It’s fair to say that all is not going the way of the Lionesses at the moment. Friday’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of France was the side’s third since the World Cup final defeat by Spain – in 11 matches that’s not disastrous, but neither is it great for a team so used to winning – and, coming soon after a draw with Sweden, left them third in their group with only the top two guaranteed qualification.
That means that they could really do with victory in Saint-Etienne this evening. But here’s a stat Saraina Wiegman’s side won’t want to hear: England haven’t won in France since 1973. Gulp…
As our very own Luke Edwards wrote after last week’s defeat…
“England were made to look ordinary, their aura of invincibility removed, and not for the first time recently. Since they were outclassed by Spain in the World Cup final last year, England have lost to Belgium, Netherlands and now the French. They have also been held to a draw by Sweden.”
But Wiegman hasn’t become one of the most-sought after managers in world football by being a pessimist, and she believes that the Lionesses can get revenge on the French tonight.
“We have an identity, we’re not going to throw everything overboard because we want to be unpredictable to the opponent, because then we’re going to be unpredictable to ourselves,” the England coach said. “We want to build on what we already have, do a couple of things better, make a couple of little tweaks and build on our strengths.”
On whether she thought the match was a must-win, she added: “No, a want-to-win. Of course it would really, really help to put us in a better position. We feel comfortable that we can get a good result.”
With tonight’s trip to France followed with a home match against Ireland and away fixture in Sweden, there’s little doubt they, at the very least, have to avoid another defeat.
Stay here to find out whether they can do that, and for all the pre-match build up and action, with kick-off at 8pm.