Agyemang stretchered off as injury overshadows England's win over Australia
England's 3-0 victory over Australia was overshadowed by the injury to Euro 2025 star Michelle Agyemang, who was stretchered off at Pride Park.
The Lionesses were leading 3-0 after an early red card when the Arsenal striker, currently on loan at Brighton, was stretchered off just 13 minutes after coming on in what was a sour end to the victory.
The 19-year-old was seen in tears after falling on the ball, with the striker clutching her knee after physiotherapists attended to her.
Manager Sarina Wiegman's interview suggested she was worried about the young striker, admitting it didn't look good for Agyemang.
She told ITV Sport: “I haven't gone in yet. But, of course, it looked horrible.
“When you're on a stretcher, it's not good anyway. But yes, it doesn't look good. It's of course not confirmed. But yes, it looks bad.”
Wiegman: “I want to see this team develop”
Aggie Beever-Jones and Lucy Bronze gave England a 2-0 lead before half-time, with Georgia Stanway converting an injury-time penalty to claim a comfortable victory after Alanna Kennedy's 19th-minute red card.
Regarding the Lionesses' performance, Wiegman added: “I think we started really well and dominated the game.
“We played in their half and if they want to put a lot of pressure in possession but also out of possession when we lose the ball. And I think that's exactly what we did.
“And of course, the game has changed. No, the game hasn't really changed. They went down to 10, which changes several things.
“We wanted to keep the pace in the game. I think we created a lot of really good moments in the final third. And hopefully we were able to improve on that.
“Because I think I've seen a lot of good things, but we still need to better align the execution and the final pass, the final cross and get there. That's what we want to do next year. You want to see this team develop.
“Of course you actually want to play 11-on-11 because those are the challenges you face the most. And that's what you train for.
“But we tried to adapt to that right away to force them even further back. And of course, they go even deeper. So the space becomes very small, very tight.”
“And then that's another challenge. So yeah, we had hoped to do other things at the end of the game, but unfortunately we had so many.”
2025-10-28 22:52:00
