Sarina Wiegman delighted with England performance ahead of Euros opener

North Wales Chronicle

17 hours ago

Ella Toone scored a brace either side of Lucy Bronze's header to give England a healthy advantage at the break.
Wiegman's side flexed their muscles in the second period as Georgia Stanway, Alessia Russo, Aggie Beever-Jones and Beth Mead got on the scoresheet to give England the perfect send-off before they face France in their first game at the Euros next Saturday.
Victory in our #WEURO2025 send-off match! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2xXmCX9WFF
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) June 29, 2025
'We played a good game,' the 55-year-old said. 'We were a lot in the final third, we scored seven goals which is really good, created a lot of chances and some moments could have been even more patient sometimes.
'But at the same time, scoring seven goals and more opportunities to score was really good.
'We know next week we have to take our game to the next level. But what we wanted to do was play a good game, entertain fans, getting ready for next week and getting everyone fit out of this game.
'It shows we have a good team and have many options and competition going on for positions. Today we had six different players score goals, which is nice going into the Euros and it shows the players can score goals.'
Lauren James climbed off the bench in the second period as she made her first appearance since a hamstring injury in April.
It did not take long for her to make an impact as she supplied the cross for Russo's goal shortly after her introduction.
Wiegman added: 'We're still building her. She's worked so hard to be here where she is now. At Chelsea first, but then the last two weeks in training camps, she could do every single training session and did really well.
Right place, right time, RUSSO! pic.twitter.com/hygnsBvUWe
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) June 29, 2025
'Now this is the first time she could get minutes and we hope next week we can keep building her going into France.
'Also there is a lot of competition going on upfront and in midfield so we've figured out over the last couple days how we will start.'
England feared Mead picked up an injury when she went down holding her knee as the game ticked over into stoppage time.
The fans had their hearts in their mouths when Mead received treatment on the field, but she was able to get up and carry on before she scored the last goal of the game.
Wiegman said: 'It was a hit on her knee. She's OK, she's good.
'Everyone came out fit and healthy so it was just a hard knock. It looked horrible so we were a little bit scared too, but she could even score after that moment.'