England's Women hosting France...

20 October 2016

Tomorrow night is the first test for England's Lionesses at the beginning of their preparations for the European Championships in the Summer of 2017.

Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium, with a capacity crowd of over 15,000 is the venue for England vs France, a tie that has posed considerable challenges for the home team over the past few years.

At the time of the last meeting of these two nations, France lived up to their billing as favourites and inflicted a defeat on England in the World Cup that led many to believe afterwards they would go further in the tournament.

Though despite being on the wrong end of a 1-0 loss in the group stages, there was a positive mentality surrounding the Lionesses that helped them reach the semi-finals in 2015.

We recovered from the first game and went on to win three straight matches, against Mexico, Columbia, and Canada, the hosts. Of course, we could not get past the semi-final stage as Japan stood in our way, and England eventually finished fourth after losing to Germany in the play-off.

It will be interesting to see what England have learned since the World Cup and what surprises they may have in store for  the Euros in Holland.

Again, for most France are the favourites, as they arguably have more stars in their team and a real flair about them. England, though, have a adopted a different style since the last tournament and there can't be much between the two teams.

Don't be too surprised if it ends up in another 1-0 victory for either side. Not like England's qualifying games, which have been lessons in domination - especially the 5-0 thumping of Estonia. This one will be close and potentially heated.

We all know the rivalry between England and France, dating back hundreds of years. In fact, in 50 years' time we will see the 1,000th anniversary of the invasion of William the Conquerer, who ultimately changed our language and culture forever.

This will be a different type of battle altogether, hopefully with more entertainment than violence, as it is only a friendly game after all!