LONDON – England did not take their foot off the gas in the Women’s Euros 2022 Championship as they beat Northern Ireland 5-0 in their final Group A match despite having already qualified for the quarter-finals as group winners.
They joined by Austria, who stunned twice-winners Norway to end their participation at the tournament before the knockout stage.
Sarina Wiegman’s side had secured their place in the last eight with a record 8-0 win over Norway on Monday but carried that momentum into their match at St Mary’s Stadium against opponents from across the Irish sea.
Chelsea forward Fran Kirby opened the scoring with a curling long-range finish in the 40th minute before Beth Mead grabbed her fifth goal of the tournament shortly after to take her top of the scoring charts.
Northern Ireland, the lowest ranked team in the Euros, did their best to stem the English tide but a quick fire double from Alessia Russo shortly after halftime destroyed any hope they had of keeping the score down.
The match got worse for Kenny Shiels’s side as an attempted clearance from Kelsie Burrows in the 75th minute looped over goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns and into her own net to make it 5-0 to England.
Elsewhere, Austria defeated Norway 1-0 to advance as group runners-up, while England will play the second-placed team in Group B in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, France suffered a blow as key forward Marie-Antoinette Katoto was ruled out of the Women’s European Championship after suffering a knee injury in their 2-1 win over Belgium.
Katoto went off injured in the 17th minute of the match, with coach Corinne Diacre saying after the game that she had sprained her knee.
The French football federation said scans carried out confirmed a sprain in her right knee and damage to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
The 23-year-old has scored 26 goals in 32 appearances for France, including a goal in their 5-1 win over Italy in its opening match of this year’s Euros.
She was voted the best player in the French first division last season.
France is top of Group D with six points following wins over Belgium and Italy, and has advanced to the quarter-finals alongside England and Germany.
Norway crash to shock exit
Norway suffered a shock exit from Euro 2022 as the pre-tournament title contenders crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Austria.
Despite the presence of Lyon star Ada Hegerberg in their line-up, former European champions Norway paid the price for another lacklustre display in Brighton.
Norway failed to advance from Group A after a second successive loss, while Austria progressed to the quarterfinals as runners-up behind England.
England, already assured of topping the group, crushed Northern Ireland 5-0 in their last game to move into the last eight with three successive wins and without conceding a single goal.
Needing a victory to move above Austria in their final group match, Norway were pushed towards elimination after 37 minutes when Nicole Billa headed in Verena Hanshaw’s cross.
The Norwegians were unable to muster a comeback and it was Austria who could have won by a bigger margin with more clinical finishing.
Norway goalkeeper Guro Pettersen made several fine saves to give her side a chance, but Austria’s Manuela Zinsberger thwarted Celin Bizet and Hegerberg in the closing stages.
Thrashed 8-0 by England in their previous game, Norway’s tournament had quickly turned sour after the initial optimism fuelled by a 4-1 victory over Northern Ireland in their first group match.
“We had higher belief in ourselves than to be out of the tournament this soon. So of course, I feel totally empty,” Norway manager Martin Sjogren said.
Former Women’s Ballon d’Or winner Hegerberg added: “Everyone has a responsibility in this, myself included.
“There has to be a brutal honesty in evaluating everything that’s happened in the last few weeks in order to actually bounce back from this.
“It’s almost that I want to apologise because of all the support we’ve got.”