Steph Houghton believes City’s experience in the Women’s International Champions Cup will prove beneficial for the new campaign.
Nick Cushing‘s side are in the United States on the Club’s pre-season tour in a four-team tournament between City, Lyon, Atletico Madrid and hosts the North Carolina Courage.
The FA Cup and Continental Cup winners fell to defeat to the tournament hosts in the second semi-final, edged out by an injury-time goal, after the game had been interrupted for more than an hour due to dangerous weather.
Although disappointed to have lost the game in such dramatic circumstances, Houghton admitted the result was not the most important aspect of the clash, as City prepare for the 2019/20 league campaign.
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“I thought he attitude of the girls was first-class,” she told CityTV. ”We’ve got to be realistic - we’re two weeks into our pre-season and we’ve had players coming back from the World Cup and the Euros with the Under-19s.
“We’re a new group with new players and this is what pre-season is about - finding stuff to work on.
“We’ve been here for two days, playing in ridiculous humidity and to have performed the way we did - especially in the first - half was great.
“It doesn’t help that there was a storm break in between. We have to focus on the positives.”
City face Atletico Madrid in the Third Place Play-Off on Sunday.
Watch Steph’s post-match interview above...
