England ‘have to take game to next stage’ ahead of 2023 World Cup says Sarina Wiegman after unbeaten year

Sarina Wiegman wants England to reach the “next stage” as they look to build on a hugely successful 2022 with World Cup success.

England are unbeaten in 26 matches since Wiegman took charge in September 2021.

Their 2022 accolades include winning the 2022 European Championships and beating world champions United States at Wembley.

Their form has ensured they will be one of the favourites for next summer’s World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand.

“You can’t beat that – you can only get equal on that,” says England manager Wiegman about 2022.

“We actually don’t talk about these results all the time. We want to win every game, but we talk about how we can improve the next game. How can we make sure that we perform at the highest level at the next game? How can we develop our style of play, making our chance of winning the next game as high as possible?

“Of course, we want to break all the records, but breaking a record doesn’t say what you have to do. We always bring it back: how do we stick together as a team? I truly believe that’s where it starts.

“We absolutely have to get better. We have to take our game to the next stage, to make the chance of being successful as high as possible. We want to develop our style of play so we stay unpredictable.”

For Wiegman the 2023 World Cup will be another shot at lifting the trophy after coming close in 2019 when her Netherlands side lost to USA in the final.

“I’m not [about] revenge; I’m not really vengeful,” she said.

“I don’t really think that way. At that time, they were the better team, although I thought after half-time we could have won that game until the penalty. No, I don’t really think of revenge, I just want to do better in the next game and I want to win.”

As well as her experiences from 2019, Wiegman has just seen England’s men’s team lose to France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

England enjoyed good spells in the game but missed a late penalty as they were beaten 2-1 by France.

“If you play your best game, like the England men did against France, [it could] be a win, could be a tie, could be a defeat, but you can be proud of yourself because you played at your highest level,” reflected Wiegman.

“You’re going to be devastated by not winning, but at the end you can be proud because you did everything that’s in your control and that’s the level you have. That’s how I approach it all the time because you can’t always control the result because the other teams, the best teams in the world, are really, really, good.

“Don’t always think of the result. We’re not going to a World Cup just to play, we’re going there to win. But that’s not always what you can control.

“I was devastated against the USA, but I did think they were better at that point. I was even more devastated when we didn’t win with the Netherlands against the USA in the Olympics because at that point we were absolutely the better team; we should have won that game.”