Sarina Wiegman says England will play a strong team against Northern Ireland despite qualifying for quarter-finals

Sarina Wiegman says she will select a strong team for England’s final group game of Euro 2022 against Northern Ireland, despite already being through to the knockout stages. A 1-0 win in their opening fixtures against Austria, followed by their 8-0 trouncing of Norway means England are already looking ahead to a quarter-final showdown with the runner-up of Group B next Wednesday. Ad/> Before that though, they have a fairly meaningless match at St Mary’s with Northern Ireland — who have already been knocked out of the tournament.

Euro 2022Van de Donk grabs winner as Netherlands earn win over PortugalYESTERDAY AT 18:05 Wiegman will not use the fixture as a chance to give fringe players game time, saying: «I believe in rhythm — when you have nine days in between the Norway game and the quarter-finals, it's too long. You need more rhythm.” /> With a strong squad to choose from, Wiegman knows some players will end up upset with a lack of involvement in the competition. »I understand.

We have 23 players and only 11 can start. We'll do what we believe in, in terms of giving us the best chance to win the next game,” she said. «Of course, some players will be disappointed.

But we keep communicating, we keep being clear on what we're doing and why we do it.” Wiegman says she would be more concerned if squad members were happy with not playing, adding: „Sometimes you can be disappointed, that's understandable. If you wouldn't be eager to play, then the player wouldn't be in the squad.” Playing her strongest line-up against Northern Ireland brings with it an element of risk though, with more chances of injury, but the Dutch coach is not overly concerned. “That’s always the case, always things can happen at the level we play.