Sarina Wiegman hails ‘exciting’ Women’s World Cup draw for England, as Denmark and China await
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Published 22/10/2022 at 12:14 GMT
The Lionesses learned their opponents at the 2023 Women's World Cup on Saturday after the draw was made in Auckland. Sarina Wiegman's side can now look forward to clashes against Denmark and China, while either Chile, Senegal or Haiti will complete Group D. Wiegman led the Netherlands to the 2019 final, where they were beaten 2-0 by USA.
‘100%’ – Lionesses hailed as ‘best-ever’ England team
Sarina Wiegman reflected on two very different challenges which Denmark and China will offer at the Women’s World Cup after the draw was made in Auckland on Saturday.
The European champions will also face the Group B play-off winners, which will be either Chile, Senegal, or Haiti.
One of those three nations are up first for England on July 22 in Brisbane, before a match against the Danes six days later in Melbourne and a clash against China in Adelaide on August 1.
The Lionesses will undoubtedly be confident of progressing from the group through to the knockout stages, but they face a Denmark side who were the highest-ranked team in pot 3.
Meanwhile, China’s pedigree in the women’s game compared to the men’s is arguably much more impressive, having qualified for each of the last two World Cups and reached the quarter-finals in 2015.
“It’s an exciting group,” said Wiegman in quotes published by the Independent.
“We know Denmark very well; China is a very good opponent too. They are in transition a little bit, or they were in transition.
“At the Olympics they were struggling, they have a new coach and won the Asian Cup. We don’t know the other one yet. Three very different opponents with a different style of play.”
Wiegman led the Netherlands to the 2019 World Cup final, where they were beaten 2-0 by the USA. She stressed how the overall standard of the women’s game has improved, but believes there is still a large disparity in the quality between certain sides.
“As you could see in the Euros, there are so many good countries now, the game and countries develop so quickly,” she explained.
“What we saw is that the games are really tight. That’s what I expect from this tournament too.
“In the group stage there are some very tight matches, but also some will give a high score because 32 countries come from different levels at different moments of their development.
“The further the tournament comes, the tighter the games will become, that’s exciting too. There are many favourites for this World Cup win. So, I wouldn’t predict anything.
“It’s just the same as the Euros, there were so many good teams and it’s very tough so we’ll see.”
England will be the sole Home Nations representative at the finals after Wales and Scotland narrowly missed out on qualification.
The latter were beaten 1-0 by the Republic of Ireland, and Vera Pauw’s side have been rewarded with a place in Group B with co-hosts Australia, Olympic champions Canada and Nigeria.
It is their first-ever appearance at a Women’s World Cup and they begin their campaign on July 20 against Australia in Sydney, before taking on Canada in Perth six days later. Their final group stage match sees them take on Nigeria in Brisbane on July 31.
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