England head coach Sarina Wiegman said that collecting the three points was the most important factor against Belgium.
The Lionesses ran out 1-0 winners against The Red Flames in their latest UEFA Women’s Nations League fixture in Leicester last night. Lauren Hemp netted the only goal of the game in the first half.
England performed well in phases of the game but they were not at their absolute sharpest, particularly in front of the opposition goal.
When speaking in the post-match press conference, Wiegman said that a second half drop in tempo was frustrating, however, it was all about getting the three points.
“I’m very happy with the win, the three points are very important,” Wiegman said.
“We started the game really well, we were really aggressive. We wanted to dominate the game and I think that’s what we did, although we had some different stages of the game.
“In the first half, we created some chances straight away, we scored an early goal from a corner. At moments, they were dangerous on the counter attack. We know when they get corners and free-kicks, they are dangerous because they have some very tall players that are good at heading the ball. They had a couple of dangerous moments.
“In the second half, we were dangerous straight away but then we dropped the tempo of the game a little bit which allowed them into it. It was good to see that we were able to pick up again and win the game.
“I had hoped that we had scored a few more goals because we created lots of chances. It becomes easier at 2-0, we are a little more comfortable.”
Going on to discuss England’s recent struggles in front of the opposition goal, Wiegman said that the standard of opponent is getting better and that we should no longer expect the huge scorelines witnessed in FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualifying.
She said “The expectations are high. Of course, we want to score lots of goals and we could’ve scored more than we did but don’t forget that the opponents are really good too, they’re not like the opponents that we’ve had in qualification. This is the Nations League and it’s more competitive.
“Defensively, the opponents are better and it is harder to score goals. If we can win 5-0, we would be happy but I don’t think we will get many of those scorelines any more.”
After making a full recovery from a knee injury, Chelsea midfielder Fran Kirby entered the field for the final 25 minutes of the match. Wiegman was pleased with the player’s contribution in what was her first England appearance in a year.
She said “It was nice. She had been out for a long time for the national team. It was already nice to see her back playing for Chelsea and she has been playing well there.
“When she came on the pitch, she brought what we hoped she would bring; a tightness on the ball and very calm in the final third. It was really nice to see.”
England are next in action on Tuesday evening when they face Belgium in the reverse fixture in Leuven.
About The Author
