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| England's striker Alessia Russo (C) celebrates scoring the team's seventh goal with England's striker Beth Mead (L) during the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Group A football match between England and Norway at Brighton and Hove Community Stadium in Brighton, Southern England on July 11, 2022. |
England secured their place in the quarter-finals of
Euro 2022 in stunning fashion as they hammered Norway 8-0 at the Amex Stadium
to record the biggest win in the competition’s history. The tournament hosts
scored six times in a rampant first-half display, with Georgia Stanway’s
12th-minute penalty and a finish from Lauren Hemp three minutes later being
followed by a brace apiece from Ellen White and Beth Mead.
That equalled the most amount of goals scored by one
team in a Euros match, and England went on to set a new record for the most
emphatic victory at a finals, surpassing their 6-0 win over Scotland in 2017,
following an effort from substitute Alessia Russo and Mead completing her
hat-trick. With the remarkable win seeing them seal top spot in Group A, the
Lionesses will be returning to Brighton a week on Wednesday to play the
runners-up in Group B – which features Germany and Spain – in the last eight.
The demolition job was watched by a crowd of 28,847,
from which cries of “football’s coming home” rang out at various stages as
England’s unbeaten run under boss Sarina Wiegman extended to a 16th match with
a 14th victory. Their group fixtures conclude with Friday’s meeting at St
Mary’s with now-eliminated Northern Ireland, who had lost 2-0 to Austria
earlier on Monday.
England had opened their campaign with last week’s
1-0 win over Austria at Old Trafford, and Wiegman opted to name a line-up
unchanged from the one that had started in Manchester. After an uneventful
opening 10 minutes, the game burst into life when White went down in the box
under the attentions of Maria Thorisdottir, and German referee Riem Hussein
pointed to the spot, with Stanway subsequently stepping up and firing the
spot-kick past Guro Pettersen with aplomb.
Moments later, England scored again, Mead crossing
from the right and Hemp flicking the ball in from close range, with the effort
being given via a VAR check after the flag had initially gone up for offside.
Norway tried to hit back as Karina Saevik sent a tame effort wide, but England
were soon back on the attack – and blitzed their opponents with four more goals
in quick succession.
Having just sent an effort off-target, White took advantage of sloppy play by Thorisdottir in the 29th minute, seizing possession, advancing into the box and slotting home. Mead was next to get in on the act with a quickfire double, heading in from Hemp’s cross in the 34th minute and dancing past three helpless-looking Norway players in the area and striking beyond Pettersen in the 38th.