Five-star England turn on the style
Lionesses run riot again after Wiegman Covid blow
NO manager, no problem — for now. England ended their Euro 2022 group stage in style in the absence of Sarina Wiegman, who tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday.
What should have been a relaxing build-up to this dead rubber turned chaotic when it was announced Wiegman would miss the match after contracting the virus, throwing her presence at England’s quarter- final next Wednesday into doubt.
Northern Ireland, the lowest ranked team in the tournament, had already been eliminated before last night while England were crowned group winners after a record-breaking 8-0 win over Norway. Wiegman’s assistant Arjan Veurink was in charge at St Mary’s last night and he is perhaps the next best thing to the England boss herself.
He and Wiegman will find out whether it will be Spain or Denmark in next Wednesday’s quarterfinal after the two teams face off tonight. Spain, stacked with Barcelona players, would likely be a tougher test. While Veurink is an able deputy, England desperately need their influential manager back in the dugout and, ideally, on the training pitch for at least one session before the game.
Wiegman had said not to expect rotation from the team that beat Norway 8-0, despite England having already topped Group A, and she stuck to her word by naming an unchanged starting XI.
She believes in rhythm and there is no doubt this England side have found their groove.
However, Northern Ireland were not here to be brushed aside in the opening 45 minutes and in fact had the first shot on target as Lauren Wade ghosted in behind Rachel Daly a little too easily before firing straight at Mary Earps.
England thought they had a penalty when referee Esther Stuabli pointed to the spot after Georgia Stanway’s shot hit Laura Rafferty’s arm.
But the official was advised to look at the monitor and after some deliberation, decided that Beth Mead had handled in the build-up and overturned her decision. Mead then had a shot blocked on the line by Julie Nelson before Jackie Burns tipped a long-range Millie Bright shot round the post as the hosts piled on the pressure. Ellen White should have scored the opener when she latched on to Lucy Bronze’s through ball but the striker’s effort trickled wide. Wiegman ( left) has talked about her team needing to be ruthless but they were proving to be anything but here. Stanway saw another effort blocked on the line, this time Rebecca Holloway throwing herself in the way. But then came a moment of magic from Fran Kirby, just before halftime. The ball bounced up to the forward on the edge of the box and she opened up her body to curl a shot into the top right corner. Northern Ireland’s heads dropped and a minute later England had a second as Mead’s deflected effort deceived Burns and trickled into the bottom left corner.
England made three changes at half-time with Alessia Russo, Ella Toone and Alex Greenwood all coming off the bench and within 132 seconds of the restart one of them was on the scoresheet. Mead played a onetwo with Toone before crossing for Russo, who headed into the bottom right corner. Russo proved too much for Northern Ireland’s defence as she fired in her second goal. The forward controlled Toone’s pass on the half-turn before emphatically finishing past Burns.
There was an unfortunate own goal for substitute Kelsie Burrows, who turned Mead’s cross into her own net. But the most important thing for England was that everyone finished the game free of injury. As auditions go, this was an impressive performance for Veurink.
ENGLAND (4-2-3-1): Earps 6.5; Bronze 7 (Carter 74), Bright 6 (Greenwood 45, 6), Williamson 6, Daly 6; WALSH 8, Stanway 6.5 (Toone 45); Kirby 7, Mead 7, Hemp 7 (Kelly 61); White 6 (Russo 45, 7.5). Subs not used: Roebuck, Hampton, Scott, Parris, Kelly, England, Wubben-Moy. Booked: None. Scorers: Kirby 40, Mead 44, Russo 48, 53, Burrows (og) 76. Manager: Arjan Veurink 7. Referee: Esther Staubli (Switzerland) 6. Attendance: 30,785.