England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that she is expecting a tough game against Northern Ireland in Belfast on Tuesday evening.
The Lionesses have cruised through their FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualifying campaign so far, scoring 63 goals and keeping seven consecutive clean sheets.
England’s latest match comes against Northern Ireland at a sell-out Windsor Park. The Green and White Army need to get a result from the game to keep their FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualification hopes alive and England boss Wiegman is expecting a challenge in Belfast.
“We want to develop our style of play, we want to play well as a team, create lots of chances, score lots of goals and concede none,” Wiegman said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.
“It’s going to be a tough game tomorrow, there’s going to be a great crowd, it’s a big occasion and we are really looking forward to that.
“For them, it is their last chance, they really have to win to have any chance of making the play-offs. We want to win and get as close to qualification ourselves.”
Northern Ireland have not conceded a first half goal in their last six matches and Wiegman agreed that her side may need to be patient at Windsor Park.
She said “It is very important (to be patient). Hopefully, we can score in the first half but if not, we still have another 45 minutes to score goals. We talk about being patient and having a high ball tempo all of the time.
“Between September and now, I think that we have improved with that and we are growing in our game. I expect that we will be patient enough until the moment comes to score the goal, although we want to score as early as possible if the opportunity is there.”
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualifier between Northern Ireland and England kicks-off at 7.55pm on Tuesday evening.
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