Sarina Wiegman hopes England “go wild from the first minute” against Scotland in their crunch Nations League tie on Tuesday evening.
The Lionesses travel to Hampden Park knowing only a sizeable win against the hosts is likely to earn progression to the Nations League finals and keep alive hopes of a place for Team GB at the Olympic Games next summer.
Should the Netherlands defeat Belgium in Group A1’s other game, England will have to better their goal difference to top the group and progress. England sit second with a goal difference of one to the Netherlands’ four. The two sides are level on points and head-to-head results, so goal difference will determine top spot if they both win on Tuesday.
“I hope they [the players] go wild from the first minute but you don’t want to get erratic,” Wiegman said. “We want to be controlled, but we really want to play our best game and create chances and get a lot of players up front.”
England had to come from two goals down to secure a 3-2 win against the Netherlands on Friday and keep Nations League progression on the table. “How we started the game Friday, the first 10 minutes we were really on it,” Wiegman said.
“Everyone said that [first half] was really bad but I think the 10 minutes [were good], the first time they came into our half they scored a goal, so that hit us a little bit. Always, whenever we start a game, we want to go and try to attack.”
The midfielder Keira Walsh echoed her manager, insisting that while England know they must attack Scotland, their best football is played when they are controlled and focused in possession.
“For me nothing changes, but we’re aware we’ve got to be on the front foot,” Walsh said. “Equally, they’ve got some good attacking players as well, so we have to be aware of that.
“We play our best game when we keep possession and create opportunities that are measured, it’s not just about throwing balls in the box. It’s about being controlled and picking the best opportunities.”
Before the final round of group games the Netherlands manager, Andries Jonker, said there were legitimate questions to be asked about the integrity of the competition, with England facing a team some of whose players may benefit from them earning Team GB a place at the Olympics, while acknowledging the rivalry between Scotland and England.
Wiegman said she “understood the conversations” about the potential conflict of interest but added: “If you have seen Scotland and if you know the history of Scotland and England, then there is no way that they are going to give away this game. They really want to beat England, and we really want to beat them of course. There’s such a rivalry … we saw that when we played in England.”
On whether the current scenario should be allowed to occur again, Wiegman said: “I don’t have the solution. This is the first time we’ve played in the [new] Nations League, how are you going to solve this situation? Maybe you don’t want us in the same group but if Scotland topped another group and we topped a group we would go into the finals with the same situation.
“There is not an easy solution and it’s just about fair play and football, and in football everyone wants to win and we know the rivalry between Scotland and England.” So, that’s just the way it is right now.
Walsh agreed. “Nobody’s questioning the professionalism of this game, they’ve got some top players and so do we and like Sarina said, we both want to win,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll be thinking about anything else. We both want to go out and play a good game and hopefully we win the game.”
England need to finish as one of the top two teams in the Nations League so must reach the final in February, or win the third-place playoff should the Paris 2024 hosts France reach the final, for Team GB to qualify.
Walsh pointed to how difficult that is. “Just to qualify for the Olympics in general, it is very difficult,” the 26-year-old said.
“Even if we do get through the group it’s still two places along with France and there’s some top European countries left in it. But, as a player you want to play in those competitions and play against the best teams. For us, this Nations League has been really exciting. Hopefully we can get to another Olympics but as I said, it’s going to be difficult to do that.”
