Republic of Ireland ‘not an easy test’ for England says forward Russo | OneFootball

England forward Alessia Russo says that the Republic of Ireland will be tricky opponents at Carrow Road on Friday night.

The Lionesses travel to Norwich for their latest UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 qualifier. England need a win to keep their hopes of securing automatic qualification from their group alive.

England’s latest opponents the Republic of Ireland have lost all four of their qualifying matches to date, however, forward Russo still believes that The Girls in Green can make it a difficult occasion.

“They’re a really tough side to come up against, different to the likes of Sweden and France,” Russo said when speaking in an England media conference. “Maybe they play a little bit deeper and we find it more difficult to break them down but that’s what it’s like in a lower block.

“They’re tough, aggressive and very passionate. We felt that in the away game against them but it’s good to come up against so many different kinds of opposition in these qualifiers. It’s definitely not an easy test.”

After suffering a 2-1 defeat to France in their last home match in May, England bounced back with a win by the same scoreline in the reverse fixture last time out. Russo highlighted the enormity of that victory whilst emphasising the importance of the Lionesses’ latest round of fixtures.

She said “It was a massive win out in France. We put in a performance that I think we needed and we wanted to do as a nation.

“It was great to get a win and get our standards back to where we wanted them because we have very high standards as a team and as players.

“It was great but these two games are massive as well. The standards of this group are so high and you want to be competing in big games, you want to be playing top opposition. That’s what we’ve got in this group.”

England return to Norwich for the first time in almost two-and-a-half years. Russo is looking forward to playing in Norfolk once again.

She said “I’m really excited. When you walk out in a stadium that’s full of Lionesses fans, it’s just really nice and it creates a feeling within the team. It makes you realise that there’s more to it than the football and that we are going out there with the support of everyone around us.

“We love playing in front of our home crowd, they’re always so loud and back us all of the way.”

England’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland kicks-off at 8pm on Friday evening.