Gradually, but surely, Wiegman gave her Midas touch to England. Under Wiegman, England never lost in 20 matches comprising 18 wins and two draws. England even reaped 12 successive victories.
By
ADRIAN FAJRIANSYAH
·6 minutes read
AFP/DANIEL MIHAILESCU
England's head coach Sarina Wiegman attends a press conference at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, central England on July 5, 2022, on the eve of their UEFA Women's Euro 2022 football match against Austria.
The popularity and achievement of England’s women’s national team has become the opposite of those of men’s team, which has only been a favorite and not a champion in major soccer championships. The women’s coach from the Netherlands, Sarina Wiegman, was the architect behind the triumph of the England women’s team. The 52-year-old coach led the team, dubbed the Lionesses, to lift the Women’s Euro 2022 trophy.
This was the first major title for the women’s team and at the same time the premiere for soccer in Queen Elizabeth’s country after the 1996 World Cup victory of the men’s team.
“I think we have been an inspiration for the country already. You know, when you win a major tournament that really makes a difference and that will make me really proud. But I don't think further than that. Most of the time you don't even realise it probably until 15 years later,” said Wiegman as reported by express.co.uk on Sunday (31/7/2022).
Wiegman headed the England women’s team when they defeated European women’s soccer giant Germany with a narrow score of 2-1 in the Women’s Euro 2022 final at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday.
The win caused the song “Football is coming home” to be heard throughout England. The Women’s Euro 2022 trophy was a consolation after the grief of the English as their men’s team suffered a 2-3 (1-1) penalty loss to Italy in the European Cup 2020 final at Wembley Stadium last year.
Wiegman has been very fond of soccer since childhood. However, women’s soccer was not yet common at the time. She would play football on the street with boys before joining a local club with male players. Wiegman and her late twin sibling even had to cut their hair short in order to adjust to the posture of their male partners. It was because a mixed-gender team was then not allowed.
"Sometimes, when people saw I was a girl, they made trouble. Other times we got nice reactions,” wrote Wiegman on Coaches' Voice, as quoted by Walesonline.co.uk on Monday (1/8).
It did not discourage Wiegman. Her high talent enabled her to play in the Netherlands women’s club KFC ’71 as a stepping-stone to joining the Dutch women’s team selection at the age of 16.
Sometimes, when people saw I was a girl, they made trouble. Other times we got nice reactions.
Later, she became the first Dutch woman to record 100 matches with Dutch women’s and men’s teams,104 matches to be exact, with three goals for the women’s team during 1987-2001. Still, Wiegman experienced ups and downs in motivation because of her country’s halfhearted support for women’s soccer.
Fortunately, her destiny led her to the United States in 1989 to study at the University of North Carolina where she joined the campus’ women’s team, the North Carolina Tar Heels. Wiegman’s decision to move to the US was inseparable from the input of the double coach of North Carolina Tar Heels and the US women’s team in mid 1986-1994, Anson Dorrance.
"In the Netherlands, it felt like we [women] were always fighting for our place, like we weren't accepted. I wanted more and I knew that in the US, things were better," said Wiegman as reported by Walesonline.co.uk.
Wiegman, who in her active period was a back and mid-fielder, retired as a professional player in the Dutch women’s club, Ter Leede, in 2003. Her entire experience as a player has served as valuable capital in continuing her career, especially in coaching.
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP
Netherlands’ coach Sarina Wiegman (3rd L) celebrates with players after Netherlands won the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games women’s group F first round football match between Netherlands and China at the Yokohama International Stadium in Yokohama on July 27, 2021.
Coaching performance
Wiegman’s performance as a coach is undeniably more shiny. After focusing on the sport’s instruction profession, she became Ter Leede’s assistant coach on 24 January 2006. About one year later, or after helping Ter Leede win second place in the Dutch Women’s Amateur League and the Dutch Women’s Cup in the 2006/2007 season, Wiegman was entrusted with the task of coaching the women’s team of ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Women’s Professional League that was formed on 20 March 2007.
Along with ADO Den Haag, Wiegman began to show her magic touch by contributing to the 2011/2012 league title as well as the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 Dutch Cups for seven contract seasons. Thanks to this, she was named assistant coach of the Dutch senior women’s team and coordinator of the women’s U-19 team.
In mid-2015, she had the opportunity to be an interim chief coach of the Dutch women’s team replacing Roger Reijners. Wiegman assumed her duty only six months before the Women’s Euro Cup 2017 in the Netherlands. She improved the mental condition of players with less satisfactory achievements in several friendly matches. She kept boosting their self-confidence and changing their style of performance into a more striking mode. As a result, the Dutch women’s team emerged as champion in Women’s Euro Cup 2017, at the same time winning the first major trophy for the women’s team of the “Windmill Country”.
Nevertheless, in August 2020, Wiegman abandoned her established position in the Netherlands by choosing to carry on her career as coach for the women’s team of England from 1 September 2021. She substituted Phil Neville and signed a four-year contract to prepare the team for the Women’s Euro 2022, the Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand and the European Cup 2025.
Wiegman seemed interested in responding to the challenge as she had done with the Netherlands before 2017, involving those with the same fate in England. Like in the Netherlands, Wiegman reordered the team from the very basic aspect, the mental condition. She promoted an environment that was free from pressures with high expectations for major tournaments like the European Cup. For her, enjoying or celebrating competitions constituted an important factor that would determine the team’s performance.
Gradually, but surely, Wiegman gave her Midas touch to England. Under Wiegman, England never lost in 20 matches comprising 18 wins and two draws. England even reaped 12 successive victories, from 3-1 playing Germany on 23 February 2022 to 2-1 over Germany on 31 July 2022. In total, the team recorded 106 goals with only five goals from its opponents. England women’s team mid-fielder Keira Walsh, as reported by The Guardian said apart from minimizing pressures, Wiegman was also capable of creating a harmonious atmosphere and strong relationships among players.
