England, who were already guaranteed to finish first in Group A, crushed Northern Ireland on Friday evening 5-0 while Austria, victorious over Norway 1-0, clinched the second ticket for the quarterfinals of final of the Women’s Football Euro after the matches of the 3rd and last day. Northern Ireland, the worst-ranked nation in this Euro, finished last with three defeats.
Francesca Kirby (40th), Bethany Mead (44th), Alessia Russo (48th, 53rd) and Kelsie Burrows (76th csc) were the scorers of the day, against the Northern Irish who finished last in their group with three defeats in as many of matches.
The English (14 goals scored, none conceded!) confirm day after day their status as favorites of this Euro with Germany, with this third victory in three games, including the memorable 8-0 against Norway in the 2nd daytime. The team of Dutch coach Arjan Veurink is now on a series of seventeen games without defeat (15 wins, 2 draws).
Rain of goals
Francesca Kirby opened the scoring with a beautiful curled shot in the skylight (40th), then just before half-time Bethany Mead doubled the score with a deflected shot which deceived Jacqueline Burns, the Irish goalkeeper (44th). Mead, who scored the only goal against Austria (1-0) then scored a hat-trick against Norway, is now at five goals in this Euro.
On resumption, Alessia Russo increased the score with a header on the reception of a center from Mead (48th). Russo had entered the game two minutes earlier in place of Ellen White, who holds the record for goals scored in the selection (52). Russo then scored twice (53rd) on a fine personal feat, the unfortunate Irish Kelsie Burrows scoring the last goal against his side, 10 minutes after coming into play.
In the quarter-finals on Wednesday July 20, England will be opposed to the country ranked second in Group B, either Spain or Denmark, who are opposed to London on Saturday.