Women's World Cup

‘People still like me’: Wiegman pledges future to England before World Cup final

Successful manager has ‘no plans to leave’ before deal ends in 2025

Sarina Wiegman, England head coach, celebrates with Ella Toone after the semi-final victory over Australia at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty

Jonathan Liew in Terrigal
Fri Aug 18 2023 - 20:10
Women’s World Cup Final: Spain v England, Sunday, Stadium Australia, Sydney, 11am Irish time – Live on RTÉ 2 and BBC One

Sarina Wiegman has rejected speculation she may leave her job to coach the United States after the World Cup, and has pledged to honour her England contract which runs until 2025.

With the US coach, Vlatko Andonovski, resigning after their last-16 exit, there have been strong rumours that US Soccer may consider a big-money move for Wiegman, whose stock is high after winning Euro 2022 and leading England into Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain.

The English Football Association has said it would reject any attempt by rival teams to poach Wiegman before the end of her contract.

Wiegman, speaking from the team’s Terrigal base, said she was aware of the speculation linking her to the US but confirmed her intention was to remain in the job until at least the next European Championship in Switzerland.

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“I have a contract until 2025,” she said. “I’m really enjoying my job and I have the impression that people still like me doing the job. I have no plans to leave.”

Besides, Wiegman has other things on her mind right now. Namely, her fourth consecutive final in as many major tournaments, having won Euro 2017 with the Netherlands and taken them to the World Cup final in 2019. She insisted this English team were in a better place than her Dutch side were four years ago, when they were well beaten 2-0 by the US.

“We have grown into this tournament and the players feel very comfortable,” she said. “They feel confident. We have recovered really well. We have everyone fit. So we are really ready to go.”

Wiegman said the final had already begun to consume her every waking thought.

“Everything now is Spain,” she said. “When you go to the next game, you’re only thinking about what’s next, what’s in front of us, what challenges we can expect, how we are going to prepare the team. I don’t want to relax. I just want to get ready.

“We are now so far into the tournament. We’ve had so many challenges. What we are trying to do now is what can we expect from the opponent, how do we recover, is everyone fit? And everyone is fit.

“We have one more training session, we are getting prepared, and our analysts have worked out the Spain games so we know exactly what we can expect from them. Then we also think about what else could they do, and we prepare for that.”

Tactically speaking, England have shown their hand before the final, playing a variety of different styles and switching from a back four to a back three in the middle of the tournament after the injury to Keira Walsh. It was an idea, Wiegman said, first mooted by her coaching staff as early as April this year.

“We were trying to find ways to be unpredictable for the opponent,” she said. “At that time the squad was still with lots of wingers and we thought we would stick with what we [originally] wanted to do.

“Then during the first two matches of the tournament we were struggling a little bit and also had moments where we were a little bit vulnerable. So after the second match Arjan [Veurink, her assistant] came to me and said: ‘Sarina, isn’t this the time to go to 3-5-2?’ I said: ‘You’re completely right. This is the moment, with the players available, we can get more from their strengths in this shape.’ So then we changed it.”

For all the finals she has reached, Wiegman is aware of how rare these opportunities are.

“It is really special to reach a final,” she said. “But as soon as you get there, I switch to thinking about what we still need to do. Everything now, all my thinking, is how do we beat Spain.” – Guardian

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