Key events
Hat-trick chance for Toone!
45+5 min Toone plays a one-two and pokes a shot that is too close to Brooks. England are creating chances almost at will.
Stanway, who has been superb, broke down the right and cut the ball back sharply towards Toone. She was tackled but then got the ball back on the edge of the area and floated a speculative shot across goal with her left foot. It drifted away from Brooks, hit the inside of the post and bounced into the net.
GOAL! England 3-0 Jamaica (Toone 45+4)
Ella Toone celebrates sheepishly after scoring her second and England’s third.
45 min That injury and the VAR check for the Jamaica goal that wasn’t mean there will be six minutes of added time.
44 min: Jamaica substitution An enforced change for Jamaica. The captain Allyson Swaby has suffered an injury and is being replaced by Naya Cardoza.
42 min Another half chance for Russo, who volleys wide on the run after a making an excellent near-post run.
Russo hits the bar!
40 min Alessia Russo almost scores a screamer. It was another fine move from England, who kept the ball for a good 30 seconds before Walsh clipped a precise angled pass into the area. Mead chested it down adroitly to Russo, who waited for the ball to bounce and walloped a ferocious shot from 15 yards. It beat Brooks and almost broke the crossbar.
39 min The disallowed goal aside, England have dominated the first half throughout. The most encouraging thing has been the rhythm and penetration of their passing.
37 min: Hemp hits the post! England take a short corner on the right and move the ball neatly infield to Hemp, who slashes a first-time shot across goal from the edge of the area. It beats Brooks and hits the face of the far post.
It wasn’t the cleanest connection from Hemp, which is why the ball faded away slightly. Had the shot been gunbarrel-straight, Hemp would have scored.
35 min Hemp gets away down the left for the umpteenth time before sliding a low cross that is slightly too heavy for Russo. Hemp looks close to her unplayable best.
Moments later Russo has a close-range shot blocked at source from Walsh’s low cross. Fine defending by Chantelle Swaby after another crisp passing move from England.
34 min Russo threatens to make it three, taking a shot early from 25 yards but hitting it straight at Brooks.
GOAL! England 2-0 Jamaica (Bronze 32)
The full-backs combine for an excellent goal. Hemp slid to keep the ball in play and then reversed it towards the supporting Carter. She curled a beautiful inswinging cross towards Bronze, who made a perfectly timed run into the area and headed past Brooks from six yards.
29 min Kalyssa Van Zanten leads a Jamaica break with a brilliant run through midfield. Eventually Carter makes an awkward but crucial lunging tackle on Simmonds in the area. There were one or two enquiries about a potential penalty but it was a good challenge.
25 min Charles Antaki has look into the design for England Women’s home strip. “Here’s what England Football have to say,” he begins. “‘Derived from the concept of ‘deeds, not words’, the home kit is a homage to the Lionesses and their heroic national victories such as Euro 2022, as well as the future generations of women players who are taking the game to new heights. The kit uses shifts in colour to honour the pioneers of the national team playing through the ‘70s and ‘80s.’”
Far more eloquent and stirring than my assessment, which basically amounts to: ‘It’s an ice-lolly version of the Keegan Admiral kit, innit?’
23 min Hemp, who has started well, beats Cameron with ease and stands up a really dangerous cross that is headed up in the air by a Jamaica defender, possibly Chantelle Swaby, and eventually forced clear.
NO GOAL! England 1-0 Jamaica
21 min The referee has disallowed the goal. Probably fair enough given Kalyssa Van Zanten’s position right in front of Hampton, though I’m not 100 per cent sure it impacted the goal because Hampton was wrongfooted by the deflection off Greenwood.
20 min: VAR check for offside! Hang on, Kalyssa Van Zanten was in an offside position just in front of Hampton. This could go either way.
GOAL! England 1-1 Jamaica (McKenna 18)
Kayla McKenna has equalised out of nothing! It was a training ground corner, with Amelia Van Zanten screwing the ball deliberately towards Allyson Swaby at the near post. She miskicked but the ball ran square to McKenna, whose shot took a deflection off Greenwood and hit the legs of the wrongfooted Hampton before spinning slowly over the line.
18 min Kalyssa Van Zanten runs at Carter to win Jamaica’s first corner. Her sister Amelia takes it – and it leads to the equaliser!
16 min Walsh arrows a shot over the bar after a crisp one-two just outside the area. Tougher tests await but Sarina Wiegman will surely be happy with the performance so far.
14 min England are playing some excellent stuff, with a real snap to their passing.
Ella Toone, preferred to Jess Park tonight, opens the scoring with her 20th goal for England. The busy Stanway made the goal, nutmegged Primus to find Toone in space on the edge of the D. She took a touch and curled a typical shot that took a nick off the stretching Allyson Swaby and swooshed past the diving Brooks.
GOAL! England 1-0 Jamaica (Toone 10)
Correction: England have started very well.
9 min Russo goes round the outrushing keeper Brooks, just inside the Jamaica area, but is forced too wide for a shot. England have started well.
8 min England have started on the front foot as you’d expect. Stanway plays a fine pass inside the full-back to release Hemp. Her cross is cut out and Stanway, backing up the play, curls over the bar from the edge of the D.
5 min: Good save by Brooks! Carter drives into the area from left-back and hits a low shot across goal that Brooks half stops with her outstretched left foot. The ball spins behind her and juts wide of the far post.
2 min “As it’s a friendly, perhaps we can think about superficial stuff,” writes Charles Antaki. “Anyway that’s my excuse for asking about the kits for the men’s and women’s International teams; they’ve differed I think for the first time, and for some reason the women have been handed a take on the old Keegan-era Admiral strip, while the men have a simpler and more elegant design. Is there a reason?”
Do you mean why have they used those particular designs? If so, I’m afraid I have no idea. And if it’s a different question, well, there’s a fair chance I’ll have no idea about that either.
1 min England, in their dark blue change strip, kick off from right to left as we watch.
The players line up for the anthems. There’s a good crowd in at the King Power Stadium, where the sun is beating down.
Sarina Wiegman’s pre-match thoughts
I know my starting XI for tonight and of course we’re getting closer. But let’s see what happens tonight and then we’ll decide.
[On Lauren James] She’s done really well. She had a lot of load over the last two weeks and before that, so she’s ready to come on. We’re excited about that.
I wasn’t tempted [to give one of the back-up keepers a cap]. I want Hannah Hampton to play this last game, but if something happens both of the other goalkeepers are ready.
[On picking Jess Carter at left-back] She’s done a great job. We can do different things in defence; tonight it’s Jess.
Jamaica team news
The Reggae Girlz’ team includes Leicester’s Chantelle Swaby, who is playing at her home ground, but they are without the injured Bunny Shaw.
Jamaica (possible 4-4-2) Brooks; Cameron, A Swaby, C Swaby, A Van Zanten; K Van Zanten, Ingleton, Primus, McKenna; Simmonds, Adamolekun.
Substitutes: Bailey, Blades, Cardoza, Mensah, Mitchell, Morgan, Sampson, Thomas, Walker.
Emma Hayes will be writing for the Guardian throughout Euro 2025. Emma Hayes! Here’s her opening column.
England are missing senior, experienced players, which will be a loss. The loss of Millie Bright, to any dressing room, is huge – she’s a leader who will calm a group and also keep them focused. It’s the same with Mary Earps in different capacities. Now it will be interesting to see how England cope if there are any injuries or suspensions – there’s a lack of experience on their bench, which sometimes happens when you’re evolving a team and it’s England’s time to experience that. Not with the starting XI though. In their starters they possess a depth of experience. They will need Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo and Lauren James to be fit, of course, but it is a high-quality, experienced England team.
Euro 2025 team guides: England
Suzanne Wrack considers England’s chances of winning back-to-back European Championships.
Look down the squad list and the midfield looks somewhat light, with only five players named, including Georgia Stanway, who only played 60 minutes of football in 2024-25. “We have to announce it as strikers, midfielders and defenders, but you can move players around into different positions,” said the head coach, Sarina Wiegman. “So it looks like there’s not much depth on paper, but in the team we have enough depth in midfield.”
England team news: Carter and Mead start
If this is Sarina Wiegman’s probable XI to start against France, she’s made a couple of interesting calls: Jess Carter is picked ahead of Niamh Charles at left-back and Beth Mead is preferred to Chloe Kelly as the right-sided forward. For all the problems England have had that’s a strong XI, which includes six of the players who started the Euro 2022 final and three more who came off the bench.
England (4-3-3ish) Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Greenwood, Carter; Toone, Walsh, Stanway; Mead, Russo, Hemp.
Substitutes: Charles, James, Le Tissier, Moorhouse, Clinton, Morgan, Agyemang, Kelly, Beever-Jones, Park, Keating, Wubben-Moy.
Tom Garry on the return of Lauren James, who is a helluva card for England to play from the bench as she recovers from injury
Preamble
Reality doesn’t always bite. Sometimes a gentle nuzzle is enough to make us aware that things are about to get real. England’s meeting with Jamaica at the King Power Stadium today should be a gentle nuzzle of a football match, their first and last warm-up game for Euro 2025.
And then reality will plunge its molars into at least one of England, France and the Netherlands. Those three join Wales in this year’s group of death, with England playing France in a scarily important opening game on Saturday evening.
In some cultures England’s situation would be described as sub-optimal, especially given the recent insecurity caused the retirement or withdrawal of Millie Bright, Mary Earps and Fran Kirby. But their first XI remains extremely strong, capable of giving any team a game, and if their morale is healthy they have a decent chance of winning Euro 2025.
As well as being the last pitstop before things get real, today’s game should give us a decent idea of the collective morale. In modern sport there are lies, damned lies and press conferences. But the truth always emerges on the field.
Kick off 5pm.