England’s Beth Mead has admitted that she is feeling “incredible” after producing a hat-trick as the Lionesses thrashed Norway 8-0 in 2022 UEFA Women’s Euros.
Mead had scored the only goal in England’s opening Group A clash against Austria at Old Trafford last Wednesday (6 July), yet was on better form last night (11 July) with a hat-trick and assist as the Lionesses thrashed Norway 8-0 in Brighton.
The result consequently made history as the biggest-ever win across finals tournaments of men and women’s UEFA Euros, as well as guaranteeing England a place in the knockout stage as Group A winners.
Mead meanwhile now has 18 goals and 11 assists under manager – Sarina Wiegman who only took charge last September, which has marked an incredible turnaround in form after she was snubbed from Team GB Olympics squad last summer by Norwegian manager – Hege Riise.
Reflecting post-match on her continued rise in quality, Mead commented: “I keep saying it: I’m really enjoying my football; I love being a part of this team. Honestly it is an incredible feeling to feel like I do right now.”
With four goals in two matches in a home Euros of which three goals came against Norway, Mead added that she hadn’t “even dreamt” of challenging for the Golden Boot, as she stayed grounded and insisted that she is “just so happy” to be scoring goals to help her team win matches.
Mead went on to hail the “unbelievable” crowd atmosphere as 28,847 fans turned out at the AMEX Stadium in full noise, although she noted that her teammates need to saviour these moments as she added: “The girls need to enjoy this one. These are the moments we need to enjoy.”
Wiegman meanwhile was surprised by how her team fired eight goals past Norway, of which six goals came before half-time in another historic moment for the competition.
Explaining where England made the difference on the pitch compared to Norway, Wiegman commented: “We didn’t expect to get such a big win as we did but we played really well, we really exploited their weaknesses.
“Norway didn’t have answers on our game, they didn’t get press on us and we played really well and created and scored chances and it was very enjoyable to watch.”
Wiegman proceeded to add that she expected the match to take a “strange” turn and Norway fight back to create a high-scoring thriller, yet felt confident of victory once the fourth and fifth goals were scored as she admitted that Norway simply “… didn’t play their best game today and we played very well.”
On the Lionesses’ overall performance, Wiegman insisted that there is more progress to make as she concluded: “This was really good and we’re really happy with the performance because we showed how good we are.
“We have to do better and better every game.”
England will now meet Northern Ireland at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton, on Friday 15 July (8pm BST) in their final group match, ahead of their Quarter-Final tie against the runner-up of Group B on Wednesday 20 July (8pm BST).
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