Sarina Wiegman admits England ‘have work to do’ after draw in Portugal

Portugal 1-1 England: Wiegman admitted the Lionesses struggled to turn the momentum of the match around after half time

Sarina Wiegman (PA)

Sarina Wiegman says England “had to adapt” to Portugal’s second-half changes after a 1-1 draw in their Nations League clash.

A bright start to the Lionesses’ opening Group A3 match saw them come close through Lauren James and Ella Toone before Alessia Russo put them ahead in the 15th minute.

Lucy Bronze did well to control a cross-field pass from James and launched a menacing ball into the centre of the area for Russo, who coolly tapped home.

England then enjoyed a comfortable period in the first half, with Portugal unable to create much. However, a switch in momentum after the break saw the hosts apply more pressure and they earned a point thanks to Kika Nazareth’s equaliser.

Reflecting on the game, Wiegman told ITV: “Of course I’d hope to come away with more, I think we played a very good first half, I think we could have got some more goals, that would have helped.

“The second half they changed the shape, we had to adapt to that. Then when they started to push, we hoped to keep the ball better, what we did the last part of the second half – we want to do that better next time.”

A triple substitution in the second half spurred Portugal on and they had good opportunities through Diana Silva and Ana Borges.

The introduction of Nazareth proved to be effective as the Barcelona forward burst past Grace Clinton and raced into box before smashing the ball into the top corner in the 75th minute.

Kika Nazareth levelled for Portugal (PA)

Leah Williamson made a great intervention to deny Nazareth moments later before coming close herself in stoppage time when her header was caught by Ines Pereira and Wiegman believes England managed to organise themselves better in the latter stages.

“They brought a lot more players up front, changed their shape and we were figuring out and at the end we did figure out,” she said.

“The first moment they came through, they scored that goal really well, but on the other hand we could have done better there, we know that.

“Then we got the organisation better and pushed a little more too. Unfortunately we couldn’t get another goal.”

Leah Williamson heads the ball towards the Portuguese goal (PA)

England are back in Nations League action on Wednesday when they face Spain, who they lost to in the 2023 World Cup final.

Spain are currently top of the table after a late rally saw them come from behind to beat Belgium with two stoppage-time goals.

After the Spain game, four more Nations League matches will be played before the European Championships begin in Switzerland in July.

Asked if England’s low scoring games are a concern with Euro 2025 on the horizon, Wiegman replied: “I’m not thinking about that, I’m just thinking about next Wednesday.

“We have work to do, it’s Spain, it’s going to be a tough game at Wembley. We’ll review this game tomorrow and then we take the steps to Spain and try to win that game.”

Elsewhere in the Nations League, Interim Scotland boss Michael McArdle began his tenure with a 1-0 defeat to Austria at the Josko Arena.

Lilli Purtscheller fired the home side ahead in the opening League A Group 1 fixture after 14 minutes and the home side deserved their interval lead, albeit the visitors passed up a couple of chances.

Austria, who also had a new head coach in the technical area in Alexander Schriebl, might have expected more of a fight from the visitors after the break but the home goal was rarely threatened.

Hayley Ladd's 100th appearance for Wales ended in a 1-0 defeat away to Italy in the Nations League.

Everton midfielder Ladd become only the 10th player to bring up a century of caps for Wales in Monza, but was unable to help the visitors recover from a poor start.

Barbara Bonansea broke the deadlock with a fifth-minute goal for Italy and it proved enough to settle an even contest.

Northern Ireland suffered a 2-0 defeat away to Poland in their Nations League opener.

First-half goals by Ewelina Kamczyk and Adriana Achcinska left the visitors with an uphill battle in Gdansk.