England assistant head coach Arjan Veurink said that he was pleased with the reaction of the players in their 5-0 victory over Northern Ireland last night.
Fran Kirby and Beth Mead netted for England in the first half before half-time substitute Alessia Russo bagged a double. There was also an own goal from Northern Ireland’s Kelsie Burrows.
Preparation for the match was far from ideal for the Lionesses with head coach Sarina Wiegman testing positive for COVID-19. Her assistant Veurink stepped up to take charge of the team and they performed well, hitting five goals without reply as they ended the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 group stage with a record goal haul of 14.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Veurink said that the reaction of the players was what pleased him most.
“The teams’ performance (impressed me the most),” said Veurink. “The team showed that whatever is going on, we have lots of qualities.
“The players were calm, they were relaxed and although Sarina is not here, they coped with that so I am pleased with the teams’ performance. It was a good team performance and I am happy with the goals that we scored.”
Manchester United forward Russo came off the bench to score an impressive brace and Veurink revealed that her introduction was down to a tactical decision with England struggling to open up spaces against a defence-minded Northern Ireland side.
He said “We struggled a bit in the first half to find the right spaces so it was a tactical change to try to find spaces against a low block opposition.
“In the end, I am pleased with the substitutes, all of the players which came on did well in the second half.”
England will learn of their quarter-final opponents later today with Denmark or Spain set to face to Lionesses in Brighton on Wednesday.
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