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England manager, Sarina Wiegman was left “impressed” by the Lionesses’ fightback to beat Netherlands 3-2 at Wembley Stadium.
Ella Toone netted a 91st minute winner after Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp had produced quick-fire goals to drag the match back to 2-2, after Lineth Beerensteyn’s first-half brace looked to had put the Dutch on course to top their UEFA Women’s Nations League group.
England though needed to win by two clear goals to put their fate in their own hands heading into the final day, but now must beat Scotland and hope that Belgium can deny Netherlands a home win in order to top the group and keep their Olympics dreams alive for Team GB.
“I am relieved [to win] and I feel strange, I’m really happy with the win but at the end hope you win by two to put us in a better position,” reflected Wiegman upon England’s comeback win.
“But coming back from 2-0 down and how we showed up in the second half was so well done, so it was a really good performance.”
Wiegman proceeded to applaud her former team for giving the European champions a fight as she continued: “Overall, it was a very good game and we started the first half really well and totally dominated but they came with one counter-attack and went 1-0 up, that was a good goal from them.
“We said at half time, we are not playing bad but we conceded two goals, we have to do better to keep going because they are struggling too.”
At two goals down, Wiegman opted to introduce Beth Mead for her first international appearance since November 2022, with the Dutch boss impressed by Mead’s impact.
“I don’t think we played poor in the first half, but we had to score a goal so at half time we had to do something different and Beth Mead came in and after that we changed more to get other connections and new energy which we really needed.”
Wiegman also praised Toone specifically for her performance as she added: “I am impressed with my team and Ella [Toone] scores a lot of important goals and shows up and she is ready to go when she starts or when she comes in and that is really good.”
Looking ahead to their Auld Enemy trip to relegated Scotland, Wiegman iterated that they just “really need to win,” and hope that results elsewhere go in their favour.
Summarising England’s task in Glasgow, Wiegman iterated: “We are dependent on the other score, but we need to have a great win, at least 4-0, and that still depends on the other result. But if we win and the Netherlands drop points, we are in.
“What we can control is play well and win that game, that is what we first have to do, we can’t control what all the other ones do.”
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