England 5-1 Holland: Lionesses continue Euro 2022 preparations with an impressive win at Elland Road

The first real test of England’s character under Sarina Wiegman was passed with flying colours as they came from behind to emphatically beat the Netherlands 5-1 in their second warm-up game for the European Championship.

This was the first time England had trailed under Wiegman, but they did so for just 10 minutes as Lucy Bronze cancelled out Lieke Martens’ opener in the first half. The Lionesses then came to life in the second, as a Beth Mead brace and goals from Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp made it a comfortable victory.

This was always going to be the most difficult of England’s three warm-up games. The Netherlands, though, had one eye on their rearranged World Cup qualifier with Belarus next Tuesday meaning star striker Vivianne Midema was left on the bench. But make no mistake, this was a big win, and one that will give Wiegman’s side huge confidence going into the Euros.

England continued their preparation for Euro 2022 with an impressive win against Holland

Holland took the lead after 22 minutes as Lieke Mertens’ (L) impressive header found the net 

‘I thought it was a very good match, we had a hard time the first half. I think Netherlands did very well, we didn’t play to their strengths, we were struggling. I think we played a very good second half. The change was also that the Netherlands didn’t score their penalty and within one minute we scored a goal and it was 2-1, we could then speed up the game and bring the game to an even higher level.

‘It gives confidence because we know we have lots of depth in our team, lots of quality and we have a thought choice for the first XI. I do think we can play better than we did in the first half. It was for us a good learning moment that we went behind, we conceded a goal. We haven’t conceded a goal first or been behind since I came in.

This also had the strange dynamic of two managers going up against their own country, England with their Dutch coach Wiegman and the Netherlands with the English-born Mark Parsons. To add to the confusion, England played in their orange away kit while their opponents wore white.

England, though, could not blame the colour confusion for their sloppy first-half passing, which resulted in the Netherlands taking the lead in the 22nd minute. Sherida Spitse’s driven corner found the head of Martens, who evaded Keira Walsh to guide a header past Mary Earps at the far post.

It was a bit of luck that drew them level as Bronze’s cross flew over the head of Dutch goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal and all the way into the far corner. The full-back’s reaction indicated she had not meant it.

England’s defending still left a lot to be desired at the start of the second half as Alex Greenwood was penalised for bringing down Danielle van de Donk in the box, following a VAR review.

Earps, who had spoken about enjoying the psychology of penalties earlier this week, waved her arms in the air in an attempt to put the midfielder off, and it worked, as her effort skimmed the post and bounced wide.

Lucy Bronze got England on level terms with what looked to be an intended cross 32 minutes in

Beth Meade came off the bench to score twice in the second-half on Friday evening 

It was a shame for Spitse, who was making her 200th appearance for her country. But England did not care. The pendulum had swung back in their favour and a minute later they were ahead. Hemp, who had been uncharacteristically quiet in the first half, raced down the left wing and crossed for Mead, who slided in to finish at the back-post.

It was another substitute who scored England’s third as the energetic Toone worked space for a shot which went through the hands of Van Veenendal and into the far corner. It was a poor mistake from the Dutch keeper but she could do nothing about England’s fourth two minutes later.

Bronze drove down the right and picked out Toone in the box. Her shot hit the post but the ball bounced up to Hemp on the left and the winger hit a sublime first-time volley into the top right corner.

This was the Netherlands’ first warm-up game while England had had the benefit of playing Belgium last week. Mead captialised on the tired Dutch legs as she showed composure in the box to send a finish into the bottom right corner. Alessia Russo almost added a sixth but her fierce strike hit the bar.

Substitute Ella Toone got in on the action with a curling effort in the 72nd minute 

‘I think England will be favourites for the Euros,’ said Netherlands boss Parsons. ‘This England team is very good, teams watching the last 30 minutes will be very worried.’

Wiegman, though, knows there is still room for improvement. ‘I think there are many favourites for this tournament and we are one of them. Whether we would lose or win now, we’re not going to sit on a pink cloud, we stay grounded.

‘We want to improve what we do well and take the next step in our style of play. We’ll stay grounded. I think we’re in a good place but we still need to improve.’