That’s it for tonight’s blog. Please read Suzanne Wrack’s match report and discuss the game below the line. See you tomorrow for Spain v Denmark!
Austria have beaten Norway in the other Group A game, which means they will face Germany in the quarter-finals.
It’s been another really disappointing Euros for Norway, who plenty thought were dark horses to win the whole thing.
Alessia Russo speaks
“I enjoy every game in an England shirt, and to come on to score is great. It’s good to get three points and move on to the next stage of the tournament.
“That last chance was on a plate for me - I almost didn’t expect it but I should have finished it. I was watching Ian Wright’s gols so maybe that inspired me this week!”
The Northern Ireland join hands and run to salute their fans. They have added so much to this tournament - the fans and the players - and the results are only part of the story. They will go down in history.
Alessia Russo gets a big hug from Ellen White at the final whistle, a demonstration of the one-for-all spirit within the England squad. Russo scored twice, with Fran Kirby, Beth Mead and the unfortunate Kelsie Burrows scoring the other goals.
Full time: Northern Ireland 0-5 England
Peep peep! England move into the quarter-finals after a record-breaking group stage: P3 W3 D0 L0 F14 A0.
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89 min: What a chance for Russo! Now Russo has missed a glorious opportunity for a hat-trick. Toone played a devastating through pass to Mead on the right, taking the entire Northern Ireland defence out of the game in the process. She cut inside and laid an unselfish ball back to Russo, who skied her shot from eight yards. McFadden did throw herself in front of Russo, but it was still a helluva chance.
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88 min Kirby finds the overlapping Carter, whose first-time cross is headed over from six yards by Russo. That was a decent chance for her hat-trick, but she couldn’t quite get over the ball.
86 min Two more changes for Northern Ireland: Ashley Hutton, who worked so hard to make it to this tournament after suffering a cruciate injury, and Emily Wilson replace the captain Marissa Callaghan and Julie Nelson.
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84 min Mead almost gets her sixth goal of the tournament. Kelly’s cross was punched away by Burns but only to Mead, just inside the area. She took a touch, assessed the situation and then drifted a curler just over the bar. It was the right idea, and probably the only place she could score with a number of defenders between her and the goal.
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82 min Mead is fouled by McKenna just outside the area on the left. Mead takes the free-kick herself, slightly overhitting an inswinger that goes behind for a goalkick.
80 min: Northern Ireland substitution Nadene Caldwell replaces Rachel Furness.
79 min England appeal for a penalty when Kirby’s pass hits McFadden in the area. Nothing doing, and replays show it was clearly off the chest.
78 min That’s England’s fourteenth goal of the group stage.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 0-5 England (Burrows og 76)
A horrible moment for the substitute Kelsie Burrows, who slices Mead’s cross over Burns and into her own net.
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74 min England make their final substitution. Chelsea’s excellent utility defender Jess Carter comes on for her tournament debut, with Lucy Bronze going off.
73 min Walsh shoots over from 25 yards.
71 min Nothing much to report. England are probing for an opening, and Northern Ireland are still defending with admirable discipline. It would be so easy to throw the towel in after such a draining fortnight.
69 min A reminder that England will play either Spain or Denmark in the quarter-bloody-final on Wednesday. Those two meet tomorrow tonight to decide who finishes second in Group B.
68 min There’s a bit of a lull, for the first time in the game.
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65 min: Double substitution for Northern Ireland Abbie Magee and Kelsie Burrows, who have been waiting for the ball to go out of play for almost five minutes, come on to replace Laura Rafferty and Rebecca Holloway.
63 min Burns makes another decent save, diving low to her right to hold a snapshot from Toone.
61 min: England substitution Lauren Hemp, who has had a relatively quiet tournament so far, is replaced by Chloe Kelly.
60 min Toone shoots over from distance. Northern Ireland look pretty tired now, which is no surprise - they’ve had less than 20 per cent of the possession.
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58 min There’s no sign of England letting up. Toone turns elegantly away from Callaghan, moves to the edge of the D and rifles just wide of the far post. Fine effort.
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56 min I didn’t do justice to Russo’s first touch. The ball from Toone was slightly behind her, so she dragged it into the space, away from the defence, and then finished emphatically.
Alessia Russo at the double! 🔥
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 15, 2022
📱💻🖥 Live @BBCOne, @BBCiPlayer, @BBCSounds and the @BBCSport app.#WEuro2022 #BBCEuros #NI #Lionesses
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That was a fantastic finish. Toone had space to slide an angled pass through to Russo, who took it beautifully in her stride, on the half turn, and then rammed it past Burns.
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GOAL! Northern Ireland 0-4 England (Russo 53)
Alessia Russo is the now joint second top scorer in the competition!
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52 min After another good move involving Mead and Toone, Bronze crosses too close to Burns.
50 min That’s England’s 12th goal of the group stage, which apparently is a record for the European Championships. The Germany side of 2001 scored 11.
49 min Russo was jumping away from goal when she made contact, which makes it an even better header. She had to strain her neck muscles to guide it whence it came and wrongfoot Jackie Burns.
It was a really good team goal. Mead played a slick one-two with Toone on the right and stood up a cross towards Russo, who powered an excellent header back across Burns and into the net. She can’t stop scoring headers.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 0-3 England (Russo 48)
Alessia Russo scores within three minutes of coming onto the field!
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46 min Northern Ireland begin the second half. No changes to their side yet.
Three half-time changes for England
Alex Greenwood, Ella Toone and Alessia Russo are coming on in place of Millie Bright, Georgia Stanway and Ellen White. That means White stays on 52 goals, one behind Wayne Rooney. It’ll be even more special if she does it in the quarter-finals.
“I’ve gone off Beth Mead,” writes Maisie Mallard. “Not only has she scored against us (grrrrrr), she’s seasoned her performance with some fairly full-on playacting. Rachel Brown-Finnis, on the other hand, is a legend.”
I didn’t notice any playacting in the first half (you miss a surprising amount of the game when doing an MBM) but it does feel like it’s becoming more common.
The race for the Golden Boot
Beth Mead is now two clear of France’s Grace Geyoro.
Half-time reading
Half time: Northern Ireland 0-2 England
Peep peep! England are on course to make it three wins out of three thanks to goals from Fran Kirby and Beth Mead. It took a while for England to break down a disciplined Northern Ireland side, who defended bravely had an excellent chance to take their lead, but Kirby’s lovely goal changed everything.
45+1 min Here’s the classy goal from Fran Kirby that gave England the lead.
Fran Kirby has joined the #WEuro2022 party!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 15, 2022
📱💻🖥 Live @BBCOne, @BBCiPlayer, @BBCSounds and the @BBCSport app.
#BBCEuros #NI #Lionesses
45 min Four minutes of added time.
Hemp’s cross from the right was headed away to Mead on the edge of the area. She turned calmly away from McKenna and hit a left-footed shot that deflected off the stretching Furness and drifted into the bottom corner. It was on target so it’ll be Mead’s goal.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 0-2 England (Mead 44)
Beth Mead gets her fifth goal of Euro 2022!
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43 min Northern Ireland have made some heroic blocks tonight, and there’s another from Rafferty to deflect Stanway’s shot behind for a corner.
42 min If you’re not familiar with the worrying illness that has dogged Fran Kirby’s career, here’s a bit of backstory.
What a lovely - and popular - goal that is. Kirby started the move, finding Hemp 20 yards from goal to the right of centre. She cut inside and hit a rasping shot that was blocked bravely by Holloway. The ball rebounded to Kirby, who opened her body to curl a first-time shot over Burns and into the net. That was beautifully done.
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GOAL! Northern Ireland 0-1 England (Kirby 40)
England take the lead through a touch of class from Fran Kirby!
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40 min From the resulting corner, Bright heads a few yards wide.
39 min: Off the line by Holloway! That’s the best move of the match so far. Mead cuts inside from the left and finds Hemp, who releases Kirby with a lovely first-time pass. She calmly turns back inside Nelson, on the left edge of the six-yard box, and guides the ball across the area to the onrushing Stanway. She stretches to hit a shot that is blocked on the line by Holloway.
36 min Wade goes round Earps and shoots wide from a very tight angle. It wouldn’t have counted as she was offside, but that’s a tactic that Northern Ireland have used well - the curved pass around the England defence from the left wing. It was Holloway in the 14th minute and Kirsty McGuinness this time.
34 min “Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “I’ll be honest, it was either this, the First Night of the Proms, or the Tory leader debate. Talking of which, when is somebody going to be brave enough to ask the politicians when they are going to do something about VAR? It’s ok though, I’m heading to London next week to cool off.”
Not that I’m smug or owt, but the weather forecast says the top temperature in Orkney next week will be 18C.
33 min: Chance for Bronze! England really should be ahead. Mead teased a lovely free-kick to the far post, where Bronze got away from her marker Callaghan but steered a header just wide. In her defence, the ball was slightly behind her when she made contact. Still a great chance though.
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29 min We’re having a few technical problems - apologies. You haven’t missed any goals; that much I know.
26 min Jackie Burns is receiving treatment. I’m not sure what happened but she injured herself while trying to save that White shot. I think she’s okay.
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25 min: White misses an excellent chance! That was so close to the record-equalling goal. Bronze surged infield from the right and stabbed a marvellous pass outside the centre-back Demi Vance. White timed her run perfectly and guided a shot past the outrushing Burns. It rolled just - and I mean just - wide of the far post.
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23 min Bright moves forward and hits a fierce shot from 30 yards that is pushed away by Burns, falling to her right. Good save.
21 min Kenny Shiels will be well pleased with this start. Northern Ireland have been under a lot of pressure, but they’ve been good on the break and have created the best chances.
19 min Hemp’s clever reverse pass is just too heavy for Stanway, with Burns coming from her line to claim. Stanway has made an all-action start to the game.
18 min Another corner is punched to the edge of the area, where Stanway goes down and appeals for a penalty. It looked like she might have been tripped, though nobody else seemed particularly interested.
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16 min: Chance for England! Stanway’s deflected cross is saved at the near post by Burns, with the ball eventually put behind for another England corner. Hemp’s corner leads to a scramble in the six-yard box, and eventually Mead’s shot on the turn is deflected over the bar by Nelson. Great defending. She’s scored a goal in this tournament, and now she’s saved one.
14 min: Chance for Northern Ireland! Holloway, on the left, curls a stunning pass around Millie Bright towards Wade, who gets the wrong side of Williamson but then miskicks her shot as the ball runs across her body. That was a great opportunity for a famous goal, and a helluva pass from the left wing-back Rebecca Holloway.
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13 min Hemp and Mead have switched wings for a while. Hemp almost gets away down the right but for once Kirby overhits a simple pass.
10 min Stanway’s low cross is kicked away by the keeper Burns. The England pressure is pretty relentless now.
9 min: No penalty! But interestingly, it’s because of a handball against Mead in the build up. Are VAR allowed to check that? Apparently so.
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8 min The referee is going to the monitor, so this will probably be overturned.
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7 min: VAR check Northern Ireland also thought, not unreasonably, that the ball hit Beth Mead’s arm in the build up. VAR can’t adjudicate on that. I still think it should be overturned, though, because Rafferty’s arm was in front of her chest. Ish. Having seen a couple of replays, she was on the half turn so I can understand why the referee gave it.
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6 min: Penalty to England! This looks a bit harsh to me. Stanway’s snapshot hit Rafferty’s arm, but it was really tight to her body.
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5 min The Northern Ireland line up isn’t quite as expected. Laura Rafferty, who was brought into the side on her home ground, has started in midfield alongside Marissa Callaghan and Rachel Furness.
4 min Bright’s high, hanging cross towards White is punched away decisively by Burns.
1 min Earps saves from Wade in the first minute! Wade ran down the right, onto an excellent long pass from Laura Rafferty, before cutting inside and hitting a shot from a tight angle that was pushed away to her right by Earps. It was a comfortable enough save in the end.
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1 min Peep peep! England kick off from left to right as we watch.
“Sarina Wiegman - so she’s not there,” says Charles Antaki. “May not matter much. But why not delve into the vaults and commemorate her absence with the old classic from the Zombies?”
Talking of commemorative videos, RIP.
Here come the players. It’s a beautiful summer evening in Southampton, with temperatures around 23C.
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A reminder of the teams
Northern Ireland (possible 5-3-2) Burns; McKenna, McFadden, Nelson, Vance, Holloway; Rafferty, Callaghan, Furness; K McGuinness, Wade.
Substitutes: Flaherty, Turner, Hutton, McCarron, Burrows, Caldwell, McDaniel, Wilson, Andrews, C McGuinness, Magee.
England (4-2-3-1) Earps; Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly; Stanway, Walsh; Mead, Kirby, Hemp; White.
Substitutes: Greenwood, Carter, Hampton, Scott, Parris, Kelly, England, Toone, Roebuck, Wubben-Moy, Russo.
Referee Esther Staubli (Switzerland)
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Arjan Veurink, the England assistant coach, will look after the team in Sarina Wiegman’s absence. He says she is “doing okay” and will be in touch with the technical staff throughout the game. “She is not here, but she will be.”
Some more pre-match reading
There’s a fair chance England will be playing Spain in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
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On Monday, England broke the record for the biggest European Championship win. Tonight, all eyes on whether Ellen White can equal, and maybe break, Wayne Rooney’s record of 53 goals for England.
As we mentioned earlier, Sarina Wiegman has tested positive for Covid and will be absent from the game. That’s not a huge problem tonight, but it will be if she is unable to attend the quarter-final on Wednesday.
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Northern Ireland’s first appearance at a major tournament comes to an end tonight. It was a triumph before they kicked a ball, such was the achievement of qualifying. We suspected they would lose all three games, but they scored against Norway (a moment we shouldn’t snobbishly underestimate) and they have changed women’s football in their country forever. If that’s not success, I don’t know what is.
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If we remove our plastic Union Jack bowler hat for just a second, the big game tonight is actually in Brighton: Austria v Norway, for a place in the quarter-finals. Simon Burnton is watching that one.
Team news: England unchanged
Sarina Wiegman wasn’t lying: she has picked the same XI that hammered Norway.
Northern Ireland make one change: Laura Rafferty, who is from Southampton and plays for the club, replaces Chloe McCarron. We’re seeing Kenny Shiels in a whole new light.
Starting for the #Lionesses tonight! 💪 pic.twitter.com/IM0w4x6k28
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 15, 2022
🔥 Your starting line-up to face @Lionesses at St Mary’s tonight #ANewDream #GAWA #WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/GmC7olrltW
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) July 15, 2022
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Northern Ireland v England (yes it is officially that way round; don’t ask me why) at St Mary’s. First things first: don’t call it a dead rubber. It’s nothing of the sort to Northern Ireland, who would love to get their first point(s) at a major tournament, especially against England. And though she will be absent from the game after testing positive for Covid, Sarina Wiegman has already made it abundantly clear that this is not just a bit of admin for England to complete before next Wednesday’s quarter-final.
While most of us have been prattling on about rest, rotation and Russo, Wiegman has another R word in mind. “I believe in rhythm,” she said. “When you have nine days in between the Norwegian game and the quarter-finals that’s too long. You need more rhythm and keep the focus and keep playing. So you couldn’t expect lots of rotations – during the game, probably, but not before.”
England hit unimaginable heights in beating Norway 8-0 on Monday, and Wiegman wants them to maintain that flow before they meet Spain or Denmark in the quarter-final. It’s an intriguing and persuasive rejection of the received wisdom that you should rest players whenever possible during a tournament.
Look, there’s no point pretending this is the biggest game of the Euros, because that would be a sizeable whopper. But as I suspect we all know from experience, there are many worse ways to spend a Friday night. It’s also the last chance for England fans to put their feet up, relax and enjoy the football. Because after tonight, and with apologies for the imagery, things are going to get bum-squeakingly tense.
Kick off 8pm.
Tonight's venue! 🤌 pic.twitter.com/MG0T5TGIeZ
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 15, 2022
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