Match in Focus: England 6-1 Belgium

England retained the Arnold Clark Cup as Sarina Wiegman dropped some strong hints over her potential line-up for the World Cup and several players made a case for their selection

Chloe Kelly’s two goals earned her the Golden Boot. Image: Sportimage

Has Sarina shown her hand?

England head coach Sarina Wiegman made plenty of changes and offered minutes to every outfield player in the opening two games, but was the return to a more conventional line-up against Belgium a sign of things to come?

If the starting eleven on Wednesday night was the starting eleven against Haiti in July, it would be little shock, and it feels a little like Wiegman has dropped a strong hint based on what we saw in the opening two games.

Alex Greenwood remained at left-back, Lauren James remained in the side in what would be the key changes from the European Championship, while everything else had a distinctly familiar feel to it. That will leave players like Rachel Daly and Lauren Hemp with work to do, but what depth to have.

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Key tweaks from Euro 2022

As mentioned above, what now looks like Wiegman's strongest eleven does appear to have a couple of key tweaks from the successful Euro 2022 campaign.

Alessia Russo has by design taken on the role of the retired Ellen White, while Ella Toone will expect competition from Fran Kirby when she returns from injury, but the key changes came out wide and in the infamous left-back role.

I pointed out in the opening game how impressive Greenwood had been at left-back and crucially we haven't seen Rachel Daly at left-back for a single minute across the three games. England and Greenwood will have tougher defensive tests than the three offered in this competition, but it looks like she might be back in the reckoning.

Elsewhere, Lauren James looks like she's keeping Hemp out of the team for now, with Chloe Kelly impressive on the other wing and taking home the Golden Boot with her three goals. Hemp though has every chance of winning her spot back given her incredible burst of pace and ability to beat her marker, and again, it shows the superb depth England has in their squad right now.