Everton Women: October International Break Round Up

The Everton Women squad has taken on a decidedly international flavour in the last couple of seasons following some aggressive recruiting by the Blues in transfer windows. In total 17 Toffees represented their respective nations over this last international break, broken down here by country.

England (Senior, U23, U19)

The Lionesses had little trouble against Northern Ireland (4–0) and Latvia (10–0). Goalkeeper Sandy MacIver was the only Evertonian to make the senior squad, and she was an unused substitute in both matches.

Meanwhile, England’s U23 team faced off against Belgium in a friendly. Center back Gabby George started for England, while defenders Megan Finnigan and Poppy Pattinson were unused substitutes.

Grace Clinton had a superb international break with England’s U19 team, netting a hat trick in an 8–1 victory against Northern Ireland. The 18-year-old also bagged the lone marker in England’s 1–0 win versus Switzerland.

Republic of Ireland

Goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan, acquired this summer, made a total of eight saves on 10 shots through two games as Ireland fell to Sweden, 1–0, and pulled out a 2–1 victory against Finland. Brosnan, who has been used sparingly behind first-choice goalie Sandy MacIver this season, was one of Ireland’s top players this past week.

Northern Ireland

Everton striker Simone Magill, who missed Northern Ireland’s first match against England due to personal reasons, was back on the pitch for her side’s meeting with Austria. Magill was a second-half substitute in a 2–2 draw with the Austrians.

Scotland

Winger Claire Emslie and midfielder Lucy Graham both featured for Scotland. Emslie, who has been on fire for the Toffees to start the season, played the full 90 of a 2–1 win against Hungary and played an hour during the 2–0 loss to Sweden.

Graham logged 25 minutes against Hungary and patrolled the midfield for 90 minutes versus Sweden.

Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

Sweden

Young star Hanna Bennison logged 76 minutes in the team’s 1–0 win against Ireland and earned 20 minutes in a 2–0 victory over Scotland.

Anna Anvegård did not feature against Ireland but got a clean 70 minutes in the match with Sweden. Meanwhile, defender Nathalie Björn was an unused substitute in both outings.

Italy

Aurora Galli and Italy were perfect, recording two victories. Le Azzurre bested Croatia, 3–0, before cruising by Lithuania, 5–0. Galli, the first-ever Italian in the WSL, didn’t feature against Croatia but was a starter versus Lithuania.

Germany

Everton right-back Leonie Maier and Germany defeated Israel twice. Maier was on the bench for the first match, a 1–0 win. She operated as Germany’s starting right back in the second game and helped her team to a 7–0 rout.

France

Kenza Dali, who was a second-half substitute in both of France’s contests, helped her side to a 2-0 record and wins against Estonia (11–0) and Kazakhstan (5–0). Dali also scored one goal in each fixture.

Denmark

Rikke Sevecke started both matches for the Danes. She helped the team to an 8-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina and was a rock in a 5–1 away win versus Montenegro.

Denmark, one of the top teams in Europe, has a perfect record to start their FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. The Danes have netted a whopping 28 goals scored and one goal against through four matches, which gives them seven markers per game and a quarter of a goal conceded.