Sarina Wiegman stated it’s “absolutely” time to begin getting fascinated about England’s showdown with the US after her European champions secured their position at subsequent summer time’s World Cup subsequent summer time with a 2-0 away defeat of Austria.
England’s pleasant in opposition to the arena champions at Wembley was once contingent at the crew qualifying for the World Cup, however tickets for the pending recreation offered out in lower than 24 hours. “I’m really, really excited about that game but you have to put it to the back of your mind until you’ve qualified and you never know what happens,” Wiegman stated after the European champions’ first recreation a month on from their solved at Wembley.
The Lionesses subsequent face Luxembourg within the ultimate recreation in their qualifying marketing campaign. “Of course, with our standards we should beat Luxembourg, but that’s not how we think, we approach the first game [against Austria] wanting to win and play well and show who we are.”
The manager expressed her pride in how her players – who are still in pre-season – had handled the pressure of playing the same Austrian starting XI that faced Germany in the Euros quarter-finals. “I think after all that I’m very proud of the team,” she said. “It looked so easy but I think it was very hard.”
The win took Wiegman’s tally to 19 wins and two draws in her 21 games in charge of England and a point in Wiener Neustadt sealed top spot in Group D and a place at next summer’s showpiece in Australia and New Zealand. Wiegman maintained she certainly had not forgotten what it’s like to lose. “Of course you remember losing, but you never get bored with winning,” she grinned.
Among the lovers had been some Austrians supporting England and who asked Wiegman’s autograph, and the chief was once requested if she had made England cool: “I think we made England cool. England has been cool before. I think they just like the shirts.
“The way we played, the way the tournament was, not just England I think there were so many very good games. We wanted to inspire the nation but I think this tournament inspired Europe. That’s pretty exciting too. People come up to us and they want our signatures and they’re Austrian people.”
When asked about talk of England being among the favorites for the World Cup, she said: “We knew that was going to happen, I think everyone was talking also that we were the favorite [for] the Euros. England has always been seen as one of the best countries worldwide and yes, of course, we know that’s the case. But we are just trying to do the things we have to, play football and trying to become better every day, and stay connected as a team.”
