It doesn’t matter how you get your chance to shine, what matters is you take it, and on Friday night at a balmy Wembley Stadium Chelsea forward Aggie Beever-Jones did just that in a 6-0 defeat of Portugal.
Alessia Russo has nailed down the No 9 shirt following the retirement of Ellen White after the Euros in 2022, but a fitting substitute and challenger to her has been missing. Beever-Jones staked her claim in front of 48,531 fans, her hat-trick in a five-goal first-half blitz coming in only her second England start.
It was a heartening win for the Lionesses as they focus all eyes on the Nations League and this summer’s Euros in Switzerland. It also keeps England two points behind Spain in Nations League Group A3 before the rivals go head to head on Tuesday.
Sarina Wiegman’s England ship, so used to sailing under clear skies, hit choppier water this week, theretirement announcement of Euro 2022 winner Mary Earps, just 39 days out from the team beginning their title defence, sending shockwaves through St George’s Park.
Wiegman implied in April that Hannah Hampton had leapfrogged Earps in the pecking order, when she described the Chelsea goalkeeper as being “a little bit ahead”. It was hoped that Earps would act as the elder stateswoman of a group of young keepers and provide substantial backup to Hampton, with Anna Moorhouse and Khiara Keating currently uncapped.
Earps’ exit is undoubtedly a blow, as was the absence of Millie Bright, unavailable through choice for being “mentally and physically at my limits”. However, nothing buries bad news as well as good news and an emphatic win over Portugal, with five first-half goals from a starting XI looking a little different from how it will shape up in Switzerland.
Spain, who beat Belgium 5-1 on Friday night, will offer a far greater test in Barcelona of where England are before their European title defence but, on the evidence here, the squad depth at Wiegman’s disposal is a major advantage.
It took just three minutes for Beever-Jones to put the home team ahead. Jess Park’s dogged pressure on Andreia Norton forced the ball free from the feet of the wing-back and Beever-Jones pounced, putting it coolly beyond goalkeeper Inês Pereira.
Two minutes later and England had their second. Jess Carter, fresh from a Concacaf Champions Cup win with Gotham FC, won the ball and fed Lauren Hemp on the left and it was worked from Beever-Jones to Mead. Her shot was blocked but the ball fell to Lucy Bronze, who headed into an empty net.
Beever-Jones’ second arrived courtesy of Bronze, the latter’s cross into the middle turned in by the head of the unmarked forward. Mead joined the party for England’s fourth. Park shrugged off Dolores Silva before releasing the Arsenal forward, who nutmegged Catarina Amado and fired in.
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Beever-Jones’s hat-trick was completed in the 33rd minute, making her the secondEngland women’s player to score a Wembley treble after Mead. A long ball from Leah Williamson, one of five of Arsenal’s Champions League winners in the squad, alongside Mead, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly, found the forward, who took a couple of touches before firing in low at the near post.
It would be easy, and a little lazy, to describe Portugal, ranked 22 in Fifa’s world rankings, as pushovers. They were poor defensively but this is a team who have been a small thorn in the side of Wiegman’s England side. TheLionesses were held to a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture in Februaryand a 0-0 draw in a friendly on the eve of the World Cup in July 2023. In fact, England’s last victory against the Portuguese came towards the end of Phil Neville’s tenure, a sloppy 1-0 win amid a sea of draws and defeats in October 2019.
England calmed down a little in the second half, but three changes around the hour re-energised the players, who have clawed their way to the end of a long season only to be straight back in with their national team. Kelly added the team’s sixth, fellow substitute Alex Greenwood sending a pinpoint pass from back to front to Mead, whose cross was headed home.
There were no more goals but it was an emphatic and entertaining performance, the off-pitch drama comfortably excluded to leave England focused on preparing for the Euros.