Danes seeking fresh Women's Euro start after recent Sweden thrashing
"We need to get a better start, that's for sure," he told Reuters with a smile during an interview at the Danish team hotel.
The 6-1 drubbing the Danes suffered in Stockholm was a shock, but the Swedish-born Denmark coach said that he would not be making wholesale changes to how his side play in response to that defeat.
"We have been working together for two years, so we have built a foundation that I don't want to throw away, but we just need to put a little bit more attention on some details in our way of defending and attacking that will give us a better result, hopefully," he said.
Ensconced in a hotel that is perched on the northern shore of Lake Neuchatel, the Danes have been preparing meticulously for a foe they know well. Jeglertz said though they have Germany and Poland to come in Group C, they won't be looking beyond the Swedes until that game is done and dusted.
"I think it's still only one game at a time. If we started thinking that, if we get a bad start, a bad result, a bad feeling after (one game), it's much tougher," the 53-year-old explained.
"So a key thing is to get a good start, getting a feeling that we are into the game and that we are competing on a good level and getting that result of those points from the first game. That gives us better possibilities to qualify for the next round."
Having spent a six-year spell in charge of Finland, Jeglertz has seen big changes in the women's game in recent years and is very much looking forward to seeing the players showcasing the best of themselves during the Euros.
"The tempo is higher, the quality of each player is better, everything is growing, not just only the player, also the referees, everything around is also taking the next step," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
The secrets behind Sarina Wiegman's success - and why latest final is not ‘luck'
They may have already used their nine lives, but England are through to their third consecutive major tournament final at Euro 2025. Yes, England have been extremely fortunate to make it this far, requiring miraculous escapes to defeat Sweden and Italy in the knockout stages and overcome sub-par performances. But if the Lionesses have had some luck on their side, there is no denying that reaching another final is an impressive achievement - one that is unprecedented in England's history. Sarina Wiegman 's run of finals is even longer, with the Dutch coach extending her streak to five Euros or World Cup finals in a row with the Netherlands and England. No other manager, in men's or women's football, has reached five consecutive finals at major international tournaments. Wiegman was asked for her secret after England's dramatic semi-final victory over Italy and replied with a laugh: 'I'm the lucky one. I can't believe it myself.' She gave the credit to her players, coaching staff and the support of the English and Dutch federations - but Wiegman has also played a role in extending her tournament record. 'She is a really special coach and we are lucky to have her,' said the FA's chief executive Mark Bullingham. And even if a lot of Wiegman's decision-making at the Euros has come under question, her approach is built on relationships and fostering a team environment, and the results are hard to dispute. As Keira Walsh said: 'She's been to five finals, I think it speaks for itself.' Empowering her players England's togetherness and the unity of the squad has been a key part of their run to the final. Before the tournament began, England's players were encouraged to open up to each other and share their 'why' - their reason being at the tournament. Forward Lauren Hemp said a shared understanding of every players' journey 'connects us more as a team' while captain Leah Williamson said: 'You have to know those things about each other for when times get tough.' Wiegman has also encouraged her players to share tough moments with each other, with Beth Mead explaining: "I think we've made ourselves very vulnerable. I think that gives us so much more togetherness, so much more trust of each other.' During the Euros, Mead has shared how she and Ella Toone have supported each other while they are both grieving the loss of a parent, while the Lionesses also came together to call for action after Jess Carter revealed she had been suffering racist abuse online. 'She [Wiegman] empowers us, which I think is important,' Williamson said. 'Especially coming from a woman. She sees us, gives us space to be ourselves and encourages us to be better - and really does encourage us to be better - in a positive way.' Lucy Bronze spoke of how England are able to 'lift each other up' and their resilience has been required when bouncing back from their opening defeat to France or coming from behind to beat Sweden and Italy in the knockout stages. The term 'proper England' has been used throughout the tournament and part of that is Wiegman wanting 'our behaviours and how we want to support each other' to contribute to the team environment, believing that it makes a difference when under pressure. 'I have no doubt that helps in critical moments,' Mark Bullingham said. 'She's probably one of the best managers I've played for in terms of trying to make everyone feel loved,' Keira Walsh said. 'It's a really, really difficult job when you're in a tournament, and obviously people want to play, people aren't, but she really, really cares about the human side.' There have been many times during the Euros where a team that has previously tasted success could have folded. But England's togetherness, built through their vulnerability, has helped them push through even when they are not playing their best. Building a winning culture They can't keep getting away with it, right? But the more late goals England score, the more their ability to win by any means possible becomes self-fulfilling. Italy and Sweden both left the Euros with regrets after being unable to finish England off. 'We've shown that multiple times,' Wiegman said after the semi-final. England are winning games in a very different way to Euro 2022, with slow starts and a lack of urgency a frequent theme, but the legacy of their super-subs from that tournament has lived on at Euro 2025. The role of England's bench - and the togetherness of the 'positive clique' - has been instrumental again throughout. The fact Wiegman has already led England to a major trophy by using her squad in this way ensures that everyone buys in. 'It just becomes more natural,' Wiegman explained when discussing her approach at the start of the Euros. 'You have set the tone at the beginning of how you want things. And then you hope that things become organic and everyone knows how it works. When new players and new staff members come in, they just straight away come into the environment and everyone knows how it is and they grow and adapt to it naturally.' Wiegman's standards remain high and Leah Williamson explained: 'She's a winner, she's very competitive, even when it comes to darts. She has that edge to her.' Wiegman said there was 'relief' after narrowly avoiding defeat against Italy but said: 'We never give up. We say we can win by any means. Against Sweden, with the penalty shoot-out, we were a bit lucky that they missed. Tonight we were going for that goal but it gave us something, too. This team just keeps going." 'I've heard that people have been saying that it was luck, but I think for us you kind of create those moments yourself, through belief, determination, confidence,' midfielder Keira Walsh said. 'I think it's thought out, it's purposeful, it's the absolute belief that no matter what minute of the game it is - we're gonna win or we're gonna get a result that we need to take us to extra time. I think that's kind of the resilience of this team as well.' FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the relationships and connections Wiegman creates within the England team is 'phenomenal' and has been a critical part of the Lionesses reaching another final. 'I think she's really helped build a very, very strong culture,' he said. 'Not just amongst players, but the whole support team.' In-game changes and staying calm Wiegman defended the timing of her substitutes against Italy after what appeared to be an agonising wait to bring on Chloe Kelly and Michelle Agyemang following their decisive contributions against Sweden. In the end, who are us to question her decision-making on the touchline? "In the second half we were in their half, played well and created some chances. That's why we waited,' Wiegman said afterwards, but it still felt like a long time to persist with an approach that Italy looked comfortable dealing with - particularly when the impact of Kelly and Agyemang was so obvious when they did eventually come on. Ultimately, Wiegman's changes worked because England won the game - and the Lionesses have now scored five goals from substitutes at Euro 2025, the most in the tournament. England's bench is one of the strongest at the Euros, with much more depth than the options available to Sweden and Italy, but Wiegman's timing has made the difference. '[What] you notice when you play for her is how calm she is,' Keira Walsh explained. 'It makes a massive difference in the 95th minute when you're losing 1-0, and you look to the side and she's very calm. That speaks volumes of her as a manager.' 'She is just a cool head in the way she transmits that onto the pitch,' said FA chief Mark Bullingham. 'She looks like the coolest person in the stadium.' Wiegman's attacking substitutes towards the end of normal time against meant that England, once again, ended up with players who were out of position during extra time. Beth Mead dropped into attacking midfield while Lauren Hemp put in a shift at left-back, as England piled numbers forward. Wiegman, though, has guided her improvised team through different chapters of the game, particularly after England have found an equaliser but still have an unbalanced line-up on the pitch. 'You try and get that information onto your team-mates quickly and we adapt, and I think that's probably the difference that sets us apart probably sometimes at the moment tactically,' Beth Mead said after the quarter-final. 'If we can get it right, how does [the opponent] keep up with all those changes? I think that works quite well for us. 'Sarina knows what she's doing,' Mead added. 'There's method in the madness.' Perhaps England fans need to keep the faith as well before the Euro 2025 final on Sunday.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
'Social media aided body anxiety' - England's Bern
England and Bristol Bears prop Sarah Bern said building her social media profile has helped her confidence after struggling with anxiety around body image. Bern has been capped 71 times by the Red Roses and was named in England's 32-player squad on Thursday for the upcoming Rugby World 28-year-old was in conversation with double Olympic gold medal winning boxer Nicola Adams in the latest episode of The LGBT Sport Podcast."My opinions on social media have really changed over the last year and I really struggled with anxiety. I feel a lot more confident now - but [I] really struggled with being myself," Bern said."I was always bigger as a young girl and I never felt like I was good enough or pretty enough or any of those things. I feel like a lot of young girls feel that. "I was really anxious about a lot of things and social media, I was like 'no one really wants to see what I'm doing'." Bern, who won her first England cap in 2016, cited American centre Ilona Maher's spell at Bristol Bears earlier this year with helping her see the value in using her profile online. Maher is the most followed rugby player in the world on social media with more than 8.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok and has built a profile on messages of body positivity, which has propelled her to global star signed with the Bears for three months from January to March to play in the Premiership Women's Rugby."She [Maher] was with her family and her energy and how she managed to get her social media alongside her being a professional athlete, I found it really cool and like it wasn't a big task," Bern said."Especially for women's rugby, we need more fan engagement. We need more fans. We need to grow our sport - what's the best way to do that? Well, show ourselves."Now I like really love it and I just relish it and I actually think it's really helped me to be less anxious and just be myself." Bern will be appearing in her third World Cup for the Red Roses next month when the tournament kicks off in England, having been part of the squads that finished runners-up in 2017 and going in as one of the favourites to win the trophy, Bern said she feels "less pressure to live up to expectations" this time around and instead feels excited for the wider impact a home World Cup could have with the public. "It's been a learning curve for me to actually just enjoy it and enjoy the experience of it. This World Cup I'm excited for in a different way. I hope we win, but I don't feel like that's the biggest thing that could happen," she said."We're on the brink of hopefully doing what the girls [England women football] did with the Euros and really making the sport blow up across the globe."
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
England's Keira Walsh hopes Spain can enjoy a controversy-free final after Rubiales affair
Keira Walsh has said she hopes Spain's players are able to 'just enjoy the game of football' when they face England in the Euro 2025 final on Sunday after their World Cup final victory two years ago was overshadowed by Luis Rubiales's actions afterwards. Walsh was a Barcelona player at the time of the 2023 World Cup and witnessed close up the fallout from Rubiales's inappropriate actions, including the kiss the Spanish football federation president landed on Jenni Hermoso. 'It's difficult because I didn't understand the Spanish conversations that were going on,' she said on Thursday, the day after Spain beat Germany to reach the final in Switzerland. 'So for the girls, this time, as a friend and a fellow footballer, I want them to just go and enjoy this final – they play incredible football and they deserve to be there. As a human being I just want them to go out and just enjoy the game of football.' Walsh experienced a huge explosion of the growth in the women's game in England after the Lionesses lifted a first major trophy at the 2022 Euros, with the domestic game and international matches seeing attendances spike and investments increase. However, Spain's midfield talisman Aitana Bonmatí has spoken about her frustration and disappointment that they did not experience a similar boom after their maiden World Cup win. 'I think they probably could have had more respect,' said Walsh. 'The way our league jumped after we won the Euros and everything in and around it, if you compare it to Spain it wasn't the same and they won the World Cup. They probably could have had more support. 'After the game there was a lot of controversy and I don't think, for them, there was enough spotlight on how incredible they played and how incredible some of their players were, it was all about the other stuff that had gone on. As a professional, that was disappointing to see. I have a lot of friends in that team and I think they deserved a little bit more than what they got.' England have had a bumpy ride to the final: they had to come from two goals down against Sweden to win on penalties and then one goal down to win in extra time against Italy, with Michelle Agyemang scoring late equalisers in both games. Walsh had never experienced anything like it. 'Obviously we come into every tournament and we want to reach the final,' the Chelsea midfielder said. 'Maybe the way we've done it is a little bit more stressful for everyone but the kind of the beauty of this team is that we are relentless and we've got belief in ourselves that even in the 90th minute we can get a goal and we can win and that's what's really special about us at the minute.' Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion Where the rest of the watching world sees chaos, there is more design, she said. 'When you're playing maybe it looks like chaos but for us it doesn't feel like that. I've also heard that people have been saying that it was luck, but I think for us you kind of create those moments yourself, through belief, determination, confidence. 'I don't think it is luck that Michelle's in the box and scoring. It is not luck that people are putting crosses in the box. It's thought out, it's purposeful and it's the absolute belief that no matter what minute of the game it is we're going to win or we're going to get the result that we need to take us to extra time.'
