Sarina Wiegman insisted that the present is all that counts ahead of the Euro 2022 semi-finals, despite her impressive record against opponents Sweden and England’s recent defeats in the last four of major international tournaments.
The Lionesses will have a chance to win a major international tournament for the first time in Sunday’s final if they can overcome the highest-ranked side at this Euros at Bramall Lane on Tuesday night.
After falling at this hurdle in each of their last three tournament appearances, England have the opportunity to reach their first final since Euro 2009, when they finished runners-up to Germany.
Wiegman was responsible for one of those three semi-final defeats while in charge of the Netherlands in 2017 and also defeated Peter Gerhardsson’s Sweden at that tournament, as well as at this stage of the 2019 World Cup.
“I think it's necessary to be in ‘the now’,” the England head coach said at Monday’s pre-match press conference.
“I do think you always have to learn from your experience and take out the things that you can take to be better, become better to learn. But it's no use now to talk about that all the time because it's now, so why should we talk about that?
“My squad is totally different [compared to 2017] because I'm the English manager now and it's a different situation. I'm now in ‘the now’, thinking ‘the now’. Sweden has performed really well over the years in the women's game all the time.
“We take it for now. We're England, Sweden is our opponent tomorrow. They have a very strong squad, so do we, and we just hope we will play our style of game and that will bring us to win.”
When asked if England are ready to make history, Wiegman responded, without missing a beat: “The England team is ready to play the best game tomorrow against Sweden and hopefully we inspire a nation.”
England’s journey to the semi-finals of the World Cup three years ago ended when Steph Houghton missed a late penalty to equalise against the United States, while the Lionesses have never won a penalty shoot-out.
Wiegman has readied her players for every eventuality, including spot-kicks. “We prepared for everything. We've been talking about every scenario that can happen,” she said. “I think we're totally prepared for everything and then we'll see how it develops tomorrow."
