England manager Sarina Wiegman admits she still doesn’t know her best XI as the Lionesses take on Belgium at Ashton Gate in one of the national team’s last fixtures before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Wiegman has altered her team across the first two games of the Arnold Clark Cup, as England have beaten Italy and Korea scoring six goals with just one in reply. Following their opening victory over Italy, nine changes were made for Sunday’s fixture in Coventry against Korea.
The Dutch coach will rotate her squad again in BS3 tonight for the deciding game of the competition as she fine-tunes her options to form a greater idea of what will likely constitute her “best XI” for the summer. Following tonight’s game (kick-off: 19:45), England host Brazil and Australia at Wembley in April before their World Cup opener against Denmark on July 28.
England’s European Championship win in 2022 was notable by the fact Wiegman started the same team across all six matches of the tournament but the retirements of stalwarts Jill Scott and Ellen White have meant her side has had to take on a natural evolution.
Former Bristol City striker Ebony Salmon, now of Houston Dash, Manchester United midfielder Katie Zelam and Aston Villa’s Jordan Nobbs are among the names who could come into the equation at Ashton Gate having yet to start a game in this competition.
“It shows the team is really good and it's hard to make decisions,” she said. “We don't really know the strongest XI at the moment but we don't need to know yet.
“In sports, the dynamics in the team means there will be changes; some players will retire, some youngsters will compete and challenge players already in the squad and that’s really good competition.
"So far, I’ve been happy with the depth in the squad - it’s growing. What you see now is we have such a big group, more than 23, who are able to play at the World Cup so that makes it hard for us to make decisions.
“With the starting line-up, we have more than 11 players who can start for the team so it’s not as if someone is not good enough to start, it’s just the tactical choices we will make. We don’t have to make that now, we just really want to know what our opportunities and options are, if we have to change a game, which opponent we have… so it’s exciting.”
England face a Belgium side who reached the quarter-finals at last summer’s European Championships but failed to qualify for the World Cup. Although they’re also unbeaten over two games - winning both matches 2-1 - Wiegman is anticipating the Red Flames will allow her side plenty of the ball, forming a low and compact block with the Lionesses needing to display patience to break them down.
“They have a very recognisable style of play - it’s organised and they have some very good players and some height in their team that they use sometimes too,” she added. “We expect that we’ll be in possession a lot but they can challenge us in some moments if we give them the opportunity.
“They will probably play really compact and make space really small, and we’ll have to find ways to break those lines, create chances and score.”
