England boss Sarina Wiegman expressed her happiness with the week’s work after a successful defence of the Arnold Clark Cup was completed with a 6-1 thrashing of Belgium at Ashton Gate. Needing only a draw to retain the trophy after beating South Korea 4-0 last Thursday and then Italy 2-1 on Sunday, Wiegman’s side took the lead through Chloe Kelly’s finish in the 12th minute and doubled the advantage just before the break courtesy of a header from skipper Leah Williamson.
The second half then saw Kelly, scorer of the winner in last summer’s Euros final, net again in the 50th minute after goalkeeper Nicky Evrard spilled an Ella Toone shot, a Julie Biesmans own goal make it 4-0, and Lucy Bronze and Williamson add late efforts either side of a fine strike from Belgium substitute Elena Dhont. It made it 25 wins in a 29-game unbeaten record under Wiegman for the Lionesses as preparations continued ahead of the summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Dutchwoman – who after making nine changes for the Italy match named almost the same XI that had started against South Korea, the only difference being Keira Walsh featuring instead of Jess Carter – said: "Of course, when you go into a tournament, whatever tournament it is, you want to win it. But what I said also before this week was we wanted to try out some things.
