As the England Women’s Under 19 World Cup training squad tour USA, we’ll be keeping up-to-date with their progress through the team’s daily blog.
Day 1 - Thursday 4 April
It was long day of travelling for the girls with an eight hour flight from Heathrow to Baltimore with lots of movie watching and stretching in the aisle to keep the bodies supple.
This was topped off with a birthday shoutout to Charlie Wilson who turned 18, and we received mini magnums halfway through the flight.
After landing, we travelled 45 minutes to Arlington Court Suites, our base for the next couple days, and the girls got settled in.
Day 2 - Friday 5 April
The day was started with a lovely breakfast at the hotel, before setting off for a scrimmage against Milton in the morning. We seemed to have brought the English weather with us as it was cold and raining.
However, we warmed up and started our first match on American soil with a format of two halves of 12 a-side and then an additional 20 minutes at 10 a-side.
Battling the jet lag, we managed to put up a good fight, coming out on top in the 10 a-side scrimmage.
We then stopped at Panera for lunch with everyone delighted with warm mac-and-cheese after the rain.
We then headed back to the hotel for a team meeting to discuss our aims for the upcoming match and travelled out to play Saints in high spirits.
Despite the rain still coming down, we enjoyed the challenge of a tough game, narrowly losing the 10 a-side match.
The parents then provided a homemade post-match meal before heading back to the hotel and looking forward to the challenges ahead.