England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that facing Australia is an ‘opportunity to show who we are’ after defeat on the weekend to Brazil.
Wiegman will be hoping for a much-improved performance from her team as they prepare for their second homecoming fixture against the Matildas.
The three time European Championship winning head coach was joined by Ella Toone as the pair addressed the media at St George’s Park.
Lionesses are ‘excited to go again’ says Sarina Wiegman
England play their second game in a four-day period on Tuesday as they prepare to face Joe Montemurro’s Matildas. The Lionesses come into the game off the back of a disappointing defeat to Brazil their first loss since the opening game of the EUROs at the hands of France.
“We are excited to go again tomorrow” explained the England manager.
“We have the opportunity to show straight away again who we are. We also know that in football we play tough opponents all the time and also in these friendlies, we want to play the top-level countries because they will challenge us in the way we need to be challenged.
“If we want to improve our game that’s absolutely what we want, we have to play top, top opponent. We always play to win, and at the same time want to improve every single game and being challenged really shows these areas”.
Sarina Wiegman lauds fans ‘it’s sold out, it’s incredible’
When the Lionesses and Matildas face off on Tuesday evening it will be in front of a sold-out crowd at Pride Park. Wiegman was asked for her opinion on the importance of touring women’s football around the country, and allowing people all across England to see their women’s football heroes.
“Yeah, I think that’s really nice” Wiegman confirmed.
“I think the fans have shown so much support for us here in England, but also in Switzerland, and before and we’re very grateful for that’s and it really helps us”
“That is of course one of the reasons we go around the country, so that we can get closer to people and they have the opportunity to come to one of our games. Right now it’s sold out, it’s just incredible. We will never take that for granted.”
Hannah Hampton ‘progressing really well’ says Wiegman
The 2025 Yashin Trophy winner Hannah Hampton was ruled out of the Brazil defeat with an elbow complaint. However Wiegman confirmed that Hampton could make a return to the starting line up at Pride Park.
“She is progressing really well” Wiegman noted.
“She has ticked all the boxes so far, so things look really good. We still have one day to go, and today, of course, we have a session for her. If things all go well, then she will be available for tomorrow”.
In other team news, Wiegman confirmed that West Ham defender Anouk Denton has joined the senior Lionesses squad for the first time. Denton is not replacing anyone, and seems to be a decision to manage minutes in the squad, and to be there as an option if needed.
Sarina Wiegman refutes claim that England have ‘slow starts all the time’
Wiegman was also questioned on whether England start games slowly. The Lionesses have conceded the first goal in each of their last four games, including their nail-biting comeback victories at the EUROs this summer.
Despite this, Wiegman believes they haven’t made a habit of starting slowly, and continue to embrace the challenges playing the top teams brings.
“I think the Spain game, we started well, and we could’ve scored 1-0″ Wiegman recalled.
“The Italy game we could’ve scored 1-0. The Sweden game we didn’t start that well. The France game we started really well and scored a goal. So, I don’t agree that we have slow starts all the time – we just got behind.”
However Wiegman was clear about the performance on Saturday: “I do agree, on Saturday we didn’t start well enough” Wiegman admitted.
“We had to get more physical. We talked about that – the players felt the same. So, we’re definitely going to give everything to start better tomorrow.”
Ella Toone expects to face a Matildas team out for ‘revenge’
The last encounter between these two teams was back in 2023, where the Lionesses’ knocked the Matildas out of the World Cup in the semi-final, a match in which Ella Toone opening the scoring. In the process the Lionesses broke both Australian fans and players’ hearts. Steph Catley described it as the “most heart-breaking” defeat of her career.
After a particularly physical encounter against the South American champions, many are expecting a similar game with the Australians.
“Physical games aren’t usually my cup of tea” Toone joked.
“But I thought we did really well against Brazil. They definitely posed a threat that we hadn’t been challenged against before and we know that we are capable of putting up with that.
“We know that the Australians are going to be the same and are going to be physical all over the pitch. I think we broke a lot of their hearts out at the World Cup, so for them it will feel like a revenge game”.
England vs Australia kicks off at 7pm GMT, in front of a sold out Pride Park live on ITV 4.
