‘Special’ James stars as England keep excellent in World Cup qualifying | EUROtoday

Bronze performed all through the Euros with a damaged leg and a recurrence of that damage stored her sidelined for a number of weeks firstly of the 12 months. She, too, is being managed and was rested in opposition to Ukraine earlier than returning the beginning XI to face Iceland.

There isn’t any prepared right-back substitute for Bronze, who can be 35 by the point the 2027 World Cup comes round. Maya Le Tissier, who performs as a centre-back for Manchester United, appears to be the most certainly back-up if Bronze is unavailable whereas Niamh Charles, who’s at present injured, and Anouk Denton are additionally choices.

Bronze now has 145 caps for her nation, which places her third within the all-time look charts and she or he reveals no indicators of slowing down.

“She’s an incredible human being and has a mindset that is really incredible,” Wiegman mentioned of Bronze.

“She has so much football intelligence, she really gets it. At the same time she’s helping her team-mates off the pitch which makes the team play better.”

As they did in opposition to Ukraine, England dominated possession in opposition to Iceland however didn’t take advantage of their 31 pictures, with solely seven hitting the goal. Taking six factors from each video games was crucial issue for Wiegman, with Spain nonetheless to return on this World Cup qualifying group.

Only one staff will progress robotically and the 2 video games in opposition to the world champions – at Wembley in April and in Spain in June – will seemingly resolve who tops the group and who has to undergo the play-offs. It is significant England have their greatest gamers accessible for each of these video games, so Wiegman’s administration of James and Bronze can be essential.#

Match particulars

England (4-2-1-3): Hampton 7; Bronze 8, Williamson 6, Morgan 6, Hinds 5; Walsh 6, Stanway 7 (Kendall 90+3); Park 6 (Blindkilde Brown 85); James 7 (Kelly 75), Russo, Hemp 6.
Goals: Bronze 22, Stanway 78.
Subs not used: Moorhouse, Roebuck, Le Tissier, Wubben-Moy, Pattinson, Clinton, Beever-Jones, Carter, Godfrey.

Iceland (4-3-3): Runarsdottir 6; Arnardottir 5, Viggosdottir 5, Sigurdardottir 6, Heidarsdottir 6; Hermannsdottir 5 (Asgeirsdottir 63), Antonsdottir 6 (Agustsdottir 86), Vilhjalmsdottir 5 (Johannsdottir 63); Eiriksdottir 5 (Olafsdottir Gros 46), Jessen 6, Jonsdottir 5 (Zomers 76).
Subs not used: Ivarsdottir, Birkisdottir, Tomasdottir, Georgsdottir, Palmadottir, Halldorsdottir, Karlsdottir.

Referee: Silvia Gasperotti.

Attendance: 27,472.