England women: Patience key against Iceland in World Cup qualifier

It was Alessia Russo who provided the breakthrough for England two minutes into the second half against Ukraine and the Arsenal striker – who plays as a number nine for the Lionesses rather than her more withdrawn role for her club – will likely be the woman tasked with doing the same versus Iceland.

Iceland were beaten 3-0 by Spain on Tuesday but frustrated the world champions until the 39th minute in Castellon.

“We knew we were dominating the ball, we wanted to be ruthless in the final third,” Russo told BBC 5 Live, speaking about the first half against Ukraine. “They also defended well, then the spaces opened up.

“Scoring early in the second half was important. It allowed us to play with more freedom so we want to use that ruthless edge going forward.

“As long as we are doing our job with our counter-pressure and creating the chances, that breeds confidence. If the goal comes in the first 10 minutes or last 10, that doesn’t matter. We know we can change games in a matter of moments.”

“They are a very strong team,” Wiegman said of Iceland. “They are very disciplined, very physical and very direct, with a lot of pace.

“We have seen some of their earlier performances, specifically against Spain. We think we will have the ball a lot but it will also be very hard to breakdown their defence.”

Only the winner of Group A3 will qualify directly for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and it has been widely billed as a battle between European champions England and world champions Spain for that place.

But Wiegman flatly refused to underestimate Iceland, who have qualified for the last five European Championships but have never made a Women’s World Cup finals.

“We aren’t talking about Spain at all at the moment – we are only talking about Iceland,” she said.

“We know it is going to be a very tough game tomorrow. They are tough to beat and we will have to be at our top level.”