Sarina satisfied with six-goal haul

Sarina Wiegman was a happy head coach on Tuesday evening, after seeing her side smash six second-half goals against Ukraine in their opening FIFA 2027 Women’s World Cup qualifier.

After a goalless first half, in which the Lionesses dominated possession and attempts on goal against their hosts, it didn’t take them long to find their scoring touch after the break.

A brace apiece for Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway and Jess Park in Antalya proved more than enough to pick up three points as their road to the World Cup in Brazil next year got underway.

"I am happy with the result,” said Wiegman.

“I thought the performance was good. It was a big difference between the first and second half because we didn't score in the first half when we should have scored.

“But I think we totally controlled the game and we did well, but just in the final cross, the positioning of the cross, the connections of the ball and the quality of the shot and final touch wasn't good.

"We tried to create chances or get more at the edge in the half-spaces and be a little more patient and that got us shots from the edge of the box which we did a lot better in the second half.”

And Wiegman revealed her team didn’t need too many instructions on how to put things right at the half-time break, as she always had faith the Lionesses would get their breakthrough.

"There were no tough words [at half time], because we put a lot of effort in and played the way we wanted to, we just wanted to score more goals.

“We had shots on goals, but I think we had 14 shots on goal but only three on target, so we need to do that better.

“From where we had to cross and the kind of cross, we needed to change a bit. It helped that we swapped our wingers from one side to the other and came inside a little bit. That made it a bit easier for the team.

"At every moment we lost the ball, we were so on it, so that shows the mentality of the team."

Wiegman and her squad will now turn their attention to Saturday’s game against Iceland, in front of a sold-out City Ground in Nottingham.