Northern Ireland 'not fazed' by England in Euro 2022 clash despite gulf in form

England kick off against Northern Ireland on Friday night in their final match before the knockout stages in an encounter that has little more than pride riding on it.

Northern Ireland striker Kirsty McGuinness insists they will not be fazed by an in-form England side, who come in to the game fresh off a record 8-0 thrashing of Norway.

Kenny Shiels’ side, on the other hand, at their first major tournament, are out after successive 4-1 and 2-0 defeats to Norway and Austria respectively.

Shiels’ players sank to their knees at the final whistle versus Austria at St Mary’s in Southampton on Monday, but McGuinness says they have more to give against England on Friday at the same venue.

When asked if it was a “frightening prospect” facing Sarina Weigman’s in-form side, McGuinness said: “Of course yeah, but we’ve played these teams before.

“I think everyone’s in shock at the (Norway) score, but we just want to go out and give our all.

“We’ve nothing to lose. We came here and gave everything and we’re going to do exactly the same for the last game.

“We know how big a team England are and how good they are, but we just want to go out and play and hopefully pick up some points.”

‘Play the team, not the occasion’

Shiels’ side have come up against the Lionesses on three occasions since the beginning of 2021, beaten 6-0, 4-0 and 5-0 over the course of the encounters – the last of which was at home.

However, the Northern Ireland manager insists his team will have to look beyond England’s higher standing in the game when the sides meet on Friday.

Shiels said: “When we played them (in February 2021), I took a friendly. I was told not to. Mad in the head, but I took the friendly against England at St George’s Park and I was so angry because the girls were signing their autographs after the match.

“The stature of England, we’ve got to try and eliminate that from our thoughts and we’ve got to try and play the team rather than the occasion.

“It’s a big occasion for our girls to play in a full house like this and we want to do our best, and if we give our best then we can’t have any complaints. We don’t want to leave anything behind.

“This is the culmination of our Euros finals and we want to leave on a feel-good and certainly we’ve been trying to do that.”

Northern Ireland’s women’s team was disbanded in the late 1990s and only resumed playing matches again in 2004 – a stark contrast to the Lionesses.

England must ‘stay grounded’

Wiegman, meanwhile, stressed the importance of the Lionesses not getting carried away after Monday’s historic 8-0 thrashing of Norway – a message echoed by winger Chloe Kelly.

She said: “I think everyone’s in a positive mood, the vibe in the camp is really good and looking forward to Friday now.

“Everyone was absolutely buzzing (after the match on Monday), it was nice to see our families in the crowd as well and share that moment with them. But we focus on Friday now and we can’t get too carried away.”

After opening their campaign with a 1-0 win over Austria at Old Trafford last week, England gave a clear demonstration of their attacking potency on Monday as they took their unbeaten record under Wiegman to 93 goals scored in 16 matches.

Kelly has emphasised that the team “want to be ruthless in front of goal every game, no matter what the opposition”.

The Lionessess will face either Denmark of Spain in the quarter-final, with the two facing off on Saturday to decide which of them goes through to meet England.