MEZIESBLOG

England head coach Sarina Wiegman says her side will have to be wary of Columbia’s “unpredictable” attackers during the Women’s World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

After edging past Nigeria on penalties in the previous round, the Lionesses face a Colombia side which have stood out in this tournament for both their physical approach but also their offensive attributes, with teenage winger Linda Caicedo one of the stars of the competition so far.

Wiegman insists England’s preparations have centred on their own approach to the knockout tie, with the European champions yet to fully hit their stride, but says they will have to be cautious of Colombia’s threats, too.

“Colombia has done very well, they’re a strong team,” said Wiegman at her pre-match press conference.

“They’re very together. We see they’re physically strong with some powerful players and want to get the ball to their attacking players because they’re unpredictable.

“We’re not making a plan of surprising Colombia; we’re making our football plan. We have our style of play and also the analysis of Colombia and from there we make our plan and try to execute it [on Saturday].

“I hope we don’t have that much stress [as they did against Nigeria]. We’ve seen in this tournament that not one game is easy for anyone, it’s so competitive and that’s the beauty of the game too, and the beauty of the growth of the women’s football game.

“I hope we can decide it before [penalties]. We definitely think that it’s going to be a very, very competitive game and we hope it will go our way.”

England goalkeeper Mary Earps has been beaten just once in this tournament so far but expects to see improvement from the team with the ball on Saturday, promising that “the best is yet to come” from a side which is now listed as tournament favourites after the high profile exits of sides such as USA and Germany.

“You can see how tight the games have been in this tournament, how close they’ve been, the level of the teams that have left the competition as well,” she said. “I think that shows the incredible place the women’s game is in.

“We are very much there to do our best and go as far as we can in the competition. We don’t take anybody lightly. We are in a really good spot and I think we’ve got more gears that we can go.

“I think we showed great character and resilience [against Nigeria]. We came together as a team and as a group of players and staff in terms of the preparation and in terms of all the detail that goes into these things, not just the 90 minutes, the extra time and penalties as well.

“I really believe the best is yet to come. There’s so much talent in the group and so many more levels that we can go.

“There’s an incredible wealth of talent and experience [in the squad] from experiences that we’ve had together as an international team but also teams that we play for in terms of a club level, all the different fixtures that we’ve experienced over the years, when you look at the Champions Leagues and the titles and the cups and everything the team has individually collected amongst the players.

“It’s an exciting time to be an England player for sure but we have to earn that right. We’re constantly looking to improve and drive our performance and drive our standards. We are not satisfied, we’re not done.”.

What is the schedule?

The quarter-finals will be held in Wellington, Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney, between August 11 and 12.

The first semi-final will then be played on August 15 in Auckland, with the other semi-final taking place on August 16 at the Accor Stadium in Sydney, which will then host the final on August 20.

A third-place play-off will be played the day before the final on August 19 in Brisbane.