12 Aug 2023 at 18:00
Sarina Wiegman is looking forward to the semi-final at the World Cup against Australia. The England manager expects a hot-tempered game against the host nation, although she is not fully aware of the rivalry between the countries.
“That’s going to be great,” said the 53-year-old Dutch on Saturday after the 2-1 win against Colombia in the quarterfinals. “I understand that there is a big rivalry. I will ask some questions about that. Maybe it will be more intense than I can imagine now.”
Australia had previously beaten France on penalties in front of 75,000 enthusiastic spectators in Brisbane on Saturday. Wiegman expects that the atmosphere in the stadium on Wednesday during the semi-finals will be just as impressive.
“Although it was also impressive today and it seemed like an away game,” said the national coach about the many Colombian fans in Sydney. “But when you play, you concentrate on the game. However, the atmosphere is fantastic and I’m glad we’re staying in the tournament.”
Photo: NU.nl
Wiegman sees a lot of resilience
England, who only managed to beat Nigeria after penalties in the eighth final, had to clear a deficit against Colombia. “We showed resilience again,” said Wiegman.
“It was a tough task, but we knew that in advance. I thought we played pretty well in the first half, but we were sloppy with the ball a few times and then they are very dangerous in the counter.”
“It was hard work after the break when they started to press. I’m proud of the team, how we won the duels and held onto the lead.”
Sarina Wiegman on ECs and WCs
EC 2017: The Netherlands-Norway 1-0 European Championship 2017: The Netherlands-Denmark 1-0 EC 2017: The Netherlands-Belgium 2-1 EC 2017: The Netherlands-Sweden 2-0 European Championship 2017: The Netherlands-England 3-0 EC 2017: The Netherlands-Denmark 4-2 World Cup 2019: The Netherlands-New Zealand 1-0 World Cup 2019: The Netherlands-Cameroon 3-1 World Cup 2019: The Netherlands-Canada 2-1
WK 2019: The Netherlands-Japan 2-1
WK 2019: The Netherlands-Italy 2-0 World Cup 2019: The Netherlands-Sweden 1-0 World Cup 2019: United States-The Netherlands 2-0 EC 2022: England-Austria 1-0 European Championship 2022: England-Norway 8-0 European Championship 2022: England-Northern Ireland 5-0 EC 2022: England-Spain 2-1 EC 2022: England-Sweden 4-0 European Championship 2022: England-Germany 2-1 World Cup 2023: England-Haiti 1-0 WK 2023: England-Denmark 1-0 World Cup 2023: England-China 6-1
WK 2023: England-Nigeria 0-0, 4-2 on penalties World Cup 2023: England-Colombia 2-1
