she was reduced to tears after being sent crashing on to her back following a wince inducing challenge from Ruth Bravo.
Jill Scott, meanwhile, repeatedly had her toes trodden on as her marker backed into her and barely 10 minutes had elapsed before Argentina had resorted to extreme time-wasting tactics.
Scott reacted to her aggressor with a shove unseen by the referee and the worry for Neville was that Borrello’s players would provoke a retaliatory red card inside a bright blue stadium which, from the outside, resembles a giant paddling pool.
Sympathy for Argentina’s under-resourced squad and their struggles to command attention amid a machismo culture was running high at kick-off, but now seemed to be diminishing by the minute. And particularly when Aldana Cometti was booked for a startling rugby-style tackle on Bronze.
In between all the snide little fouls and the inordinate stoppages there were some decent England cameos – the odd Moore pass here, a few sharp Fran Kirby swivels there – but in a city built by that poet of reinforced concrete, Auguste Perret Borrello’s backline repeatedly resisted virtually all attacking manoeuvres thrown at it. The term ‘packed defence’ does not really do it justice on a night when Borrello arguably re-defined the concept of the low block.
England needed to start moving the ball much faster but they eventually won a penalty after Bravo felled Alex Greenwood in the area. Nikita Parris stepped forward but her side foot kick was delivered at a welcome, saleable, height for a goalkeeper and sure enough Vanina Correa saved it. That said, Correa still had quite a bit of work to do in order to divert the ball one handed at full stretch. Small wonder she was mobbed by teammates who celebrated as if they had won the World Cup.
Lorena Benítez, Borrello’s positionally astute midfield enforcer, was playing a hugely influential role in disrupting England’s flow and, as the second half minutes ticked by, Neville looked increasingly tense.
It didn’t help that the excellent Correa appeared to exert a magnetic effect on the ball and she seemed to be operating behind a set of geometry specialists taking a fiendish delight in narrowing their opponents’ angles of attack.
Then, finally, Argentina tired of defending and ventured upfield. When that extremely rare attack broke down, the Lionesses pounced, seizing the moment and remember they used to be a very god counter-attacking side.
Breaking at speed Jill Scott and Kirby bamboozled Benítez and co and a fabulous first-time cross from Beth Mead caught Correa, for once, wrong-footed, allowing Taylor make the most of a fabulous blindside run by darting in and turn the ball expertly into the empty net with the keeper stranded. The Euro 2017 golden boot has not been among the international goal of late and Taylor’s celebrations were those of a striker vindicated.
She has left England on course to top Group D, something they can rubber stamp against Japan in Nice on Wednesday.
