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Sarina Wiegman speaks to ITV. “This is the collaboration I want to see tonight … some little tweaks … I want to see both goalkeepers, I do not want to decide now … last time at Wembley, Hannah Hampton was in goal and now Mary Earps gets her opportunity … Emma Hayes does a tremendous job over there … you absolutely want to beat each other … she will make tweaks so we have to be sharp.”
Hayes smiled broadly through every nanosecond of that interview. She’s clearly enjoying her new role immensely, which should be no surprise given her current 92 percent win ratio. In fact, the only time she wasn’t caught wearing a sunny grin was when ITV showed footage of her pulling a pint in a Camden pub earlier this week for PR purposes, then grimacing as she had a sip of it. To be fair, she’s not a fan of beer, and in any case the ale looked a bit flat.
Emma Hayes, relaxed and jovial, speaks to ITV. “It’s great to be back here … I feel a bit bad always talking about how happy I am! … I needed to slow down … playing different opponents in different stadiums, it feels new and exciting … you feel a little bit like a grandparent! … they come into camp and are all happy to see you … you give them the best time ever … hopefully win a couple of medals … it’s a completely different way of coaching … life is so short and I want to have a good time … I want to be the best coach I can be … I’ve been put on this earth to do the best I can for the women’s game.”
England make four changes to their starting XI in the wake of the unconvincing 2-1 win over South Africa last month. Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter, Keira Walsh and Alessia Russo take the places of Esme Morgan, Grace Clinton and Chloe Kelly, who drop to the bench, and Maya Le Tissier, who is missing after suffering concussion while playing for Manchester United last weekend.
Seven of today’s USWNT starters played when these teams last met at Wembley in 2022. Alyssa Naeher, Naomi Girma, Emily Fox, Sam Coffey, Rose Lavelle, Alyssa Thompson and captain Lindsey Horan were all on the wrong end of England’s 2-1 win that day. Naeher, Horan and Lavelle are the only players who remain from the USA’s 2-1 victory in the 2019 World Cup semis.
The teams
England: Earps, Bronze, Carter, Williamson, Greenwood, Walsh, Naz, Park, Stanway, Mead, Russo.
Subs: Moorhouse, Hampton, Bright, Turner, George, Morgan, Kirby, Mace, Blindkilde, Clinton, Kelly, Beever-Jones.
USA: Naeher, Fox, Krueger, Sonnett, Girma, Coffey, Thompson, Lavelle, Horan, Williams, Sears.
Subs: Haught, Davidson, Gaetino, Malonson, Sams, Albert, Yohannes, Nighswonger, Ryan, Hershfelt, Shaw, Sentnor.
Preamble
It’s a clash of the titans, as the Lionesses taken on the USWNT at Wembley. England versus the USA. The world number two side versus the world number one. The European champions versus Olympic gold medallists. Sarina Wiegman v Emma Hayes. All perfectly poised, then … except that the USA have won their last nine and are unbeaten in 18, winning the Concacaf Gold Cup, the SheBelieves Cup and the Olympics along the way, while England’s last three matches have been a nervy 0-0 draw in Sweden, a shambolic 3-4 home loss to Germany, and an extremely flattering 2-1 win over South Africa. That draw in Sweden, it must be said, secured Euro 2025 qualification for England, but fair to say one team is currently a lot closer to their best level than the other. A big test for the Lionesses, in other words, against the very best. Kick-off is at 5.20pm GMT. It’s on!
