(Reuters) – England won the Arnold Clark Cup for the second year in a row on Wednesday and got their women’s World Cup preparations off to a perfect start with a 6-1 win over runners-up Belgium at Bristol’s Ashton Gate.
The European champions, who beat Italy and South Korea in their other two games, stretched their unbeaten run to 29 matches under Sarina Wiegman.
The Lionesses took a deserved lead on 12 minutes in front of a 26,000-strong crowd when Chloe Kelly, who ended the tournament as top scorer, scrambled the ball into the net after a run into the area by Lauren James.
Leah Williamson headed in the second just before the break when Lucy Bronze floated a cross into the box.
Kelly then scored her second of the night five minutes into the second half when she tapped in a rebound from Belgium goalkeeper Nicky Evrard, and it became 4-0 in the 78th when Julie Biesmans turned the ball into her own net.
In a three-goal final flurry, Bronze made it 5-0 in the 88th before Belgium grabbed a consolation goal in stoppage time through Elena Dhont and Williamson bagged her second a minute later.
The Arnold Clark Cup is an invitational tournament hosted in England and first played in 2022, where four teams meet each other once in a round-robin format.
The women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand runs from July 20 to Aug. 20.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk/Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by Toby Davis)
