England beat Ukraine 6-1 to secure the “clear win” demanded by Sarina Wegman

It was a new-look England, with Wegman managing the return of several key players from injury, while rewarding in-form players.

Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde-Brown was given a rare start, while London City Lions defender Poppy Pattinson made her debut in the second half.

The back four have started just under 100 caps combined – with captain Leah Williamson making 65 of those – with Maya Le Tissier at right-back ahead of Lucy Bronze, while Taylor Hinds makes her third start in four appearances at left-back.

The in-form Jess Park was playing wide, as she has done admirably for Manchester United this season, rather than playing in midfield where Wegman has often used her.

It was uncharacteristically experimental from Wegman considering this was their first competitive match since Euro 2025 and it took some time to take shape.

England touched 40 balls in the opponent’s penalty area and had 85% possession of the ball in the first half, but failed to score from 15 attempts on goal.

The tempo dropped, Ukraine were defending well and England’s hopes of getting out of the blocks were not fulfilled.

“They didn’t quite get it in the first half. They were a bit distraught about what to do,” former England midfielder Fran Kirby told BBC Radio 5 Live Extra.

“Ukraine defended really well. They were very tight between the lines and made it very difficult for England.

“They needed to be more calm in the box instead of overtaking for the sake of overtaking.

“The second half showed they learned from the first half in terms of what didn’t work.”

With a team full of quality, the two-time European champions hit back in the second half.

Arsenal striker Alessia Russo scored twice in four minutes to put England ahead before Georgia Stanway scored twice to put them out of reach of Ukraine.

Wegman’s “clear win” was confirmed when Park also scored twice later.

“I think it took us the first half to break them down. We were still very good in the first half. They were solid defensively,” Rousseau said afterwards.

“When the spaces opened up, we took our chances. I can’t say it was comfortable [when we scored]. We knew we had quality in us and it was just execution.

“It was about finding the last moment, the last pass and the last shot. You saw that in the second half.”