Sarina Wiegman will make tactical changes for England’s final World Cup qualifier against Ukraine, admitting last week’s crushing 4-0 defeat by Spain felt like a “hit on the chin”.
The Lionesses’ hopes of securing an automatic spot at next year’s tournament in Brazil are now out of their hands with the European champions hosting Ukraine at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday, needing to better Spain’s result in Iceland to claim top spot in Group A3.
Any other outcome would force them into the play-offs to qualify. Reflecting on the setback, Wiegman praised her team’s resilience and unity.
“We said straight after the game on the pitch, ‘OK, this one’s really hard to take’. It felt like a hit on the chin,” she stated. “Then it’s so important to stick together. It’s really easy when things go well that everyone sticks together but, when you have a setback like this, that’s when we show ourselves. I think that was what the team did. We have trained again, there was good energy in the team.”
With world champions Spain heavily favoured to overcome Iceland, England are likely facing the longer route to the finals. Despite this, Wiegman confirmed any squad alterations would be tactical, not merely rotation for the season’s last fixture.
“It is a qualifier still, we want to win the game, but there are some tactical decisions to make because we expect different challenges,” Wiegman explained ahead of Monday’s training session.
“Yes, I will make some changes. There are some players knocking on the door and I want to see them.”
Against a Ukraine side that has lost all five of their group matches, Wiegman stressed the importance of an early breakthrough.
“What we can control is our game and it would be really nice for us to get an early goal. That’s what we’re going after,” she said. “We want to play well, we want to execute, we want to be on the ball a lot. We want to create chances, score goals and not concede any. That’s what we’re going after. It helps a lot if we score early in the game and then we wait for what happens in Reykjavik.”
Wiegman, who reported no new injury concerns, confirmed she would monitor events in Iceland but stressed her focus remained solely on England’s performance.
“We have someone there. We want to be updated live with what’s going on but we’re not planning on sharing that with players. We have to win this game and that’s what we’re going after.”
