2021 Queen Alexandra Exhibition Match
England Men v England Women II | |||||||
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Event | 2021 Queen Alexandra Exhibition Match | ||||||
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Date | 6 September 2021 | ||||||
Venue | Wembley Stadium, England | ||||||
Man of the Match | Lauren Hemp (Lionesses) | ||||||
Referee | Sian Massey-Ellis (England) | ||||||
Attendance | 62,692 |
The 2021 Queen Alexandra Exhibition Match, alternatively titled England Men v England Women II, was a football match that took place on 6 September 2021. Considered to be the follow-up to the 2019 edition, the match was held at Wembley Stadium, London and pitted the England men's and women's teams captained by Harry Kane and Steph Houghton. The teams' respective managers are former England international Gareth Southgate, in his second appearance, and former Netherlands Women head coach Sarina Wiegman in her first appearance. Based on the previous edition, the Lionesses are the defending champions, having previously won 2-1.
Kicking off at 10:30 am, the Lionesses were the first to take the initiative, attempting an early corner kick in the 1st minute that ultimately proved fruitless. Then, in the 3rd minute, the Lionesses took another chance via attacking midfielder Fran Kirby whose attempt otherwise missed its mark. Two subsequent attempts, namely ones by Ellen White and Beth Mead, followed but to no avail before The Three Lions then responded in the 11th minute via captain and striker Harry Kane whose attempt was instead deflected by an opposition defender. Eventually, amidst another unsuccessful attempt from Beth Mead, The Three Lions ultimately found their breakthrough in the 35th minute via winger Marcus Rashford with assistance from Jack Grealish to make it 1-0. However, in the 41st minute, Lionesses forward Lauren Hemp successfully equalised via a solo effort before teammate Ellen White proceeded to score the second goal just a minute afterward, thereby making it 2-1 at half-time. Following this, in the 58th minute, The Three Lions unsuccessfully attempted to level the scores via Jordan Henderson to which Lionesses midfielder Georgia Stanway scored her side's third goal in the 76th minute to make it 3-1 which remained so until the end with fullback Lucy Bronze otherwise unsuccessfully attempting to score the fourth goal in the very last minute.
Statistically, the Lionesses dominated in terms of both possession, with 62% to their opponents' 38%, and shots attempted, having recorded twice the amount of attempts from that of The Three Lions. However, despite both sides roughly committing the same amount of fouls, The Three Lions were only caught offside once whereas the Lionesses were caught offside thrice. In this, both sides saw two of their players receive yellow cards, namely Jordan Henderson and Phil Foden for The Three Lions as well as Georgia Stanway and Millie Bright for the Lionesses.
For refereeing purposes, in a reversal of the previous arrangement, Sian Massey-Ellis was appointed the head referee whereas Michael Oliver instead took the position of assistant referee. With an official attendance of 62,692, the occasion successfully raised a total of £4.07 million, the majority of which was later donated to charity and used to improve footballing facilities for both men and women. Much like its predecessor, the event was widely received despite being held with a reduced capacity due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time. It was later followed by a third edition that took place in September 2023, in line with the match being held every two years.