England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that she wants her side to dominate the game when they face the United States at Wembley this evening.
The European champions take on the World champions in front of close to 90,000 fans at the national stadium. The fixture offers England the unique opportunity to measure themselves against the very best that the women’s game has to offer.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, England boss Wiegman stopped short of labelling the United States ‘The Best in the World’ whilst commenting that her side will look to control the game at Wembley this evening.
“They are one of the best teams in the world, they are ranked number one but I think that there are a couple of teams that are really good at the moment, really high level,” Wiegman said. “We saw in the EUROs that the European game has improved so much and is getting closer and closer and we would really like to show that (against the United States). I think they are now very excited to come to Europe and play top level teams.
“Yes, we want to win but we will not be just thinking about the result, we want to try to dominate the game too.”
Wiegman went on to say that she understands the expectancy for an England win but the only pressure placed upon the Lionesses comes from within.
She said “We are a team that everyone expects to win but they also know that we are playing the USA who are a very good team. It was the same in the EUROs – before the game, we didn’t know if we were going to win against top level teams but we are part of that top level too and want to win every game.
“We have pressure from ourselves, we want to do well, we want to play our best game every time we go out on the pitch regardless of the opponent so that’s what gives us the internal pressure. When you are trying to play your best game at the highest level, you just want to win but we will have to see what it brings us.”
England’s international friendly against the United States kicks-off at 8pm this evening.