Lauren Hemp made her first competitive start for England, as the Lionesses kicked off their defence of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup.

The teenage midfielder completed the full game for Phil Neville’s side, who fell to defeat at the hands of the World Champions and tournament hosts.

CITY+ | Sign up for exclusive content

Buy your discounted City away shirt!

Hemp was one of six City representatives in the starting XI with captain Steph Houghton, Jill Scott, Georgia Stanway, Keira Walsh and Ellen White also selected, while Ellie Roebuck and Demi Stokes were named on the bench.

Former City ace Carli Lloyd starred to earn victory for the tournament hosts, providing the assist for Christen Press’ opener before sealing the game two minutes later.

The result puts the USA second in the standings – level on points with Spain, who have a Goals Scored advantage following their 3-1 triumph over Japan.

Scott and White were unfortunate not to find the net in Orlando but Hemp earned rave reviews for her impressive performance and was delighted to have achieved her dream of facing the world’s very best on their own backyard.

“It was a really tough match and obviously getting my first start against the best team the world is massive,” she said.

“It’s these games that I want to be playing in, so I loved every minute of it and grew in confidence as the game went on. Now we need to go back to training and recover.

“That’s probably the biggest game I’ve played in, standing out in that national anthem with all the fireworks going off.

“It’s a moment where I was like: ‘Wow, this is what international football is really like.’ I’d love to be in more occasions like that and be one of the stars in the game.”

In other news, Caroline Weir captained Scotland for the first time, as Shelley Kerr’s side began their Pinatar Cup adventure with a 3-0 win over Ukraine.

Weir played the full 90 minutes and created debutant Martha Thomas’ second goal, before former Blue Claire Emslie completed the rout with 12 minutes remaining.

Meanwhile, Germany, Belgium and Portugal were all in Algarve Cup action with Pauline Bremer, Tessa Wullaert and Matilde Fidalgo representing their countries.

Bremer was introduced from the bench as Germany claimed a 1-0 victory over Sweden, while captain Wullaert could not prevent a 2-1 defeat for Belgium against New Zealand, and Fidalgo was an unused substitute as Portugal were edged 2-1 by Italy.

Elsewhere, Janine Beckie also suffered defeat as Canada were beaten 1-0 by hosts France at the Tournoi de France but there was better news for England’s youth teams as Esme Morgan’s Under-21s defeated France 1-0.

Jess Park and Emma Bissell also featured for the Lionesses’ Under-19s, who suffered a 3-0 loss to the USA at the La Manga tournament.

Fixtures

Japan v England: Sunday 8 March (6:15pm UK time), Red Bull Arena, New Jersey. BBC Four and BBC iPlayer.

England v Spain: Wednesday 11 March (9:15pm UK time), Toyota Stadium, Frisco. BBC Four and BBC iPlayer.

Scotland v Iceland: Saturday 7 March 2020 (2pm UK time), Pinatar Arena. Live on BBC ALBA.

Northern Ireland v Scotland: Tuesday 10 March 2020 (7:30pm UK time), Pinatar Arena. Live on BBC ALBA.

Germany v Norway: Saturday 7 March (5:30pm UK time), Lagos Municipal Stadium, Lagos.

Belgium v Portugal: Saturday 7 March (5pm UK time), Vista Municipal Stadium, Parchal.

Canada v Netherlands: Saturday 7 March (6pm UK time), Stade de l’Épopée, Calais.

Brazil v Canada: Tuesday 10 March (7pm UK time), Stade de l’Épopée, Calais.

England U21s v France: Sunday 8 March (2pm UK time), St George’s Park

England U19s v Sweden: Friday 6 March (noon UK time), La Manga Club Complex, Spain.

Denmark v England U19s: Sunday 8 March (noon UK time), La Manga Club Complex.