Wiegman reveals simple way Lionesses bested World Cup holders Spain

Wiegman reveals simple way Lionesses bested World Cup holders Spain

In the age of set pieces, it was from a corner that Lauren Hemp volleyed home the Lionesses’ winner against world champions Spain in record time this evening – unlike some of her peers, Sarina Wiegman’s methodology was simple.

“Train”, she said.

England put themselves in strong contention to qualify automatically for the Women’s World Cup just over a year from now, with their quickest goal ever at Wembley earning a 1-0 win in a repeat of the finals at the previous tournament and Euro 2025.

It was a significant occasion that proved once again England’s ability to perform against the strongest opponents, and why they should be among the contenders to lift the ultimate prize at Brazil’s tournament in 2027.

Wiegman was quizzed over her preparations for the big game in terms of being effective from set pieces, where her team hasn’t had the best conversion rate compared to open play over the past three tournaments.

She said: “We review our set plays and we try to improve. We watch clips and we have conversations with players, sometimes in small groups [where] you get more feedback, sometimes with the whole team.

“Then we go out on the pitch again and we train, sometime they take some corners – things like that.”

But it wasn’t just the corner from Alex Greenwood that gave England a crucial victory, with Hannah Hampton making a “world class” save to deny substitute Edna Imade’s header – also from a set piece – in the final minute of normal time.

“She had a save against Iceland were we really dominated the game, but it was still 1-0”, Wiegman recalled. “Tonight she had that crucial save also, so that’s really nice to have in the team.

“Most of the games we’ve played recently, we’ve had a lot of the ball ourselves. This demanded something different from us than we’ve shown, and I think we did that.”

England could afford possession hungry Spain the majority of the ball throughout the encounter by keeping compact and providing plenty of threat on the counter, all the while Sonia Bermúdez made several changes to try and break them down.

Wiegman was pleased with how her game plan was executed, saying: ” It always helps when you score quick because it gives a boost, so that was really nice.

“I think the game plan worked [in] both halves, although we would really love to have the ball a little longer.

“They put different personnel in and went a little more direct, and tried to change the game with other personnel. Lucy [Bronze] had to make that header, [and] that challenge definitely.”

Although their victory over the world number ones is indeed quite the statement, the Lionesses manager already has her sights set on getting results out of Iceland – their 500th competitive fixture – as well as Ukraine and tonight’s reverse fixture.

Wiegman said: “It’s a very good result and we’re really happy, but we need to keep that significance by getting a result next Saturday, and then we have Ukraine and then we play Spain again.”