England’s 3-0 win over Australia was overshadowed by an injury to Euro 2025 star Michelle Agyemang, who was stretchered off at Pride Park.
The Lionesses were 3-0 up and cruising 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 ending to the victory.
The 19-year-old was seen in tears after going down off the ball, with the striker clutching her knee after physios attended to her.
Manager Sarina Wiegman’s interview suggested concern for the young forward, admitting it didn’t look good for Agyemang.
She told ITV Sport: “I haven’t been inside yet. But, of course, that looked horrible.
“When you’re stretchered off, that’s not nice anyway. But, yeah, that doesn’t look good. It’s, of course, not confirmed. But, yeah, it looks bad.”
Wiegman: ‘I want to see this team develop’
Aggie Beever-Jones and Lucy Bronze put England into a 2-0 lead before half-time, with Georgia Stanway converting a penalty in added time to wrap up a comfortable victory following Alanna Kennedy’s 19th-minute red card.
On the Lionesses’ performance, Wiegman added: “I think we started really well and dominated the game.
“We played on 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 changed. No, the game didn’t really change. They went down to 10, which does change a couple of things.
“We wanted to keep the pace in the game. I think we created a lot of very good moments in the final third. And I hope that we were able to improve that.
“Because I think I saw a lot of good things, but we need to get even better at aligning the execution and the final pass, the final cross and getting 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 v 11, because those are the challenges you get the most. And that’s what you’re practicing for.
“But we tried to adapt to that straight away to force them even more back. And of course, they drop even deeper. So the space becomes very small, very tight.
“And that’s another challenge then. So yeah, we had hoped to do some other things at the end of the game, but unfortunately, we had so many.”
