Sarina Wiegman ‘living a fairytale’ as stunning run continues after England reach World Cup final
arina Wiegman says it feels like she is “living a fairytale” after guiding England to their first ever World Cup final.
The Lionesses defeated Australia 3-1 in their semi-final in Sydney to knock the co-hosts out of their own tournament.
Ella Toone put England ahead with a wonder strike, before Sam Kerr levelled the game by lashing one in from 30 yards. The Lionesses struck twice in the final 20 minutes, though, as Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo both found the net.
Wiegman has now guided England to their first ever World Cup final, while it is also her fourth major final in a row.
“We achieved the final! Unbelievable, it feels like we won the whole thing,” she said. “It’s like I’m living a fairytale or something.
“I really appreciate it. We made the first final in 2017 [with the Netherlands] and I thought: ‘This is really special, it might not ever happen again’.
“Then you make the second, the third and the fourth and still think: ‘This might never happen again because there is so much competition’.
“I know it is special but then tomorrow I will wake up and will just want to prepare for Spain, because we want to win!”
England have struggled at times during this World Cup, but they found their best performance against Australia. The Lionesses controlled large parts of the game and Wiegman hailed how they have grown during the tournament.
“I can hardly describe how proud I am of the team,” she said. “This team has been adapted all the time.
“Before the tournament, then during the tournament and now in this game again.
“How we come through and find a way to win again is so incredible so I’m really proud of them. We are still celebrating now but tomorrow morning we’ll get ready for Sunday.
Lauren Hemp and Ella Toone both scored in England’s semi-final win
/ REUTERS“So many things have changed. The expectation in England has been high all the time. But after winning the Euros, it went up but I also think the lives of the players has changed a lot.
“They really had to adapt to a new life, which bring lots of very good things but also some challenges because everyone wants something from you, but you still have to perform and we always said performing brought us to where we are right now and performing will keep us where we are and that’s what we trying to do.
“In terms of how we grew up? I think we’re still growing, we’re still getting better every day.
“I think what we mostly have seen in this tournament is that we can adapt in situations we haven’t been in before and that the players can translate what we want to do on the pitch really well.
“There are also some very experienced players and a lot of intelligence.”
