HEAD OVER HEELS!
Russo’s cheeky wonder goal has England roaring into final
ENGLAND are 90 minutes from glory after thrashing Sweden in their Euro 2022 semi-final, with Alessia Russo’s back-heel helping them book their place in Sunday’s Wembley showpiece.
Goals from Beth Mead and Lucy Bronze put the Lionesses in control before Russo’s audacious strike made it 3-0 and Fran Kirby’s lob put the gloss on a perfect performance.
It sets up the chance for England women’s first major trophy at a sold-out Wembley against France or Germany. ‘We’re having a little party,’ said jubilant manager Sarina Wiegman. ‘ They’re
singing, music is on, some dancing. We’ll celebrate now a little bit.
‘But as we said before this tournament, we have a dream. We have come very far now and we want to go all the way.
‘In the second half we played so well. I thought in the first half we struggled a little bit. We didn’t start that well, they got a big chance in the first minute. ‘We were struggling a bit with the way they played defensively. We did better and better and the players found solutions. ‘The second half we had total control of the game and got some more space.
‘This will be watched all over Europe and all over the world. It was such a good performance. The players found a way within the game. I’m so incredibly proud of them.
‘We want to make a difference. We hope that we got everyone, the whole country, proud of us and that more girls and boys will start playing football.’ Wiegman (below) is 19 games unbeaten since taking over in September and admitted she had not expected such an impressive run.
‘When you come in you hope that things go well and that you connect with the staff, the people at the FA and of course the players. I think from the beginning there was a click. That’s hard work, too, as I don’t want to take things for granted. You feel the energy and you feel people believe in how you want to work and play. ‘The results have been really, really good and that’s very nice. Sometimes it’s really tight, we know how tight the game against Spain was, sometimes it goes in the right way, sometimes it goes in the wrong way but you still believe in what you’re doing.’ Wiegman said she had no preference over whether it’s Germany or France at Wembley on Sunday. ‘It really doesn’t matter who it is against. We’re going to get prepared anyway.’