Women’s Internationals round-up: Trio of Palace players on target - News

At youth international level, Palace trio Araya Dennis, Lexi Potter and Shauna Guyatt all featured for England U19s in a pair of friendlies at St George’s Park.

It was winger Dennis who started the first game against Denmark, scoring twice in the opening half-an-hour – the latter a powerful effort via a deflection – before exiting at half-time, with Guyatt coming on for the full second-half and Potter the last 18 minutes.

In the second – in which Potter and Guyatt both started – the Young Lionesses were two goals behind to Germany at half-time, before Potter took command of the game.

After England's Poppy Pritchard had pulled a goal back straight after the restart, Potter – on the hour mark – took the ball down in the middle of the pitch and played in the forward, who levelled the match.

Remarkably, nine minutes later, 17-year-old Potter found herself on the end of a lay-off from Pritchard and sweeped the ball clinically into the top corner for her first international goal at U19s level.

The game finished 3-3 after Guyatt exited the field on 63 minutes, with Dennis also coming on for Pritchard for the final seven minutes of the game.

With all three Palace players involved, the matches proved ample preparation for next month’s U19 Euro qualifiers against Wales, Czechia and Greece.

Also representing – and scoring for – her country at Under-23s level was Polly Doran, who undertook a week-long training camp in Varese, Italy as well as a match against Scotland U23s.

Doran did not start the match, but entered the fray as a second-half substitute – and not only helped her side to a clean sheet, but duly scored the winner in a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

Following their history-making achievements at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Paige Bailey-Gayle and Jamaica Women faced a double header against Canada, looking to qualify for next summer’s 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Reigning Olympic champions Canada simply proved too strong, however, with Bailey-Gayle on the bench as Jamaica lost the first leg 2-0 in Kingston.

Bailey-Gayle did start the second leg in Toronto on Tuesday night, and impressed on the occasion of her eighth international cap with her defensive work-rate as the Reggae Girlz repelled.

Jamaica would even pull a goal back in the first-half through Drew Spence's brilliant free-kick, but Canada roared back, Cloe Lacasse rising highest from a corner to head them level on the night soon after.

Jordyn Huitema put the tie out of sight early in the second-half before Bailey-Gayle left the field in the 61st minute, and with only 12 women's teams across the world competing at next summer's Olympics, Jamaica's qualification bid was sadly brought to an end.

As a result of the defeat, they will also need to qualify for next summer's 2024 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup via a different qualification path, over the course of the next two international breaks (the end of October, and mid-February 2024).

On closer shores, midfielder Anna Filbey and forward Elise Hughes – who has scored six times in four games so far this season – were called up by Wales for their first matches in the inaugural UEFA Women’s Nations League.

The results of the competition will be used to determine the leagues for the Euro 2025 qualifiers, with the top two teams also qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Wales, ranked 29th in the world, were placed in Group A3 of the competition alongside Germany (sixth), Denmark (12th) and Iceland (14th).

They narrowly lost out 1-0 to Iceland in Reykjavik last week – Hughes came on for injury time as a late substitute, and Filbey did not feature – before a heavy loss to Denmark in Cardiff on Tuesday evening in which neither Palace player came off the bench.

In the same competition in Group B1, defender Hayley Nolan was recalled to the Republic of Ireland squad.

Although Nolan did not add to her three senior caps, Ireland enjoyed their opening Nations League matches at home to Northern Ireland (a 3-0 win) and away in Hungary (a dominant 4-0 win).

All times BST.

Jamaica – Bailey-Gayle

Sat, 23rd September: Jamaica 0-2 Canada (Bailey-Gayle was an unused substitute)
Wed, 27th September: Canada 2-1 Jamaica (Bailey-Gayle played the first hour and won her eighth cap as Jamaica were defeated in Toronto)

Wales – Filbey & Hughes

Fri, 22nd September: Iceland 1-0 Wales (Hughes came on in the 89th minute in Reykjavik; Filbey did not feature)
Tue, 26th September: Wales 1-5 Denmark (Neither Palace player featured from the bench)

Republic of Ireland – Nolan

Sat, 23rd September: Republic of Ireland 3-0 Northern Ireland (Nolan was not named in the matchday squad)
Tue, 26th September: Hungary 0-4 Republic of Ireland (Nolan was on the bench but did not feature)

Australia U23s – Doran

Tue, 26th September: Scotland 0-1 Australia (Doran came on in the second-half and scored the winner for her side in the friendly encounter)

England U19s – Dennis, Guyatt & Potter

Wed, 20th September: England 5-0 Denmark (Dennis played the first-half and scored a brace; Guyatt played the second-half; Potter came on for the final 18 minutes)
Tue, 26th September: England 3-3 Germany (Potter started, assisted and scored; Guyatt also started the match, playing 63 minutes; Dennis played the last seven minutes)

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