Talking points heading into Portugal vs England
A preview for England’s opening Nations League match against Portugal and the talking points heading into Friday's game.
England play their first games of 2025 on Friday and Wednesday next week when they take on Portugal at the Estádio Municipal de Portimão and then Spain in a big clash at Wembley Stadium for their first two UEFA Women’s Nations League matches.
They will be likely favourites to beat Portugal, while the test against Spain offers a chance to see how they well they can compete against one of the best teams in the world, in the same vein as the USA friendly at the end of last year which as we know ended in a 0-0 draw.
There are a lot of talking points heading into this international break, with questions surrounding how the squad will fare without a couple of key players due to injury and whether that actually has created an opportunity for others to step up and impress Sarina Wiegman with the Euros looming.
The Lionesses have had a couple of questions asked about performances in these last few international breaks when it comes to performances and sometimes team selections as well, so the hope is that after these fixtures we will be talking about more positives than negatives.
As much as there have been some issues that have needed remedying for a while now, you could also argue that it possibly was all a bit too much given the last games were friendlies, so any massive judgement maybe could have been left to one side. But in saying that, it would also be fair to say that the expectations now have been raised for England since that Euros win and maybe they haven’t hit those heights as much as they needed to.
Talking Points
A chance for others to stake a claim for a Euros squad spot
They head into these matches without the likes of Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood, Georgia Stanway and Beth Mead, four players you could argue would be regular starters in England’s strongest and most balanced XI, so to be without them will be a loss to the Lionesses. However what that does, is create opportunities for others to stake their claim to a regular starting place.
The other main stories were England recalls for Nikita Parris after two years of not being picked. Also, Lauren James is returning after missing the last few breaks due to her injury issues. Chloe Kelly’s absence from the initial squad raised some eyebrows as well, but she then found herself back in after injury withdrawals.
What wouldn’t be surprising to see and is probably where my thinking lies with how Sarina Wiegman will go about choosing her team for both matches, is that Portugal might just offer the chance to go for a more experimental selection. Putting in a couple of players where you want to check out how they play and see what works well, with expectations being that England will win this one, yet they shouldn’t look past the opposition.
We have seen how England would set up without Lauren Hemp or Alex Greenwood because that does give the option to play Leah Williamson and Millie Bright as a centre-back pairing despite some questions around that one. But even then, there is Jess Carter to possibly play and maybe even Esme Morgan or Lucy Parker get given a chance.
With Georgia Stanway’s absence though that does bring up a little selection dilemma. The Bayern Munich midfielder has been out since having an operation to deal with a knee problem in January, with it believed that she will miss ‘several months’ due to the procedure and because of that concerns are in the air now of whether she even makes it to the Euros in June.
Clinton or Park? Or someone else perhaps?
The midfield options in England’s squad doesn’t leave much in the way you would see a like-for-like replacement as such in terms of having someone who can fill the role that Stanway particularly plays. But you would think that it is likely to be one of two options.
The choices for England are starting Grace Clinton in that role, starting Jess Park in that role, or even going for something different and unexpected. Both Clinton and Park are capable of playing in a more-or-less ‘No:8’ role within Wiegman’s setup and both can thrive if given the opportunity as well.
Now for me, Jess Park is used to playing a bit deeper having played that little further back at times to cover for other more forward-thinking midfield options at Manchester City. She is comfortable with playing with the ball in pretty much all areas of the pitch, but it would leave open the chance that she might not be able to have as much impact in terms of being able to create chances as well and that’s possibly going to depend on how much England get to attack both Portugal and Spain in those respective matches.
What I would also say though, is Grace Clinton has earned a chance to be a regular starter for the Lionesses and her form over the last few appearances she has made for her country having scored in both of her last two starts. Clinton has also had the seal of approval from boss Sarina Wiegman as well with her saying that she does think she is capable of playing as a number eight. The only question for me would be that her game time so far in 2025 has taken a hit at Manchester United with her only starting her first game last Sunday, but to counter that she did score in that game as well.
Now, it’s probably not to be expected, but what if someone different played instead and possibly someone who is way more suited to playing in the Stanway role? Could this international break provide an opportunity for Laura Blindkilde Brown?
Granted, she only made her England debut in the last match against Switzerland, but when she has featured for Man City this season she has operated as someone playing that ‘No: 8’ type role when she has played for her club in the Women’s Champions League. If we’re talking about opportunities, maybe this could be one for her, more than likely against Portugal you would think because of what we know with Sarina Wiegman’s team selections in the bigger matches and the 21-year-old would absolutely benefit from getting more of that experience under her as well as she continues to become a better player.
Nikita Parris’ recall gives England some forward depth
It has been over two years since Nikita Parris made an appearance for the Lionesses and interestingly as well, it is the first time that an England squad actually has two recognised central strikers in it given Parris’s switch to playing as a number nine at Brighton this season.
November 2022 was when she last made an England squad and she deserved her recall because of her form in the WSL this season scoring five goals in 14 matches, plus four other goals in cup competitions too.
Alessia Russo is pretty much guaranteed her starting place given her form for Arsenal this season and her previous appearances for England, but you would have to say that the last player to actually be a proper backup to her was Rachel Daly. Of course, Daly has since retired from international duty and that left a gap for England in terms of a second striking option.
Wiegman appears to have seen that as an issue now and has looked to rectify it after looking at seeing any other players who could play centrally if needed, just recalling Lauren Hemp playing there at times and also there is Aggie Beever-Jones who can play there, but she is still inexperienced amongst the senior England setup, so the chance is there for someone like Parris to make an impact if called upon during a match.
England thrived if we remember when they had someone to come off the bench and change a game up front. Euro 2022 was a marker of that with Ellen White being the main starter which allowed Russo to appear off the bench and thrive as a ‘super-sub’ pretty much, so is that something England need to find again? Plus, if they can get this sort of thing back going again, it takes the pressure off Alessia Russo as well in desperately having to be relied upon for goals.
I would also argue that Bethany England is somebody who might be knocking on the door of an England recall as well if she can still prove herself as a good goal-scorer which we have seen at times as well for Tottenham in the WSL this campaign. Now was probably not the time for her; however there was a time when it seemed a recall for Parris looked like it wasn’t going to happen despite her performances, so you just never know, maybe there could be a way back in for Bethany England.
Opposition Preview - Portugal (KO: 19:45 GMT)
Now to take a quick look at the two oppositions over this international break for the Lionesses. So they find themselves in a UEFA Women’s Nations League group with Spain, Belgium and Portugal.
Starting with Friday’s opponents first, they are coached by Francisco Neto, who has been in charge since 2014, and they aren’t a team that England should be taking lightly as they have not lost an international match since December 2023 (10 wins and two draws across all competitions). However, they have lost each of their last four matches in the Nations League competition.
They are a team that has certainly been growing with more international matches against top opposition helping them to improve and see how they can measure up following on from their first major tournament appearance in 2017.
In terms of key players to watch, Kika Nazareth is a standout and has been a pivotal player for Portugal for a while now as one of their best talents. Someone else who deserves praise is forward Diana Silva. The 29-year-old is on a good run of form with the national team, scoring five in her last four appearances and recently managed six goals for Portugal in their Euro 2025 qualifying, only three players scored more than her in that.
The last match between England and Portugal was a 0-0 draw in a July 2023 friendly game, but the last time they faced in an actual competitive match was also the first time they played competitively back at the 2017 Euros, where England won 2-1 with goals from Toni Duggan and Nikita Parris.
England are also unbeaten in each of their last ten meetings against Portugal, with seven wins and three draws.
Let us know in the comments how you think England will get on against Portugal. Also, there will be another preview out for Wednesday’s game against Spain next week here on our Substack.