Key events
25 min: Russo turns into space, 35 yards from goal, and is dragged back by the shoulder by Littlejohn, who is pretty fortunate not to go into the book. That was cynical. Subtle but cynical.
23 min: Greenwood nearly offers Ireland that special something, rolling a hospital pass out of defence towards Park. Murphy snaffles possession and sashays forward, but she’s caught between shooting and passing, and the chance goes begging. Sloppy from England.
21 min: Murphy probes down the right. She drops a shoulder to get past Greenwood but Hampton claims her low cross. A little better from Ireland, who need something, anything.
20 min: Pep talk over, Brosnan is fine to continue. File that one under taking some medical attention for the team.
19 min: Brosnan goes down, requiring some treatment. Ireland coach Eileen Gleeson calls everyone else to the touchline, taking the opportunity to issue some beneficial tactical advice.
18 min: Park starts another attack, drifting down the middle and slipping Le Tissier away on the right. Le Tissier crosses; Russo eyebrows wide left from ten yards.
17 min: Park is everywhere, and now she slips a pass to her left for Mead, who rasps a shot straight at Brosnan. Ireland’s keeper has made several big stops already.
16 min: Stanway’s clever reverse pass down the right nearly releases Le Tissier, but Patten does well to cover. Ireland being run ragged at the moment.
14 min: … and now Carter fizzes a shot straight at Brosnan from a tight angle on the right. A second goal is beginning to feel no more than a matter of time.
13 min: England are piling on the pressure. Hayes slices a clearance straight to Mead, who can’t get a first-time shot away. The goal was gaping. Then Mead is teed up by Park; she curls over the bar from the left-hand edge of the D.
11 min: A lovely open, entertaining feel to this game. More, please! On a similar tip, here’s Charles Antaki on that opening goal: “Gorgeous. Fluid, decisive, smooth – and early. Hope the others are watching.”
9 min: Speculative efforts at both ends. Barrett, popping up on the right this time, thumps a shot straight at Hampton from 25 yards. The keeper claims. Then Park attempts a cheeky long-range floater from distance out on the England left. Brosnan, backtracking frantically, tips over the bar, but the whistle had gone for a handball earlier in the move, so it’s all academic.
7 min: That’s Russo’s third goal of this Group A3 campaign. And it’s not long before Stanway nearly scores her second of it. She barrels down the middle of the park and prepares to shoot from the edge of the D, only for Fahey to arrive out of nowhere and toe-poke the ball away from her, so Brosnan can collect.
GOAL! England 1-0 Ireland (Russo 5)
This is a lovely team goal. Walsh and Stanway combine crisply to shuttle the ball in from the right flank. Mead takes up possession in the pocket, and wedges a delightful defence-splitting dink down the inside-right channel to release Russo, who rounds Brosnan on the outside before slotting.
3 min: A long ball down the Irish left for Barrett to chase. A lot of space over there, and Mannion is free in the middle to find, but Barrett mistimes her run and the flag pops up for offside. She throws her head back in irritation with herself.
2 min: Williamson rakes a glorious long diagonal pass towards Le Tissier on the right flank, but there’s nobody in the middle to find and the England right-back is forced to turn tail. Shame: what an assist to the assist that Williamson pass could have been.
Both sets of players take the knee of equality, love and respect, then England get the ball rolling. The rain keeps falling.
The teams are out! A full house at Carrow Road brings the noise as both sets of players take to the pitch. The atmosphere more than makes up for a miserable rainy Norfolk night. England in white, Ireland in green. We’ll be off once the anthems are sung, coins tossed and pleasantries exchanged.
England boss Sarina Wiegman speaks to ITV. “Maya Le Tissier is fit and has done really well in training sessions and we have trained for a couple of weeks now … she showed so many good things … we think this is the right moment … Jess Park must make sure she is open in the pockets … create things in their half of the pitch … have an impact on our attacking game … we are definitely not complacent … this group is really tough … this is a very important game and Tuesday too … it’s very close … Ireland are doing well … we had a very good first half against them … we scored two goals and could have scored maybe a little more … but the second half they were really pushing and were very opportunistic … we were struggling a bit with that … so we really want to stay out of that and be really tight on the ball.”
How the other games in England’s topsy-turvy Group A3 campaign have panned out.
Recent form doesn’t favour the Republic either. While England’s home record in the group has so far been poor – the aforementioned draw with Sweden and the defeat to France – they’ve still won six of their last eight games. Ireland however are on a shocking five-game losing streak, and they’ve not scored a goal all calendar year. That’s some drop-off from 2023, which culminated in six straight wins to the cumulative total of 20-2 and earned them promotion to League A of the Nations League.
Here’s what happened when the teams met in Dublin back in April.
It was the latest defeat for Ireland in an historical sequence that doesn’t augur well for them: the fifth in five matches officially recognised by Uefa, in which they’ve shipped 19 goals while not once finding the net themselves. The bright side: Eileen Gleeson’s team have a chance to write a new page of the history book tonight.
England make three changes to their starting XI from the side sent out to beat France 2-1 in Saint-Étienne last month. Alex Greenwood, Jess Park and Maya Le Tissier are in; Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright and Ella Toone drop to the bench.
Ireland make five changes to their first XI after the 1-0 defeat in Sweden. Denise O’Sullivan, Niamh Fahey, Amber Barrett, Anna Patten and Emily Murphy step up; Louise Quinn, Megan Connolly and Leanne Kiernan drop to the bench, Kyra Carusa is injured, and captain Katie McCabe is suspended. O’Sullivan takes receipt of the armband usually worn by McCabe.
The teams
England: Hampton, Le Tissier, Williamson, Greenwood, Carter, Stanway, Walsh, Park, Hemp, Russo, Mead.
Subs: Bronze, Earps, Toone, Bright, Kelly, Beever-Jones, Clinton, Charles, Naz, Keating, Morgan, Turner.
Republic of Ireland: Brosnan, Mannion, Hayes, Fahey, Patten, Littlejohn, Murphy, O’Sullivan, Agg, Barrett, Ziu.
Subs: Moloney, Whitehouse, Stapleton, Campbell, Quinn, Connolly, Russell, Toland, Sheva, Larkin, Kiernan, Atkinson.
Referee: Catarina Campos (Portugal).
Preamble
The reigning European champions England haven’t been their usual commanding selves in Group A3 qualification as they fight for the right to defend their trophy in Switzerland next summer. They’re currently third in the group …
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France P4 W3 D0 L1 F5 A3 Pts 9
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Sweden P4 W2 D1 L1 F5 A2 Pts 7
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England P4 W2 D1 L1 F4 A2 Pts 7
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Republic of Ireland P4 W0 D0 L4 F0 A7 Pts 0
… behind Sweden on goal difference, after a stuttering start which saw them draw with the Swedes at Wembley and lose to France in Newcastle. But Sarina Wiegman’s side wrested back the momentum with a bounce-back victory in Saint-Étienne last month, and their fate is now in their own hands.
If they win tonight – which they should, against an Irish team yet to find the net, never mind earn a point, in four matches – victory in Sweden next Tuesday will guarantee them a spot in the finals. Should the French beat the Swedes in Dijon this evening, a point will do for the Lionesses in Gothenburg next week. But fail to do that, and it’s the play-offs for England. First things first, though, and that’s this evening’s showdown with the Republic of Ireland in Norwich. “We want to control the game a little more than we did the last time we played against them,” says Wiegman, ominous news for the visitors, who were dispatched efficiently enough in Dublin back in April, though Ireland’s Aoife Mannion, fresh from winning the FA Cup with Manchester United, counters: “We don’t want to concede and we want to pick up a result.” Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!