Foxes Beaten By Man City On Penalties In Perth
The Foxes opened the inaugural Perth tournament by taking on Man City at HBF Park on Wednesday, where new Manager Amandine Miquel was in the public eye for the first time since her arrival, with two City wins against Sunderland and Durham their preparation for the bout with fellow WSL opposition.
Lining up in a 4-3-3 formation, new signings Chantelle Swaby and Ruby Mace started, with striker Noémie Mouchon leading the line. The French forward had already netted for the Foxes during the Black Cats' win at Belvoir Drive just weeks ago.
The Citizens started strongest, holding most of the possession and calling Janina Leitzig into early action on multiple occasions; the Foxes themselves creating a first chance 15 minutes in when Mouchon broke, and found Saori Takarada, but the Japanese midfielder dragged her shot wide of the post.
Over the next 20 minutes, the side from Manchester looked comfortable on the ball, but the deep-lying Leicester defence stood firm; Swaby in particular making a good first impression in front of her new coaching staff. At the other end, Jutta Rantala regularly found room to exploit, but the final pass was dealt with by the opposition.
The Foxes came out of the traps strong in the second half, boosted by several fresh legs including Sophie Howard and Yuka Momiki, and an altered high-pressing approach saw a chance fall early on for Mouchon, but the short range effort was well blocked by Man City substitute 'keeper Ayaka Yamashita.
City's best chance came soon after when a ball across the box rolled into the path of Rantala, but even though last season's top goalscorer was first to it, she couldn't bend it around the on-rushing goalkeeper.
With both sides looking to book their place into Sunday's final, Leicester made their last two changes with Sam Tierney and Lena Petermann coming on for Rantala and Mouchon, with the latter looking dangerous in the final third heading into the final few minutes.
With nothing to separate the sides after 90 minutes, the game headed to penalties where the Citizens would go on to win 4-3. Petermann, Deanne Rose and Takarada converted for Leicester, with Momiki and Howard seeing their efforts denied by Yamashita. Lize Kop's save from Yui Hasegawa proved to be in vain.
The Foxes will now face the loser of Thursday's clash between West Ham United and Paris Saint-Germain, returning to HBF Park once again on Sunday afternoon for a 7:10am BST kick-off.