England Lionesses coach Sarina Wiegman on life-changing Euro win

Sarina Wiegman was able to watch France vs Morocco at BoxPark Wembley without anyone bothering her… but life has changed for England’s Lionesses after their brilliant Euros win as focus turns to next year’s World Cup

• Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman led England to Women’s Euro glory in the summer
• But she has managed to stay out of the limelight as was shown recently
• Wiegman was able to watch World Cup game at BoxPark without being mobbed
• But her players became celebrities following their triumphant summer 
• Now attention turns to next year’s World Cup with England among favourites 

Two days before England beat Germany in the Euro 2022 final, Sarina Wiegman was asked if she was ‘ready to become a celebrity’. 

She laughed. ‘No, of course not. I will just go back to my life,’ she said with a smile.

She was not wrong. After a day of speaking to the media to reflect on her incredible year, Wiegman was able to walk into BoxPark Wembley to watch France vs Morocco. 

Sarina Wiegman led England to Women’s European Championship glory back in the summer

Lionesses’ win over Germany transformed the lives of the players into celebrities overnight

Wiegman keeps a lower profile, however, and was able to watch a recent World Cup match at BoxPark in Wembley without anyone batting an eyelid

Nobody batted an eyelid. There was no mob of fans surrounding her for an autograph or a picture. She simply watched the game with a friend and left.

Wiegman, who still resides in the Netherlands, is able to stay out of the spotlight. But it is a different story for her players.

‘Within six weeks they became famous English people, everyone wants something from them,’ Wiegman says. ‘Your brain needs time to get used to that.

‘Some players really adapted to the situation already. Some players need a little bit of support. My concerns are how can you balance performing at the highest level, sustaining that and what keeps us here?

‘But there are a lot of things outside of football that are related to football that are asked of players now – the expectations, the fans and requests you get. 

‘Some of the requests maybe fit the player well and you can take that momentum but it’s finding the balance and not getting overwhelmed. That takes time too. Some players are really young. They need some support.

The 53-year-old took the Lionesses to their first major trophy at Wembley in July (pictured)

‘We can give them support but we also need to be aware that you can’t fix it in two days.

‘Your brains have to get used to your new life. It brings lots of good things but also some sacrifices. Some players can’t walk down the street anymore without being almost mobbed. That’s a big thing in your private life. You need time to adapt to that.’

Wiegman and her players will have been European champions for less than a year when they walk out for their first game at next summer’s World Cup in Australia. That status brings more pressure, but Wiegman is not fazed.

‘When I got appointed, a lot of the remarks were ‘are you going to bring it home?’ And ‘you’ve been brought in to win the Euros’, which is a lot of pressure. There were high expectations but I expected high expectations.

Wiegman had won the Euros with Holland and repeated the feat with England this summer

‘The pressure from the media is not a bigger concern for me because the pressure has been there all the time. There is pressure, we know. We know that when you win the pressure will be higher and higher. That’s just the way it works.’

Wiegman is yet to taste defeat as England manager but she has not forgotten how it feels to lose. In 2019, she led the Netherlands to the final of the World Cup – where they were beaten 2-0 by the United States.

‘That was horrible by the way!’ Wiegman says when asked whether she will tell her players what losing a World Cup final is like.

‘What I tell the players, the only thing we control is that we play at our highest level under the highest pressure.

The Lionesses players found their raised profile after the win led to more demands on time

‘If you play at your highest level, you can be proud of yourself. You’re going to be devastated by not winning, but at the end you can be proud because you did everything that’s in your control.

‘If you say ‘well we have to become world champions,’ yes of course we have to dream. We’re not going to a World Cup just to play, we’re going there to win. 

‘But that’s not always what you can control. I was devastated against the USA, but I did think they were better at that point.’

The gap between the US and European teams has narrowed somewhat since then. England beat them in a friendly at Wembley in October but Wiegman believes her side will have to get even better if they are to become world champions.

‘There are a couple of things after the Euros that we thought: ‘Okay we need to do that a little better’ and one or two areas where we need to improve.

England’s win over the United States at Wembley in October showed the gap is narrowing

‘We want to develop our style of play so we stay unpredictable. I think we were pretty unpredictable for teams, we have lots of ways to go in at them. 

‘We can go around, we can switch play, we can go in behind, we can play in the pockets. But there are more things we want to do to be more unpredictable and add to our game. I’m not going to share all of it!’

England and the US are on opposite sides of the draw at the World Cup, meaning Wiegman could come against them in the final for a second time. 

The World Cup is the one trophy missing from Wiegman’s cabinet, but she is not motivated by the pain of that 2019 defeat.

‘I’m not [about] revenge. I don’t really think that way,’ Wiegman says. ‘At that time, they were the better team. I don’t really think in revenge, I just want to do better in the next game and I want to win.’

Share this article

Source: Read Full Article