England kick off Nations League with tame draw

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

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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.