Sarina Wiegman has urged England’s men’s team to “bring it home” after they reached the Euro 2024 final but said her “orange heart hurt” after Ollie Watkins’s late goal knocked out the Netherlands.
“You want a political answer?” the Lionesses’ manager quipped when asked about her feelings after England’s 2-1 win over her home country. “To be really, really honest, I wish the very best for Gareth [Southgate] and his team. We are colleagues, but it did hurt a little bit, my orange heart hurt.”
The Lionesses’ watched England’s semi-final victory together on Wednesday night, with the team in camp preparing for their final two women’s Euro 2025 qualifying group games. The reigning European champions play the Republic of Ireland on Friday at Carrow Road before they travel to Gothenburg to play Sweden on Tuesday.
The top two teams in the group will qualify automatically for the tournament in Switzerland next summer, with the third- and fourth-placed teams going into the playoffs.
On whether they have any advice for the men – Wiegman’s team having won their first major tournament at the 2022 women’s Euros in England – she said: “They know exactly what they have to do. It is their second [Euros] final, which is incredible. I just wish them all the best and in England you would say: ‘Let’s bring it home.’”
The forward Lauren Hemp echoed the sentiments of her manager. “They’re on a journey themselves. They know what’s needed to win,” she said. “Loads of those players have been in Champions League finals, many different finals so I don’t think we need to give them any advice. We’re all rooting for them and wish them the best.”
The Lionesses’ impressive 2-1 win in France ensured Group 3 in League A remains on a knife-edge going into their final two games. England are third, level on seven points with France and two behind Sweden.
Wiegman said the full squad would be training on Thursday but Niamh Charles would not be able to play two 90-minute matches as she is returning from a calf injury. The goalkeeper Mary Earps is back following a hip injury but Wiegman said the form of her No 1 and her back-up, Hannah Hampton, is making her job difficult. “They’ve both been really incredible and it’s a real luxury position we are in to have this level of goalkeepers in our team. That’s the hardest decision to make,” she said.
Wiegman expects the Republic of Ireland to be “really tough” despite having failed to pick up a point in the group. They suffered a 2-0 loss to England in Dublin. “They’ve been really challenging all the teams in this competition,” she said. “We want to play well and control the game a little more than the last time we played against them.”
The game comes at the end of a dark week for the Republic of Ireland, with the Football Association of Ireland on Monday having apologised to former female players after a joint investigation by the Sunday Independent and RTE into alleged unwanted or inappropriate sexual advances by two coaches in the 1990s.
“It’s very, very sad that it happened,” said Wiegman. “If that’s the case and it comes from the investigation, it is very unacceptable and in the future these things can not happen again.”
