Sarina Wiegman has led England to a second final in two years with their strong and assured performance against Women’s World Cup co-hosts Australia.
SYDNEY — It was sheer pragmatic, controlled aggression from England that ended Australia’s fairy tale. Not even Sam Kerr scoring one of the greatest goals in Women’s World Cup history could keep the music playing for the team that has led Australian football to new heights. The Lionesses had no interest in playing their role in the miracle of the Matildas; that’s just not how they do things under coach Sarina Wiegman.
There’s something truly remarkable about this England team, and their manager. They are big-tournament monsters. Whenever they’re faced with adversity, they charge straight through it, rather than find a way around any challenges.
This is Wiegman’s fourth major tournament final in a row. Back in 2017, she led the Netherlands to a win in the Euros on home soil. In 2019, her Netherlands team fell in the World Cup final to the United States. In 2022, she steered England to their own home Euros triumph and now, a year on, England are in the World Cup final. It’s an astonishing record.
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“The chance that as a coach you make it to two finals is really special, we made it to four already — it’s like I’m living a fairy tale or something.” Wiegman said to the BBC soon after full-time. She later added: “When you make the first final, you think this is really special, it might not happen again. Then you make a second, a third, a fourth, but you think it might not happen again because it’s so hard.”
This was yet another masterful execution of Wiegman’s plan by her team. England took the pace out of the occasion when they needed, and then counterpunched just as Australia thought they were getting a foothold. It’s a lesson in concentrated intensity and strangling the life out of opponents. They frequently recall Billie Jean King’s mantra that pressure is a privilege, but it appears to be more than mere platitudes for the media. They don’t just shrug off pressure but instead channel it into winning performances, time after time.
Only Wiegman knows whether this new-look formation with a back three was always the plan for this tournament, or whether Keira Walsh’s absence in midfield for the China match really did necessitate this change.
