Sarina Wiegman: golden hair, gold-rimmed glasses and gold standard of coaching | Football News
At a sit-down with journalists last December, Sarina Wiegman said it would be difficult to better 2022. At best, it can be equalled, the England women’s football team coach had said. Wiegman could change her mind on Sunday, especially if she is a world champion.
Spain stand between England adding a Women’s World Cup to their European title. A World Cup final is unknown territory for both teams though as Netherlands’ coach in 2019, Wiegman knows what it is to lose one. It is the only major competition the former Dutch international has lost going into her fourth final in Sydney.
“You are the first coach to take two different nations to the World Cup final. How, how do you do it,” the pitchside interviewer asked, unable to mask her incredulity. England had just seen out Australia’s resurgence before taking them apart with two late goals when this was put to Wiegman.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “The chance as a coach or as a player to make it to finals is really special. We made it to four already. I never take anything for granted but I am like, am I here in a little fairytale or something?”
It has been a fairytale for England since Wiegman, 53, took charge in September 2021. She had inherited an England team that lost seven of their last 11 games under Phil Neville and, with interim coach Hege Riise in charge, had been defeated by France and Canada.
Under Wiegman, England won their first six World Cup qualifiers scoring 53 goals including a record 20-0 win against Latvia and conceding none. It was the beginning of a run that had England losing only once in 38 games under her, a 0-2 defeat to Australia last April.
That wasn’t the first time Wiegman had sparked a turnaround. In six months of taking charge of Netherlands, a team with only two wins in the finals till then, Wiegman made them European champions in 2017 with six successive victories en route.
“Sarina’s changed so many things about England and how we approach things, the direction we want to head in…the clarity for every player to think as a footballer can be difficult to find sometimes. When you’ve got it, everything takes care of itself,” England defender Alex Greenwood told ‘FourFourTwo’.
That clarity was evident before and during the World Cup. England have coped without five players from the squad that won the European championship. Ellen White and Jill Scott have retired and Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby were unavailable for the trip to Australia and New Zealand due to injury. Early in the World Cup, Keira Walsh was injured. Then, in the round of 16, Lauren James, who had three goals in two games, saw a red card.
From using the same starting 11 in six games of the European championships, Wiegman was forced to ring in changes. Two somewhat laboured wins against Haiti and Denmark also called for a switch in formation and Wiegman introduced a back three against China. With Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly as wingbacks, it worked like a charm till James forced another reset. With a back four, England cut out space behind the wingbacks, negated Nigeria’s player advantage and took the game to penalties.
Wiegman is known to be a meticulous in preparation. It is said she even planned for the eventuality of catching Covid-19 – she did – during the European championship. With Netherlands, Wiegman got the team to train in a room where the humidity matched Tokyo’s during the 2021 Olympics. Golden hair pulled back in a pony tail – at press conferences and training sessions, it usually falls to her shoulders – and gold-rimmed glasses in place, if Wiegman is the gold standard of calm and coaching on the touchline, it is because she and her team are confident of having prepared in the best possible way. That also makes defeats easier to deal with after the initial devastation, she has said.
Her calm is transmitted to the squad. Usually defensively solid, England showed that in coming back against Colombia after conceding a poor goal and dealing with the absence of Walsh and James.
Wiegman also allows players to express themselves on the pitch, Greenwood told ‘FourFourTwo’. Lauren Hemp’s heeled assist for Ella Toone’s tremendous goal against Australia or Hemp’s pass for Alessia Russo which made it 3-1 are examples of that. As was the way they picked holes in Australia’s middle and back thirds.
Sue Campbell, the English FA’s director of women’s football, has described Wiegman as an exceptional human being. Wiegman’s players have spoken of her as warm, loyal, someone with whom you can talk about family but is, according to Daly, “great to play for.”
Not known to rage at players or staff – her steely stare can be enough – Wiegman spoke of hard conversations in the lead-up to the World Cup. She ignored demands to bring back former captain Steph Houghton and in 2017, did not start Netherlands’ skipper Mandy van den Berg after two games.
“She (Wiegman) is the missing ingredient England were looking for,” Williamson has said.
