BRISBANE, Australia — England manager Sarina Wiegman said her team must show more ruthlessness in front of goal after they survived a scare to beat Women’s World Cup newcomers Haiti 1-0 on Saturday.
England got their campaign off to a winning start, but needed Georgia Stanways’ first-half penalty to get the three points. England were left frustrated in front of goal and required a huge save from goalkeeper Mary Earps late on to keep out a Haiti team who caused them all sorts of trouble.
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It means England have gone four and a half matches without a goal from open play, dating back to their 1-1 draw with Brazil in April.
Wiegman was happy with the performance overall, and pleased that her team managed to overcome a tricky test, but said England needed to be more clinical in front of goal.
“We’re missing ruthlessness — it’s easy to say, but what does that mean?” Wiegman said afterwards. “Sometimes it’s the connection with the cross, the timing of the cross, where the cross ends in the penalty box and connection in front of the goal.
“We were very close a couple of times to scoring, the defence was tough, we’ll keep trying and working on it and start tomorrow again.”
