Sarina Wiegman: "What we control is our game."

The Lionesses will have to better Spain’s result against Iceland in Reykjavik when they face Ukraine in order to confirm their place in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, otherwise, they will face the play-off route. 

Although Wiegman admitted in her pre-match press conference that a staff member will be keeping live tabs on how the proceedings unfold in Spain’s match, she wants her players to be solely focused on tomorrow’s match against Ukraine.

“What we control is our game,” she said. “It would be really nice for us to get an early goal, but we want to play well, we want to be on the ball a lot. 

“Ukraine, although they haven’t got a point in this campaign yet, they are improving. They had a tight one last Tuesday too. So we want to do better, we want to be on the ball, we want to be dominant on the ball, we want to create chances, score goals and not concede any. That’s what we’re going after tomorrow.

“Yes, it helps a lot if we score early in the game and then we’ll wait for what happens on the other side in Reykjavik, but what we can control, that’s what we’re focusing on.”

“It’s always tough having a defeat like that,” Hemp added, reflecting on Friday’s 4-0 defeat in Majorca. “There are only so many times where we can go over the game. The important thing for us is to look forward. Onto the next. 

“It’s not nice being on the end of a defeat but it’s important for us not to panic because we’ve been in these situations before - we’ve lost games - and as professional players you’re always going to lose games but it’s where you get the biggest learning and it’s always looking forward and onto the next and making sure we put those wrongs right.

“I think it’s the mentality of the group and obviously coming off a defeat like that, it’s easy to get your heads down, but I think that’s what’s great about this group. We’ve gotten around each other. We’ve been training really well and obviously our full focus is on tomorrow and putting in a good, relentless performance against Ukraine. 

“We’ve obviously looked at their strengths and weaknesses and where we want to exploit, so it’s important that we do that and put on a show for the fans.”

England will get their first opportunity to play at Everton’s new home the Hill Dickinson Stadium and, when asked about the prospect of playing in Liverpool and a brand new stadium, Wiegman and Hemp both shared their excitement.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” the women’s head coach declared. “Going around the country is really nice, but then playing in this new stadium in Liverpool, which is a big city, a football city, I feel excited. I’m grateful that we can play here. We play in many very exciting stadiums. I think England has many exciting stadiums and areas to play in and we go around a little bit and I’m really enjoying that.”

Hemp continued: “It’s fantastic. I’ve heard that the stadium is unbelievable and it’s so nice as players that we’re able to go and play in different stadiums across the whole of the UK. I think it’s so important for us to interact with all the fans from all across and I’ve seen that it’s hopefully getting quite a few fans there so I can’t wait to go play there.”