Beever-Jones nets hat trick as England rout Portugal

Aggie Beever-Jones scored a stunning first-half hat trick as England were ruthless hosts in a 6-0 thrashing of Portugal on Friday at Wembley in their penultimate game of the Women's Nations League group stage.

Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly also scored to keep England second in Group 3 of League A with 10 points, behind World Cup winners Spain, who have 12 points after their 5-1 win over Belgium earlier on Friday.

Sarina Wiegman's team shrugged off any lingering effects from a tumultuous week that saw goalkeeper Mary Earps' shock international retirement announcement, and were on the front foot from the opening whistle, scoring five goals before the game was 30 minutes old.

The 21-year-old Beever-Jones struck her first in the third minute, slotting home from a sharp angle.

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England fans were still celebrating when Bronze headed home less than 90 seconds later. Lauren Hemp -- who gave Portugal trouble on the wing all night in a superb first game back for England since suffering a serious knee injury in November -- beat a defender to put a cross into the box that led to Bronze heading in after Mead's shot was blocked.

With the floodgates opened, England attacked in waves and Beever-Jones scored with a close-range header in the 26th minute that bounced off the underside of the crossbar and completed her hat trick in the 33rd, when she latched onto a through ball from Leah Williamson.

Mead scored in the 29th and Kelly got on the score sheet in the 62nd to complete the rout.

England will be looking for a victory over Spain on Tuesday in Barcelona to secure a spot in the Nations League knockout finals. A victory would also be a huge boost barely a month before England begin the defence of their European Championship title in Switzerland.

"That's what we wanted, you go back to business once you're on the pitch," Wiegman said about bouncing back from a tough week. "It's an important game, we want to do well in the Nations League. It's really good to see the team showing up like this."

Beever-Jones, who watched England win the 2022 European title as a fan in the stadium, is all but certain to earn a place in Wiegman's squad for Switzerland.

"I'm just focusing on the current and the now and everything else will fall into place," said Beever-Jones, who sent the match ball around to all her teammates to sign.

"As long as I am giving the right people headaches and making Sarina happy then so be it."

In other League A matches on Friday, France beat Switzerland 4-0, Germany defeated the Netherlands by the same score, Denmark beat Wales 1-0, Austria defeated Scotland 1-0, Norway and Iceland drew 1-1, and Italy and Sweden drew 0-0

Disney+ will be the home of the UEFA Women's Champions League across Europe from next season and the only place fans can watch all live matches in the competition. Visit the Disney+ website to get access.