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Get to know Get to know the chances of England's Women’s national team at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Overview
England travel Down Under as Euro 2022 winners, intent on global domination. Crucially, Sarina Wiegman’s side understand the perils of more haste less speed and will remain patient as they endeavour to conquer the world.
They also harbour few fears about shape shifting from their preferred 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formations. When, during last summer’s Euro 2022 quarter final against Spain, England looked close to defeat, Wiegman switched to 3-4-3 and was rewarded with a watershed victory.
It also helps that the Lionesses’ Dutch coach and her influential assistant, Arjan Veurink, are no slaves to philosophy and happily tailor the team’s style and tactics to opposition strengths and weaknesses.
Although England are generally big on patient passing they are not afraid to go direct and/or counter attack at speed. Under previous managers the aim was for the Lionesses to be fitter, stronger and quicker than every rival but, while Wiegman’s sport science staff remain hugely influential, there is a bigger emphasis on nuanced ball work these days. She also excels at gauging precisely when to introduce impact substitutes.
Yet caveats remain: England are without the injured Beth Mead, the Golden Boot winner as they eclipsed all comers last summer, and the attacking playmaker Fran Kirby, while key defender Millie Bright is still not fully recovered from knee surgery. Meanwhile the record goal scorer Ellen White and the experienced midfielder Jill Scott have retired. Wiegman may ultimately regret exiling the Lionesses’ 35-year-old former captain, Steph Houghton, following a stellar season in Manchester City’s defence. England’s coach can be ruthless and, while in charge of the Netherlands, was noted for unemotionally phasing out older players. Few though question her outstanding clarity of thought and communication skills. “Sarina’s a top, top coach, one of world’s best” says her Chelsea counterpart, Emma Hayes. “She’s got the skills, the experience, the personality and the right staff.” Scott agrees: “Led by Sarina we can win the World Cup,” she says. “We’ve got a few injuries and it’s a young squad but it’s still very strong. It’s a great opportunity.”
The coach
Sarina Wiegman
The 53-year-old Dutchwoman from The Hague succeeded Phil Neville as England’s manager in 2021 and led the Lionesses to European Championship glory in a Wembley final against Germany a year later. The former PE teacher previously won Euro 2017 with her native Netherlands and steered the Oranje to a World Cup final defeat against the United States at France 2019. A former Netherlands defensive midfielder, the University of North Carolina graduate was capped 104 times by her country. After moving into coaching Wiegman, who is married to economics lecturer cum football coach Marten Glotzbach and says she only reads non fiction, accepted a secondment with Sparta Rotterdam men where she became the first Dutch women to coach at a male professional club. Routinely described as “a control freak” by former colleagues, she is famously unsentimental and a firm believer that the devil really is in the detail.
Star player
Many decent judges believe Keira Walsh is now the world’s best central midfielder and she arrives in Australia having just helped Barcelona win the Champions League. The general rule is that, if Walsh players well, so, too, do England. Nick Cushing, her former manager at Manchester City describes the Rochdale born 26-year-old with an unerring eye for a pass as “the most tactically intelligent player I’ve worked with.” A long standing fan of both City and the Spain men’s team, Walsh grew up idolising City’s David Silva.
Rising star
Katie Robinson (Brighton). At only 20, the Brighton winger is the baby of the squad. Robinson is Cornish and grew up in Newquay where she still enjoys bodyboarding and surfing. “I’m happiest when I’ve got the ball at my feet and I’m running at a defender,” says the former Bristol City forward - and Charlton loanee - who could prove an important impact substitute in Australia. Has recovered splendidly from an ACL rupture which sidelined her for almost the entire 2020-21 season and has already acquired four senior caps.
Did you know?
Lucy Bronze was eligible to play for Scotland (she was born in Berwick, which housed the nearest hospital to her childhood home on Holy Island in north Northumberland) and Portugal (the country of her father’s birth) as well as England. Bronze is also the first Englishwoman to win the Champions League with two different clubs (three times at Lyon and once with Barcelona). England’s right back has also undergone six knee operations.
Standing of women’s football in England?
Women’s football was wildly popular in England after the First World War but, in 1921 Football Association reactionaries banned females from playing on affiliated ground for 50 years. Once that edict was finally lifted it took time for the game to recapture its mainstream appeal but the Lionesses’ achievement in securing a bronze medal at the 2015 World Cup in Canada represented a watershed with their Euro 2022 triumph turning England players into household names. The government’s recent pledge to offer all schoolgirls access to football should entrench its growing appeal.
Realistic aim at the World Cup?
Winners. After winning Europe 2022 and reaching the last two World Cup semi finals in France and Canada, lifting the trophy is a feasible ambition. Even so, England are on the tricky side of the draw and appear on course to meet Australia or Canada in the first knock out round, with Germany and France to quite possibly follow at the quarter final and semi final stages.
- Written by Louise Taylor for the Guardian
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