SARINA WIEGMAN has repeated her warning against plans to make the World Cup a biennial event.
And the Lionesses chief reckons minnows falling to devastating defeats in the women’s international game is damaging for the sport.
Wiegman, 51, was speaking a day ahead of England’s trip to Luxembourg for the second of their 10 World Cup qualifying games.
On the ongoing arguments around switching the tournament’s timings, the England boss said “I wouldn’t do it.
“Players are not robots so I don’t think it’s a very good idea.
“I think it’s not very good for the players, for their welfare.
“I think when you have all these tournaments every year where are the players going to get some rest?
“Where are they going to recover from a very intense football year every year?
“In Europe, it’s very well organised, we have very good competitions, we have the Euros, then you have the Olympics, then you have the World Cup, which are major tournaments for us.”
The Lionesses’ duel with Luxembourg comes days after Armenia, the Faroe Islands and Greece all fell to brutal 10-0 drubbings against Norway, Spain and France in their group stage games.
Wiegman, whose players beat North Macedonia 8-0 said: “We have to find a way and keep the discussion open at all times on what’s best to get the women’s game on a higher level.
“Not just for the top teams but also for the countries that are somewhere else in their development.
“It’s hard. These teams are developing and what you want to do is develop women’s football worldwide and also in Europe.
“But the difference between qualities now is actually huge and it’s not very competitive when you win 8-0
“I don’t have the solution at the moment but having too many matches which finish 8-0 – or those kinds of results – that’s not good for the game.”
When asked if more clashes between top-ranking sides was the answer, Wiegman added: “We have to keep evaluating what’s going on, if this is what we need, and we need to see the bigger picture.
“In Europe, you have top countries who have been developing very, very much over the years.
“And you have some countries who have just started up their women’s game or a national team, and they need improvement too.
“But when you keep having results like this, and you can’t bring it closer within a certain amount of time, then maybe you should look at some other choices.
Wiegman, who confirmed Leah Williamson will retain the captain’s armband against Luxembourg, says Ellen will be responsible for England’s spot-kicks.
The Man City striker was on target from the spot for England during their drubbing of North Macedonia.
The team have had some misfortunes with pens in some of their past international clashes going back to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
They missed three times from the spot in the tournament before going on to finish fourth. And they also saw a spot-kick saved during a 2-1 friendly loss to Germany at Wembley.
Wiegman added: “Ellen was very convincing with the penalty. I thought that was great.
I left it to Leah and her (Ellen), so they decided she should take it and it was a very good choice and showed very good leadership so I was really pleased with that.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
