It is debatable precisely how much can be gleaned from this workout against a team ranked 50th in the world who lost 5-0 against Denmark on Friday but, if England can take one certainty from this victory, it is this: in Grace Clinton, they have found a generational midfielder around whom they can build the team for at least the next four major tournaments.
The 21-year-old was earning only her fourth cap on Tuesday but the class she embodied virtually every time she touched the ball was the perfect illustration of her talents, and showed precisely why she should be considered as one of the first names on the team sheet. Her arrival on the international scene in 2024 has come at the perfect time for a team that have needed a fresh injection of youthful ingenuity on the ball, and she added to her three goals in four Women’s Super League games so far this season with a fine header in Coventry.
Even during the warm-up, there was an air of authority about every pass she sprayed across the pitch, an ease with every first‑time ball back flicked out to the full-backs in the England back six’s passing drill, and a confidence with every effortless trapping of awkward, bouncing high balls. As so many of the best players can do, she was making all the simple parts of football look irritatingly easy, and it continued once the match itself began.
The Manchester United midfielder demonstrated her aerial ability and her tendency to time to perfection her runs into the box from midfield when she headed in her second goal for her country and England’s second goal of this game, meeting her club teammate Maya Le Tissier’s well-weighted right-wing cross with a downward header placed emphatically into the corner of the net. But to focus on her goal would be to do her overall performance an injustice.
In the first quarter of the game preceding that goal, every contribution Clinton had made to England’s possession had been a positive one. Every first touch was flawless. Whether it was nonchalantly flicking a ball down the flank for Le Tissier to run on to, or whether she was shimmying past her marker with a drop of the shoulder, or whether it was the give-and-goes, she was orchestrating the play like a seasoned veteran.
Yes the opposition was flattering England and perhaps Clinton, too. She was being afforded a generous amount of time on the ball that would not be granted to her by any of the world’s top teams. But she was generating a lot of the space for herself, constantly scanning, always on the move and showing for the ball with her low, outstretched right palm that none of her teammates could ignore.
She also showed her value defensively, somehow defying South Africa’s Hildah Magaia with a tackle on the line, with the game at 1-0, when the visitors had looked certain to score. And there were glimpses of her ability to hold her own in little innocuous scraps off the ball. When Sinoxolo Cesane nudged her off the ball, she nudged her back too, as if to say: “Who do you think you’re trying to shove?”
She is not yet the finished article, of course, but England were visibly weaker once she was withdrawn for a rest shortly after the hour. After the game, Le Tissier praised her teammate, saying: “Whenever I look up, I try to give it to her because I know she’s magic on the ball. There’s a lot more that can come from Grace. If she keeps her head down she’ll be a fantastic player for both England and United.”
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Sarina Wiegman was a little more reserved and cautious when asked post-match about Clinton’s talents, saying to one reporter: “I think you’re going a little bit too fast,” and reminding people that Clinton is young and “improving”, but the Dutchwoman did agree Clinton’s performance had been good.
But for those who had been baffled that Clinton was not given a chance on Friday when she was an unused substitute against Germany, this performance only reinforced the feeling that she should have been afforded an opportunity at Wembley.
Next up England will host the Olympic champions, USA, on 30 November and – on this evidence on Tuesday – it would be a travesty if Clinton was not in the Lionesses team for that meeting with Emma Hayes’s side.
