England head coach Sarina Wiegman said that she was pleased with how her side battled against Denmark in their second Group D match in Sydney this morning.
Lauren James netted the only goal of the game in the sixth minute at the Sydney Football Stadium. The goal was James’ first at a major international tournament.
After England had enjoyed a lively opening, they were dealt a blow with midfielder Keira Walsh being stretched off with a suspected knee injury. The remainder of the game developed into a real battle with the Lionesses having to grind out a result.
When speaking in the post-match press conference, head coach Wiegman said that she was proud of her team for the way that they battled with Denmark after losing midfielder Walsh to injury.
“We brought (Georgia) Stanway back and Laura Coombs in and of course, we had to find our feet a little bit,” Wiegman said.
“We really dominated the first half then Keira (Walsh) went out and we had to adapt to the new situation.
“In the second half, they had such a direct style of play that it became a battle but we showed that we can fight. The team showed resilience and we kept the lead so I am very proud of the team.”
The performance of attacker James was one of the real positives to come out of the game for England. Wiegman did not want to praise an individual player but nevertheless, said that she was pleased that James got her job done.
She said “As you know, I always talk about team performances but she did well.
“We knew that Denmark would drop a little deeper, they have a very tight defensive block and we thought that we really needed players in the pockets. That’s where she played a lot along with (Georgia) Stanway and (Ella) Toone and that worked really well, they struggled with that.
“Indeed, she scored a very nice goal.”
England complete the group stage with a fixture against China in Adelaide on Tuesday lunchtime.
About The Author
