England Women manager, Sarina Wiegman has applauded her Lionesses for “unbelievable” Round of 16 victory over Nigeria on penalties at 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
England grinded out an intense draw against Nigeria even despite losing Lauren James to a red card after she stamped on Michelle Alozie’s back in the 84th minute, before they went on to win 4-2 on penalties with Chloe Kelly scoring the winning spot kick.
Their gutsy performance though left Wiegman full of pride as she spoke to BBC Radio 5Live post-match, as she commented: “I don’t think I can be any more proud than I am right now.
“It was a very tough game, with totally different phases, with having a setback and changed mindsets straight away, playing with ten. Then, going into the penalty shootout which we prepared for of course, and then the execution. G [Georgia] misses one and then the other four go in.
“It’s just unbelievable, we never give up and we found a way. I’m so proud of the team.”
Wiegman also credited Nigeria for becoming the first team to stop England scoring at a major tournament since Argentina during the Group Stage of 2019 Women’s World Cup, as she described the match as “equal.”
The ex Netherlands manager proceeded to acknowledge Nigeria’s qualities which frustrated England, as she continued: “As we expected Nigeria had good organisation, were very physical, very transitional and quick, and that’s what they showed.
“They were also very good with their press, they pressed very high and we tried to get out of their press. When we did, they were really quick and very tough in the duels, it was hard for us to switch the play too.
“After Lauren James was sent off then we went with ten and we dropped deeper, they had to make the game and that was hard for them you could tell. Those are phases in the game we went to.”
On James’ red card, Wiegman urged fans to “respect” the decision of referee, Melissa Borjas as she iterated that the 21 year-old can learn from this experience, as she explained: “It was just a split second at the end of the game, people getting tired.
“She’s a young player and when people are getting tired, you can lose your control for a split second and things can happen like this.
“It’s a very hard lesson to learn but that happens unfortunately, and of course, she doesn’t want to harm anyone.”
England eventually prevailed 4-2 on penalties despite Georgia Stanway missing their opening penalty, but Wiegman explained that their strategy began with “having confidence” plus “a plan, having trained on it and knowing what we were going to do – that’s what we had.”
Wiegman in particular was impressed with Kelly’s handling of the taking the winning penalty, having seen her do the same in their Women’s Finalissima triumph over Brazil in April, concidentally by the same 4-2 result on penalties on that occasion.
Reflecting upon how Kelly approached that difficult test and the team’s atititude to the penalty shootout, Wiegman said: “Everyone knew what her task was, but this was the highest possible pressure, to take a penalty, and how we did that was really good.
“We showed ourselves in the Finalissima already so that gave confidence, and beside that, every player had her own plan and as a team we had a plan.”
England will next face Colombia or Jamaica in the Quarter-Finals on Saturday 12 August at 11:30am UK Time.
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