Alessia Russo happy with England’s ‘ruthless edge’ in win over Ukraine

Alessia Russo was relieved England discovered their “ruthless edge” in the second half of their 6-1 victory over Ukraine to get their Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start.

Russo opened the scoring with a quickfire double after the first half ended goalless before Yana Kalinina ensured Ukraine would not be shut out by the 2023 World Cup runners-up.

The impressive Georgia Stanway fired home a penalty and thumped home another goal before turning provider for in-form Manchester United attacker Jess Park, who put the game to bed with two late goals of her own.

“We knew we had the quality in us,” Russo told ITV. “It was just about executing it in the moment.

“It’s always nice to score quickly after half-time. It sets the tone. But our messaging in the dressing room was we’re happy with how we’re doing, but now we needed to find that ruthless edge.

“We were still positive about it. We knew we were dominating the ball, playing into the right areas. It was just about finding that final moment and that final pass or shot.”

The contest was staged in Antalya, Turkey due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Only the winners of the four League A groups earn direct passage to the 2027 World Cup, hosted by Brazil, while the other 12 teams will have to battle their way through the play-offs.

The Lionesses’ group also includes Iceland and defending World Cup champions Spain, who also opened their campaigns on Tuesday night.

England boss Sarina Wiegman saw plenty of areas of improvement for her side but was pleased with the turnaround in the second half, when her decision to swap wingers Park and Lauren Hemp’s sides seemed to pay dividends.

“I wouldn’t say (I had) tough words (at half-time),” Wiegman told ITV. “I think we put a lot of effort in, we played the way we wanted to, we just wanted to, of course, score more goals.

“We need to do that better.”