England open Nations League campaign with draw v Portugal: ‘We need to be more ruthless’
England Women kicked off their Nations League campaign with a 1-1 draw away to Portugal on Friday night, with Alessia Russo getting on the scoresheet.
Arsenal striker Russo opened the scoring in Portimao after 15 minutes, converting from a Lucy Bronze cross.
After initially being left out of Sarina Wiegman’s squad, Chloe Kelly was brought in following an injury to new Arsenal team-mate Beth Mead.
Kelly came off the bench late on to try and find a winning goal for the Lionesses after Kika Nazareth’s 75th-minute equaliser.
👉 READ MORE: Van Nistelrooy staring down the barrel as Leicester make unwanted history v Brentford
England will be very disappointed not to win having dominated the match as Portugal scored with their only shot on target.
It is a poor start to their Nations League campaign, with Spain – who beat England in the 2023 World Cup final – up next on Wednesday.
Spain beat Belgium 2-0 to go top of League A Group 3, with Belgium hosting Portugal on the same night as the World Cup final rematch.
MUST-READ ON F365…
👉 Liverpool ‘crisis’ continues: Slot slams ‘lazy’ Nunez in ‘savage attack’ before striker ‘bites back’
👉 Big Weekend: Man City v Liverpool, Chelsea, Amorim, Wood, Sheff Utd v Leeds, Bayern Munich
👉 Liverpool ‘fragile’ and ‘scared’ as striker-less Arsenal hunt them down in Premier League title race
Speaking after the match, manager Wiegman dismissed claims that she is prioritising this summer’s European Championship over the Nations League.
“I’d hoped to come with more,” she said. “We played a very good first half but we could’ve got more goals. The second half we had to adapt to their change in shape. They brought more players on up front and we were figuring that out.
“They scored a great goal but we could’ve done better there. Then we got the organisation better but couldn’t get another goal.
“I’m not thinking about the Euros. I’m just thinking about next Wednesday against Spain. It will be a tough game and we’ll try to win it.”
In the week that Luis Rubiales was found guilty of sexually assaulting Janni Hermoso after Spain beat England in the World Cup final, Wiegman added: “That we have to talk about this again is good because it changes society and I stand with the Spanish players.
“They have so much courage to do this and it does make change, but more change needs to be made. They are still in it and it’s just really unfortunate that we can’t talk about – well we are talking about football but we also have to talk about this.”
Meanwhile, Millie Bright emphasised the need for England to be more “ruthless” in attack.
“I think a game of two halves really,” the Chelsea defender said. “I think first half we had better quality on the ball, a little bit more control.
“I think [there’s] lots of work to be done. Obviously, never happy conceding a goal, especially in that manner when it was preventable.
“Listen, they’re a strong team, they tested us tonight. There’s a lot to work on ahead of the game on Wednesday.
“I think when it’s just 1-0 you keep a team in it and the longer it stays 1-0 the more the opposition gets confidence and tired legs out there towards the end of the game.
“We definitely need to be more ruthless in front of goal and take our chances. As we know, the game is so competitive and I think we need to create a few more as well. Essentially, when we do get those chances we need to put them in the back of the net.
“I don’t think we shy away from that, I think we’re the first to analyse our performances. I think consistency is something we need, a few changes within the team. A lot of work there to be done but the main thing is we didn’t lose the game.
“We need to be confident, we didn’t win the game but equally we didn’t lose the game. I think you have to draw out the positives from the performance. It’s small margins in football, I think if we make those tweaks it takes us to another level.”
👉 READ NOW: Ranking Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 17 Man Utd f***-ups: 3) Ruben Amorim, 4) Dan Ashworth, 8) Kath Phipps