Wiegman proud of resilient England

Sarina Wiegman praised her team’s resilience after overcoming another difficult and physical battle in the knockout stages of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The Lionesses needed penalties to beat a really impressive Nigeria side in the round of 16 and they faced another worthy adversary in Colombia during Saturday’s quarter-final.

Colombia, who beat world number two side Germany 2-1 in the group stages, took the lead against England just before half-time but the Lionesses fought back and secured their progression to Wednesday’s semi-final with Australia thanks to goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo either side of the break.

Wiegman said: "It was a very tough challenge but we didn't expect anything else. We showed resilience and in the first half we played very well. In moments we were sloppy on the ball and they were really dangerous on the counter.

"We conceded but we came back. I actually thought their keeper had the ball for our goal!

"Second half we pushed, we found a way to keep that score and win the final duals. I just hoped we would have finished the game off sooner because we could have.

"We know they are dangerous but again I am so proud of the team, we find a way to score and to win the duels. If we had kept the ball a bit better, we could have won it a little earlier."

Colombia’s teenage winger Linda Caicedo has been one of the tournament’s star performers but England did well to nullify her threat during Saturday’s quarter-final.

And defender Alex Greenwood praised the performances of Lucy Bronze and Jess Carter in helping to keep Caicedo quiet.

The defender said: "Tonight is about reflecting on this performance, taking lots of positives and getting ready for the semi-final.

"The game [plan against Colombia] was to play our game. We have two strong right-sided players in Lucy and Jess who did well against Caicedo, and we controlled large parts of the game tonight.”