Sarina Wiegman: Pressure on England no different to Euro 2022

South Wales Guardian

13 hours ago

The Lionesses manager feels expectations remain the same as they did three years ago as she prepares for the opening fixture in Switzerland on Saturday.
England will face France in their first match of the tournament but despite the label of title holders, Wiegman insists that expectations remain unchanged.
'For me it doesn't feel that different. It has always been there - high expectations. We have high expectations from ourselves, too,' she explained.
'We just want to do really well. We know we're here and we know exactly where we want to go, but we bring it back to [the fact] we have to be the best prepared, we have to have the best game plans and, if necessary, be able to adapt to what we have in front of us.
'The team is in a very good place, they're really well bonded. We have worked really hard and we will work really hard in every single game and every single training session. That's what we can control.'
Since 2015, England have reached the semi-finals of every major tournament they have competed in and further success under Wiegman arguably only pushes expectations higher.
Having claimed European Championship gold with the Netherlands in 2017, the Dutch manager repeated the feat with the Lionesses in the seminal home Euros in 2022.
Such game-changing success was followed by a World Cup final in 2023, leaving expectations for England sky high.
But while the outside world discuss the possibility of England becoming first team to defend a Euros title and repeating the feat that inspired so many at Wembley in that heady summer, in the Lionesses' camp no such conversations are occurring.
Instead, Wiegman's squad are distancing themselves from past achievements in the search of a 'New England' that remains intune with the ever-increasing demands of women's football.
'We absolutely cherish what we have done before and we never forget it. Those are lifetime experiences for us, for our families and also for our friends but you have to move on,' said Wiegman.
'You have to be on top. Things are changing very quickly, things are developing very quickly so we have to do too.
'We came together in February and said it's a new challenge. The approach was there anyway but we called it a 'New England'.'
The first glimpse of such that reformed Lionesses team will come against a France side who have undergone major changes of their own.
Laurent Bonadei has opted not to include French legends and serial winners Eugenie Le Sommer and Wendie Renard in his Euros squad, but has so far not been proved wrong with France winning their last eight fixtures.
It presents a huge task for Wiegman who is in no illusion of the strengths the French team possess, or the stature of their omissions.
'The French are very, very strong and they have great young players coming through. They have shown already that they are still a very powerful, quick team that can play really well,' she said.
'They have played games without [Renard] recently. I don't have the context but she is an absolute legend. They [Renard and Le Sommer] have been trailblazers for the women's game and they still are even though they are not here.'