The Lionesses kicked off their defence of the SheBelieves Cup against a strong USWNT, who were still oozing with confidence after their World Cup win in France last summer.

The USA team looked to draw blood first in the fixture straight from the off, with the high intensity pressing causing England all sorts of problems in defence, especially with ever present Lucy Bronze absent through a calf injury, causing her to miss her first England game since 2016.  

Phil Neville would have been proud of his team's first half performance, going into the break all square. However in the second half, the USA's pressure finally breached the England goal. It took a stunning strike by Christen Press to break the deadlock, a strike worthy of the opening goal in this fixture.

Former  Manchester City striker, Carli Lloyd, doubled the USA's lead moments later, capitalising on poor England defending and smashing it past Carly Telford from range to make the evening more comfortable for the USA.

The USA are a cut above the rest

The USWNT are the current world champions and they put in the performance to match. Since Vlatko Andonovski took over as head coach, they have won all their fixtures. Furthermore, as a squad, they are unbeaten in 29 games, have gone 643 minutes without conceding a goal and have not been beaten by a European team in over 3 years.

The United States are still in their golden generation after winning back -to-back World Cups, and losing to them is no shame whatsoever. They also have a star-studded squad, boasting the Ballon D'or winner in Megan Rapinoe, thus arguably making the United States Women's National side the best in the world.

Is Phil Neville the right man ?

Since the 2-1 loss to the USA in the World Cup semi final in 2019, the Lionesses have been in somewhat of a rut. They have only won 2 of the last 8, and suffered a shock loss to Norway in the process.

With the next major tournament on home soil for England in Euro 2021, they will be hoping to try and establish themselves as the best national side in Europe, with England heavy favourites to lift the trophy.

However, it is the recent form of Neville's side which poses the question whether he is the right man to lead the Lionesses into Euro 2021. Former England player, Lianne Sanderson, said that England had gone "Backwards". While former England Right-Back, Alex Scott, said that England 'are not in the same bracket as the USA."  

England still have two games left of the SheBelieves Cup left to try and breath life back into the tournament for the Lionesses. They will have to step up their game if they are retain the title, with the tricky fixtures against a very capable Japan side who reached the last 16 of the World Cup, and a Spain team only knocked out of the World Cup by the eventual winners in the USA.  

Neville will have to pull together all of his managerial prowess now to help the Lionesses through this transition period, and help the squad mould into a team capable of winning Euro 2021.

Bleeding the new crop of players

Phil Neville has a tough task ahead of him as he has to make decisions about players' futures and who deserves the nod in the starting XI striker, Beth England has been performing exceptionally well in the Women Super League this season. The Chelsea forward has bagged 14 goals in 15 games this Season and has been on red hot form with many calling for her to be starting for her national side. 

Neville opted for Manchester City striker Ellen White, who had shared the golden boot at the World Cup last summer. However, White found herself isolated upfront and left with little support. This begs the question whether a partnership of White and England could be a way forward for the Lionesses.

Young Lauren Hemp (19) and Chloe Kelly (22) will be hoping to impress in the SheBelieves Cup to try and cement their position as part of the Squad before the European Championships next year. They are part of a new generation trying to help England move on from the hangover of the World Cup in France last summer.

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