England manager Sarina Wiegman believes her England team can still improve after a momentous defeat of world champions USA.
Goals from the influential Lauren Hemp and Georgia Stanway gave the Lionesses a 2-1 victory making it 15 wins on the bounce, as they extracted some measure of revenge for the painful 2019 World Cup semi-final defeat.
Wiegman’s team remain unbeaten in 2022 as they made the perfect return to Wembley less than three months on after lifting the European Championship trophy under the arch.
But the Dutch coach still said that Friday night’s entertaining Wembley dual showed England still had areas to improve in.
“That was really intense,” she said. “The USA played as we expected. They gave us some hard times, which was obviously normal because they are really good.
“Sometimes we were very open (defensively). We played with a lot of space at the back, and we know the USA are very, very quick.
“They are a very athletic team, and we didn’t choose to just drop back and get the space behind the defence really small because we wanted to play with the high press.
“We knew that, and it’s something that we will review to see if we can do it better. But it’s how we want to play.
“In the first half, I think we were a little better than the second half. We had some problems getting out of the press in the second half. But it’s 2-1, and I think it was a great game.”
Wiegman, who led England to Euro 2022 summer glory, was also full of praise for goalscorer Hemp, who scored inside ten minutes after good work from Beth Mead.
The Manchester City forward played through the middle of the front three to spearhead the England attack after Alessia Russo withdrew from the squad through injury earlier this week.
And Wiegman was delighted with her performance.
“I think (Lauren Hemp) felt comfortable,” she said. “I think she was enjoying herself, and she was giving them a lot of problems and helping our team.
“And it was nice that she scored a goal. She was really quick, so that was a positive.”
Although England have now added a victory over the No.1 ranked side in the women’s game to the European Championship they lifted in the summer, Wiegman won’t be allowing the group to get carried away.
Although the manager did admit that Friday’s victory over the 2019 world champions was one to be savoured.
She added: “We don’t win a World Cup now, but it’s really good to have this moment in this environment with all the people cheering us.
“We said before the game that whatever happens, yes, we want to win the game, but whatever happens, we know this is just one stage. It’s a starting point to get in preparation for the World Cup.
“It’s really nice when you win the game and show you are at a very high level.”
