Sarina Wiegman just one year ago took her Lionesses to victory in front of a sold-out Wembley Stadium. Can she go one better and make her Lionesses team champions of the world?
Sarina Wiegman joined as England's head coach back in 2021 and since then has revolutionised the England National Team. Since she joined they have only lost 1 game in the last 31 games and the team has scored 138 goals in the process. Her only loss came at the hands of a very talented Australian side, with them winning 2-0 on a very cold night in front of a sold-out Brentford Community Stadium.
Since then Wiegman and all of her coaching staff have been making what use they have when they can, to get the players physically and mentally ready for the World Cup down under.
She has also named her squad which will be traveling to Australia, but there are some massive omissions to the squad including: Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby, who are all out due to long-term injuries.
She is also able to give six players their first ever taste of a major tournament, after very good performances from all of them at club-level. The 6 players are Niamh Charles, Laura Coombs, Lauren James, Esme Morgan, Katie Robinson and Katie Zelem.
Also, with the group stage games being announced, England has had the opportunity to prepare for each team they will come against. There are some teams that England have not played and others who they are more familiar with.
Sarina has created a culture that breeds success, which the last England manager couldn't do, and this has become obvious immediately because Wiegman has made some massive calls on some of her selections. This has earned her trust from fans.
One particular player who comes to mind is Steph Houghton, after her increase in club performance and the injuries to key England players, fans fully expected her to be on the plane. However, Wiegman opted to take a younger squad, so she can develop the team long-term.
Opponents:
Haiti:
Haiti are featuring in their first-ever major tournament and this will be massive for the country regardless of the results or outcome. Haiti is currently ranked 53rd in the FIFA rankings and they have been put in a group with some European heavyweights and some experienced World Cup teams. Haiti had to beat both Senegal and Chile to come through to get to this point.
Denmark:
Denmark have had a season of mixed results they played a number of games against other World Cup teams in Sweden and Japan and both won 1-0 and left the team with bags of confidence going into the World Cup. The player to look out for in Denmark is Bayern Munich and former Chelsea player Pernille Harder she has been a key player for them for a very long time and is extremely useful when trying to link defence to attack.
China:
China are coming off the back of an exceptional Asia Cup performance that saw them beat South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India, Iran, Chinese Taipei to end the tournament as champions and give them a good amount of confidence coming into the World Cup. However, when they last played in the World Cup they scored once in the whole tournament leaving much to be desired.
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