England Women v France Women preview

Phil Neville will take charge of his first game as England Women’s manager when they take on France Women in the opening match of the SheBelieves Cup.

The tournament, which includes the USA and Germany Women’s teams, gets underway in Ohio on Thursday before moving on to New Jersey and Florida for two further round-robin games.

Neville, who was appointed manager last month, has tasked his England players with being competitive in the United States competition against some of the best sides in the world.

England captain Steph Houghton has an ankle injury and will miss the SheBelieves Cup

“We want to be the best team in the world and we want to win a World Cup, so we shouldn’t come to this tournament with any fears that we can’t compete and can’t win games,” he said.

“I’ve challenged the team to win all three games. If we want to win a World Cup we have got to beat USA, beat Germany, beat France – these are our rivals.”

France Women are the current SheBelieves Cup holders after beating Germany in last years final, while England finished third ahead of the United States 12 months ago.

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