Match report: Switzerland 0-4 England
- V. Calligaris (44′)
- A. Russo (56′)
- G. Stanway (74′PEN)
- B. England (76′)
- J. Scott (94′)
- A. Russo (46′)
- G. Stanway (69′)
Second-half goals from Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway, Beth England and Jill Scott help the Lionesses record an emphatic win in their final match before the EUROs
Highlights: Switzerland 0-4 England
See the best of the action from our game with the Swiss
Alessia Russo opened the scoring for England with a header just before the hour mark and Georgia Stanway made it two from the penalty spot on 74 minutes.
Beth England then made sure of the result with the third goal two minutes later, with Jill Scott putting the icing on the cake with a tap-in from close range at the Letzigrund Stadion.
The result extended England’s unbeaten run under Sarina Wiegman to 14 games and now attention turns to the start of their EURO 2022 campaign against Austria on Wednesday at Old Trafford.
Wiegman said: “It's a very good result. I think we showed again we are a very fit team. They got tired, we brought on substitutes and we showed again we don't play with just 11 players. We have so many more players in our squad who can make a change.
“We started well. We had three big chances at the beginning of the game and it would have been easy to score those goals but we didn’t. The keeper did a very good job too.
“They got dangerous and we had to speed up the game in the first half more. We were slow and the ball tempo was too low. In the second half we did a little better and they got tired.”
“We are in a very good place but we have to improve a couple of things.”
Wiegman made three changes to the team that thrashed the Netherlands, with Beth Mead, Stanway and Russo coming in for Chloe Kelly, England and the ill Lucy Bronze.
England responded just moments later with their first opportunity and it was a golden one as superb build-up play set up Fran Kirby, who was denied by Seraina Friedli.
Another chance followed soon after for the Lionesses but indecision from Lauren Hemp after a clever lay-off from Mead allowed Friedli to come to her side’s rescue once again.
The Lionesses continued to show great attacking intent as the game wore on but a header from Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic on 18 minutes gave England a reminder of the threat the hosts possessed.
Crnogorcevic then intervened at the other end just after the half-hour mark, clearing the ball off the line after Rachel Daly’s header from a corner appeared destined for the back of the net.
England survived another major scare as half-time approached. Mary Earps missed a dangerous cross from Sandy Maendly but Crnogorcevic was unable to connect with the ball.
It looked like being a similar story for England after the interval when Hemp missed the target on 49 minutes before the Manchester City attacker went off briefly for an injury.
But England finally made the breakthrough on 56 minutes as Russo was rewarded for her excellent display with a goal, heading in Daly’s lofted cross past the helpless Friedli.
That proved to be Russo’s last act before she made way as Wiegman rung the changes, bringing on Ella Toone, Kelly, Jess Carter and England just after the hour mark.
Hemp came close to doubling England’s lead on 66 minutes before Switzerland almost equalised after Sow failed to control Eseosa Aigbogun's delivery as the ball dropped wide.
England punished that carelessness just minutes later, with Stanway stepping up to the spot and slotting the ball into the corner after Switzerland were penalised for pushing in the box.
And the floodgates appeared to open when England increased the Lionesses’ advantage two minutes later, heading the ball past a helpless Friedli to put the result to bed.
Russo’s header was her fourth goal for England, coming in her seventh appearance for the Lionesses.
The Manchester United striker said: “There were times in the first half where we could have scored some chances but we were patient and at half-time we spoke about keeping the tempo high and keeping the ball moving and we did exactly that in the second half.
“The substitutes came on and made more of a difference which was great. Obviously, as a striker you always want to score and it was great to score. The team put on a great performance.
“Sometimes it's not always going to be pretty but you just have to fight it out to get the win. It’s really special now we’ve done all the warm-up games, we can get locked in and focus.”
England (4-3-3): 1 Mary Earps (Manchester United); 3 Rachel Daly (Houston Dash), 6 Millie Bright (Chelsea), 8 Leah Williamson (c) (Arsenal), 5 Alex Greenwood (Manchester City); 10 Georgia Stanway (Manchester City), 4 Keira Walsh (Manchester City); 7 Beth Mead (Arsenal), 14 Fran Kirby (Chelsea), 11 Lauren Hemp (Manchester City); 23 Alessia Russo (Manchester United)
Substitutes used: 19 Bethany England (Chelsea) for Russo 61’, 20 Ella Toone (Manchester United) for Kirby 61’, 12 Jess Carter (Chelsea) for Greenwood 62’, 18 Chloe Kelly (Manchester City) for Mead 62’, 17 Nikita Parris (Arsenal) for Hemp 75’, 20 Jill Scott (Aston Villa) for Stanway 79’
Substitutes not used: 9 Ellen White (Manchester City), 13 Hannah Hampton (Aston Villa), 15 Demi Stokes (Manchester City), 21 Ellie Roebuck (Manchester City), 22 Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal)
Head Coach: Sarina Wiegman
Goals: Russo 56’, Stanway 74’ (pen), England 76’, Scott 90+4’
Bookings: Russo 45’, Stanway 69’
Switzerland (4-2-3-1): 21 Seraina Friedli; 5 Noelle Maritz, 18 Viola Calligaris,15 Luana Bühler, 19 Eseosa Aigbogun; 13 Lia Wälti, 8 Sandy Maendly; 9 Ana Maria Crngorcevic, 11 Coumba Sow, 6 Geraldini Reuteler, 10 Ramona Bachmann
Substitutes: 3 Lara Marti for Crngorcevic 46’, 16 Sandrine Mauron for Walti 46’, 20 Fabienne Humm for Bachmann 65’, 7 Riola Xhemaili for Maendly 79’, 4 Rachel Rinast for Aigbogun 79’, 23 Meriame Terchoun for Reuteler 87’
Substitutes not used: 2 Julia Stierli, 12 Livia Peng, 17 Svenja Folmli, 22 Nadine Riesen
Manager: Nils Nielsen
Bookings: Calligaris 44’
Referee: Riem Hussein
Attendance: 15,348
