FIFA Women’s World Cup: England used to playing with target on its back, says Wiegman

Wiegman’s fourth-ranked European champion takes on world No. 13 Denmark in its second game of the Women’s World Cup at Sydney Football Stadium on Friday.

The Lionesses are among the favourites at the World Cup but opened with a nervy 1-0 win thanks to a penalty against minnows Haiti. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Lionesses play every game with a target on their backs, said coach Sarina Wiegman, who was not surprised Denmark coach Lars Sondergaard pegged his team as underdog facing a “superpower” England side.

Wiegman’s fourth-ranked European champion takes on world No. 13 Denmark in its second game of the Women’s World Cup at Sydney Football Stadium on Friday. The teams are level on three points atop Group D.

“Of course (Sondergaard) wants to put us in that position,” Wiegman said. “We’re always the team to beat. I’ve never experienced anything else.

“I think (Friday) we will have more of the ball but we’ll see how it goes.”

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The Lionesses are among the favourites at the World Cup but opened with a nervy 1-0 win thanks to a penalty against minnow Haiti in a game where they missed chances and required a spectacular late save by Mary Earps to avoid a draw.

Five days later, Wiegman was questioned once again about her team’s scoring woes.

“We talked about ruthlessness ... we talked about coming into the final third, the crosses being right, coming into the box at the right time, and we worked on that,” she said. “Today looked really good actually.”

Barcelona defender Lucy Bronze said results were more important than the number of goals scored. “You could go to the World Cup and win it by winning 1-0 all the time or drawing and winning on penalties,” Bronze said.

England is missing several key players to injuries, including Arsenal forward Beth Mead who scored six goals in six games to win the Golden Boot at the 2022 Euros.

“Performances mean a lot to us, but results are important too,” Bronze said. “It’s not always about scoring seven goals. If you have enough to win the game, that’s important.

“The performances are there in games, from individuals and collectively, it’s just being more ruthless, more clinical in front of goal and I don’t think people would talk as much about performances and results then.”

England has to contend with Denmark midfielder Pernille Harder, who Bronze praised as one of the world’s best players.

“I think we don’t prepare just for one player,” Wiegman said. “Denmark is a very well organised team. They have a very clear game plan in possession and out of possession and Harder is a big part of that too.

“And that’s how we prepare and what we really tried to do is have the ball a lot, and play our style of game and then dominate.”

England also faces China in its final group stage match on Tuesday.