Sarina Wiegman says England will play a strong team against Northern Ireland despite qualifying for quarter-finals

Sarina Wiegman says she will select a strong team for England’s final group game of Euro 2022 against Northern Ireland, despite already being through to the knockout stages.

A 1-0 win in their opening fixtures against Austria, followed by their 8-0 trouncing of Norway means England are already looking ahead to a quarter-final showdown with the runner-up of Group B next Wednesday.

Before that though, they have a fairly meaningless match at St Mary’s with Northern Ireland – who have already been knocked out of the tournament.

Wiegman will not use the fixture as a chance to give fringe players game time, saying: “I believe in rhythm – when you have nine days in between the Norway game and the quarter-finals, it’s too long. You need more rhythm.”

With a strong squad to choose from, Wiegman knows some players will end up upset with a lack of involvement in the competition.

“I understand. We have 23 players and only 11 can start. We’ll do what we believe in, in terms of giving us the best chance to win the next game,” she said.

“Of course, some players will be disappointed. But we keep communicating, we keep being clear on what we’re doing and why we do it.”

Wiegman says she would be more concerned if squad members were happy with not playing, adding: “Sometimes you can be disappointed, that’s understandable. If you wouldn’t be eager to play, then the player wouldn’t be in the squad.”

Playing her strongest line-up against Northern Ireland brings with it an element of risk though, with more chances of injury, but the Dutch coach is not overly concerned.

“That’s always the case, always things can happen at the level we play. We just want to play a good game. If we are focused, concentrated, we will probably be a lot in possession and keep the ball going and be composed,” she said.

One player who will definitely be sidelined is Demi Stokes, who has a minor knee problem.

The Manchester City defender should be fit for the quarter-finals though, with Wiegman saying: “She’s doing well, she’s building up to the next game. Everyone else is fit. We made a plan, for Demi, towards next Wednesday.

Northern Ireland’s first appearance at a major tournament has ended in disappointment, with defeats to Norway and Austria meaning they can no longer progress.

Wiegman thinks it will have been a great experience for Kenny Shiels’ side, saying: “For the development of players, you need tournaments to become better and know what to expect next time. We can see they’re trying to develop their style of play and I’m absolutely sure they will try and have a competitive game tomorrow and make best out of it. That’s what we want to do too.”

“I don’t know how many Northern Ireland people will be here. It will be full and what we want to do is play a good game, win, the team keeps a nil and that we give the people that are here a very nice evening.”