Sarina Wiegman has urged her players to ‘unite’ after suffering their heaviest defeat in 17 years.
The Lionesses were crushed 4-0 by Spain in Mallorca. This means automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup is now out of their hands.
Goals from Pati Guijarro, Claudia Pina and a double from Alexia Putellas saw England sit second in Group A3 with just one game remaining.
The result was the biggest margin of defeat for an England team since the Euro 2009 final (6-2 against Germany) and Wiegman admitted the manner of the result hurt both him and his players.
“Of course it hurts,” Wigman said at the postgame press conference.
“I wanted a completely different game. I expected a hard-fought game, a very competitive game. But there was a difference tonight.
“We wanted to press high at the moment, but they covered our press right away and even if we dropped a little bit, they made a play.
“They scored the first goal, a change of direction, and we lost the ball in a place we didn’t want to miss. We didn’t get any momentum after that.
“We had a really hard time keeping the ball and finding longer passes or playing out from the back. They played really well and we didn’t play that well.
“We were really struggling to stay compact without the ball in our own half as well.
“What I’m trying to do now is think about what caused this. What went really wrong, did we execute our game plan really well? I don’t think so. It’s because of ourselves, but it’s also because of Spain.”
“I’m frustrated and very disappointed, but so are the players. It hurts because we’ve lost a few times but never by more than one goal.”
Chances of advancing are slim, but England must respond against Ukraine
Sarina Wiegman has urged the Lionesses to unite after suffering the biggest defeat of her term.
Now that qualifying for Brazil next year is out of the question, Wiegman isn’t distracted by talk of automatic qualification or the playoffs. Instead, she’s focused on seeing how her team reacts Tuesday night at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“If you get into the qualifiers, you need different preparation than if you don’t. First of all, I’m really focused on Tuesday. I want to perform well and win that game. That’s the most important thing.”
“After that we will find out what happens. Spain also have to go to Iceland and we saw how difficult that game is. We will see what happens on Tuesday. The first possibility is that we qualify according to Spain, the other is that we get into the play-offs.”
“I want the response that we are a team, a strong team and we have to stick together with a strong team on Tuesday. That is the most important thing.”
Stanway ‘very, very disappointed’ with England’s performance
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England midfielder Georgia Stanway reacts after losing 4-0 to Spain in a FIFA Women’s World Cup UEFA qualifier.
England midfielder Georgia Stanway to Sky Sports News:
“The better team won. There’s not much we can say. We lacked quality, we were a little late in every area. We missed our timing, we were late on the ball and their quality was stronger than ours.
“We are disappointed. Spain beat us at home, we beat them at home. We are level on points and there is a lot to play for in this group. All our focus is on Tuesday.”
“We have to look at it, analyze it and pick it out. Of course being a midfielder is difficult, you are always in the mix.
“It would be interesting to see how we could change our shape or change various factors to block those goals.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming here. They have a really good home record. We said before the game that they are one of the best teams in the world and they prevent them from playing the game, but they also dominate possession.
“We were very disappointed today but would like to thank the fans for coming. All focus now is on Tuesday.”
What’s next for Lioness?
Coach Sarina Wigman’s side will try to secure victory over Ukraine in their final 2027 World Cup qualifiers at Wembley at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday at 8pm.
