With videoSarina Wiegman has once again won a prize. The 53-year-old coach from The Hague won the Finalissima with the English football players at a packed Wembley, where the European title was won in July last year. Brazil, the champions of South America, was defeated on penalties tonight.
Minne Groenstege
Latest update:
10:59
Ella Toone, the 23-year-old attacking midfielder for Manchester United, scored the opening goal at Wembley halfway through the first half. Toone scored after a nice attack through captain Leah Williamson, Lauren James and Lucy Bronze.
With an odds ratio of 11-10 (5-4 on goal), the game was reasonably balanced, although England had 71 percent of possession at Wembley. The 83,132 spectators saw England dominate in the first half, but after the break there were not many chances left. England seemed to win 1-0, but after moderate intervention by keeper Mary Earps, Brazil made it 1-1 in the 93rd minute via substitute Andressa Alves.
England still took the prize by winning the penalty shootout 4-2. After misses from Ella Toone, Rafaelle Souza and Tamires, Chloe Kelly scored the decisive penalty. Kelly also scored the winning goal in extra time against Germany in the European Championship final at Wembley last year.
Wiegman is still without defeat as national coach of the English football players. “I feel privileged and I am very happy to work here. They are such an incredible group and the team is so committed to wanting to learn every day,” the national coach told ITV. “I think the first half was really good, but we were really challenged in possession in the second half. It’s good that we have this information. We have one more game on Tuesday and then we are ready.”
Wiegman confessed not to have trained much on penalties. “We didn’t have much of a chance this week. We practiced on Wednesday and for the European Championship we trained a lot on it. We knew what we had to do and we did it well.”
English media were also full of praise for Wiegman, who has been unbeaten in thirty international matches with England. “At Wembley it was not Brazil, but England that made the crowd salivate. The World Cup will start in more than a hundred days and the English will again tick the box for another successful test. The Guardian.
The BBC wrote after Brazil’s late equalizer: ,,The Lionesses showed mental resilience under the leadership of Wiegman.” Daily Mail: ,,On the way to the World Cup, Wiegman and England seem unbeatable.”
Favorite for world title
It was the first edition of the Finalissima for women, after Argentina won the first edition for men on June 1 last year by beating European champions Italy 3-0. It was for Lionel Messi and his teammates the prelude to the world title six months later in Qatar.
England hopes to become the women’s world champion for the first time at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer, where Wiegman’s team will certainly appear as one of the favorites at the start. England will take on Haiti, Denmark and China in the group stage. Next Tuesday, England will take on Australia in a friendly match at the Brentford stadium.
The Orange will practice against Germany tomorrow evening in Sittard and against Poland on Tuesday evening at Het Kasteel in Rotterdam. At the World Cup, Vietnam, Portugal and the United States are the opponents in the group stage for the team of national coach Andries Jonker. The Dutch team won the 2017 European Championship with Wiegman and lost the 2019 World Cup final against the United States. At the European Championship last year, the Dutch lost 1-0 to France under Mark Parsons in the quarter-finals after extra time.
Wiegman still undefeated
After thirty international matches, Wiegman is still undefeated with the national team of England: 25 victories and five draws. The goal difference of 138-10 is just as impressive.
Wiegman won the European title in her own country with England last year, repeating her trick with the Orange Lionesses of the summer of 2017. Wiegman also won the Arnold Clark Cup twice with England, a friendly tournament with three games in a week. Recently, Wiegman was also voted The Best FIFA Football Coach for the third time.
After two awards in the Netherlands (bondsridder in 2012 and knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau in 2017), Wiegman received the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award in England in December.
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