A clean sheet and five goals from five scorers in front of a sellout crowd of 23,202 fans in Bristol. It does not get much better than that for England, who top their Nations League group.
“We made football look a little bit simple,” manager Sarina Wiegman told reporters after the thrashing of Belgium. “That’s hard to do.”
Wiegman’s England team produced free-flowing attacking football, reminiscent of the 2022 European Championship, and her team is starting to take shape 91 days before their 2025 Euros opener against France on July 5.
Hannah Hampton, who started in England’s 1-0 win against world champions Spain in February, put in another assured performance to reassert her claim to be Wiegman’s No 1. The back four looked solid and worked well as a unit with captain Leah Williamson and Millie Bright rekindling their centre-back partnership.Where will Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood will fit in, however, when she returns from her knee injury?
Lucy Bronze, 33, a self-confessed lover of ice baths and protein shakes, looked as fresh as ever on her 130th appearance, surging down the right wing with her buccaneering runs. She demonstrated the hunger and desire this England team needed as shown by her header for England’s first goal and her near-post run to flick the ball onto Millie Bright for their second in the first half.
What an assist, what a header! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hkD6qGI8kZ
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) April 4, 2025
Chelsea provided six of England’s 11 starters (Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Niamh Charles, Keira Walsh and Lauren James) and those strong dynamics forged among players who train with each other everyday are evident to see. Equally substitute Aggie Beever-Jones, the Chelsea forward who made an impact off the bench, scoring her first international goal in the 67th minute for England’s third, said those club partnerships made her feel at home when she came onto the pitch.
The Lionesses had great joy, especially down the right side with the metronomic Walsh, Bronze and Beth Mead connecting well. In the No 9 role Alessia Russo’s hold-up play was brilliant as she dropped deep to stitch the play while getting into good goal-scoring positions and was unlucky to hit the post twice.
Wiegman has several options on the wing with James, who looked threatening once again before being taken off at half-time with a suspected hamstring tweak, Mead, Beever-Jones and Nikita Parris as well as Chloe Kelly, who had to withdraw from this camp because of a foot injury. Let’s not forget Lauren Hemp either, out since November with a knee injury, but who was seen back on the grass kicking a ball with Manchester City this week.
But there are still hefty question marks surrounding midfield, the team’s weakest area. It was a similar story three years ago when England played Belgium in a friendly before Euro 2022. So much so Wiegman pushed up Williamson alongside Walsh in midfield and chose Georgia Stanway in place of Fran Kirby and Ella Toone for the No 10 role. That experiment did not last, however, as Wiegman pushed Williamson back into defence and opted for a successful midfield trio of Walsh, Stanway and Kirby, for the entirety of the tournament.
Walsh, who scored her first England goal on her 83rd appearance, is a nailed-on starter, but England look less balanced in the absence of Stanway who is out with a knee injury. The expectation is that the 26-year-old will be fit in time for the ...
