LONDON — England women‘s manager Sarina Wiegman hopes the team will learn from their surprise 2-0 defeat to Australia on Tuesday but says she’s not worried the loss will halt their momentum ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
The loss to the Matildas was the first defeat of Wiegman’s tenure, and brought to an end their 30-match unbeaten run. England were outclassed by a Sam Kerr-inspired Australia team on a rainy night at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium as the Lionesses struggled to find the same form that led them to the Euro 2022 title last year.
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“It doesn’t feel great. It was a big learning game against a very physical, well-organised, aggressive, good-defending Australia team,” Wiegman said of the defeat.
“We had a lot of possession but we struggled to speed up the game, go forward and stretch them. We didn’t do that well. We made some mistakes, their counter-attack was very dangerous.”
Kerr scored Australia’s opener in the 32nd minute as she pounced on a poor header from captain Leah Williamson to give the Matildas a 1-0 lead at half-time. And they doubled their lead in the 67th minute as Charlotte Grant’s header deflected off Williamson and past Mary Earps.
“Their first goal was a mistake from us, which can happen. We started the second half pretty good — but they had a counter-attack and scored, that made it hard for us,” Wiegman added. “We play against some opponents who drop deeper so we have to find solutions to create more to score goals.”
