Sarina Wiegman defends decision to bring goalscorer Alessia Russo off as England draw opening Euros qualifier | OneFootball

Dom Smith

defended her decision to substitute goalscorer Alessia Russo in the second half of the Lionesses’ 1-1 Euro 2024 qualifier draw with Sweden.

Russo had given England a half-time lead at Wembley in their first Euro 2025 qualifier but was replaced on 79 minutes, by which time Sweden were already level.

Lauren Hemp was moved from out wide to the lone striker position, but England failed to find their winner and had to settle for a point.

Informed that some pundits had said substituting Russo was a mistake, Wiegman said: “I don’t agree with that. Alessia played well, but tactically we wanted to change a couple of things. We brought Lauren Hemp inside. We just wanted something a little bit different.

“I think we had a tough game against a good opponent. They were really physical in duels. On the counter-attack they’re really dangerous.

“We scored a great goal. Second half, their goal was really unnecessary. We gave away the throw-in, weren’t able to take out the cross, and that was disappointing.

“The main thing we wanted to do better was keep the ball longer. At the end of the game we had more energy.”

Alessia Russo opened the scoring but was withdrawn as England pushed for a winner

REUTERS

The Lionesses manager added: “As a team, we had to make quicker decisions. We had to pass the ball quicker. We didn’t get many spaces because they defended really well. Second half, we had more depth when we brought Ella Toone on and when [Lauren] Hemp came central. That went better with some substitutes.”

“This group is really tough,” Wiegman said. “Of course, I’m disappointed because we always want to in.

“At the end of the game we came very close to scoring a goal, but it was a very even game. I do think we could have done a couple of things better, but we just want to do better every game — as other countries want to do too, of course.”

Wiegman said she could face Ireland, though, saying: “She was available today. The closer we get to Tuesday, we’ll make some decisions.”