Sarina Weigman has confirmed that she will make changes to the team ahead of England’s final World Cup qualifier against Ukraine. This came as a result of England’s heavy defeat against Spain by 4-0.
The Lionesses will host Ukraine at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on June 10. Their hopes of getting a direct ticket to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil are pretty much out of their hands. They have to outplay Spain to get the first spot in Group A3.
Spain will play Iceland on the same day; unless England win by a big margin, they’ll have to go through the play-offs to qualify for the World Cup. Weigman reflected on 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.”
Spain is very likely to defeat Ukraine, which will make England’s journey only longer. However, Weigman confirmed that any changes to the playing XI will be tactical, not just rotations for the 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,” she explained.
She stressed the importance of an early breakthrough against a Ukraine side who lost all 5 of their matches.
“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.”
Weigman reported no injury concerns. She also said she would be keeping up with the events in Iceland. But she will be solely focused 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.”
