England boss Sarina Wiegman insists her side must ‘finish their chances better’ despite winning 1-0 against Haiti… and admits Georgia Stanway ‘struggled’ in the Lionesses’ midfield in the first half

Sarina Wiegman was happy with England’s opening win at the Women’s World Cup but admitted her side need work on finishing their chances. 

Georgia Stanway’s retaken first half penalty was enough to see off Haiti in the Lionesses opening game in Australia, despite many predicting a bigger scoreline for the European champions. 

Wiegman’s team has 21 shots on goal during the game – 11 on target – but failed to add to the scoreline as Haiti’s performance saw the game become a lot more difficult.   

After the game the England boss acknowledged how tricky the win was, and admitted that her side will need to take their chances ahead of their next game in the group. 

‘It’s a very hard game. I’m very happy with the three points.’ Wiegman said. 

Sarina Wiegman was happy with the result but admitted her side need to take their chances 

Georgia Stanway celebrates her retaken penalty that gave England a 1-0 win over Haiti but the midfielder struggled to get into the game in the first half

‘Haiti are unpredictable, they’re very transitional, that’s what they showed. We were struggling with that. We had a lot of possession, but they were very quick. 

We created chances, but we lost the ball in moments we weren’t expecting it yet, and then they were gone. So that was hard for us. 

What we want to do is finish our chances. The win is the most important thing. We need to be finishing our chances, and a little better in our possession game, a little faster.’ 

Alessia Russo had several chances to add to England’s lead, and late substitute Rachel Daly also went close with a header, but they couldn’t find a way through goalie Kerly Theus. 

In fact Haiti came close to drawing the game level, but England goalie Mary Earps pulled off two impressive saves to prevent conceding an equaliser. 

Wiegman praised Earps for being in the right place, but also admitted that goal-scorer Georgia Stanway struggled to get into the game during the first half. 

Wiegman looks on as England struggled to find a second goal in their World Cup opener 

The England boss was thankful for Mary Earps whose stops saw England hang on for the win 

She added: ‘Sometimes a cross is too close to the goalkeeper. Sometimes we had a last pass, instead of shooting ourselves. Little things like that. We’re close, we’re very close to scoring a goal. I hope in the next game in open play we can score a goal.

‘I thought in the first half, Georgia was a little struggling. She needed to pass a little quicker, she lost the ball, it was a little dangerous. She picked up later, so that was good for the team. Mary having nothing to do and then all of a sudden be there, that’s crucial for us. I’m happy for that.

England will next play Denmark on Friday before finishing the group stage against China next Tuesday.