Sarina Wiegman urges England to play ‘game of their lives’ in World Cup final

Sarina Wiegman and Millie Bright urged England to play the “game of their lives” on Sunday if they are to beat Spain to a first ever World Cup trophy and secure sporting immortality.

“We have felt the support, we have felt the support here, but also from the other side of the world in the UK,” said Wiegman. “That’s something that you dream of, and we just hope that we play our best game ever tomorrow, and everyone who is watching in the stadium, in the UK, who supports us, enjoys it.”

Bright added: “We have got a game plan that we have to go out and execute. I think everyone knows how big this is. It has been players’ dreams for years. We know how passionate our nation is back home and how much they want us to win. But for us, there is a process. We have a game plan to execute. Like Sarina said, we need to play the game of our lives.”

The former US international Carli Lloyd praised Wiegman before the final and said she believes England are a side “that essentially has resembled our teams over the years” and that USA domination is over.

“They go down a goal but there’s no need to panic, they’re figuring it out,” she said. “They’ve not necessarily been playing their best football, but they’ve got the resilience and I think that’s key and that’s why they’re in the final. I do think there is a generational era that is over [for the USA].”

The Lionesses will have midfielder Lauren James back in the fold for the showpiece final at Stadium Australia, following her two-game suspension, with every player available for Wiegman. On whether her trust in James would be impacted by her loss of control, she said: “I said after that game, it was just a moment and of course she regretted that moment straight away and she apologised, she’s punished for that and we know it should not be part of football. She walked over her butt, and she really regretted it. She started training again and we supported her.

“Sometimes when you’re not that experienced at this level, some fatigue gets in the game and you have a split second where you lose your emotions and that happens. It’s a mistake, a hard-learning lesson but she’s ready to play again.”

Spain’s head coach, Jorge Vilda, confirmed he has a fully fit squad for the final, brushing aside concerns over the fitness of Salma Paralluelo, who had seemed to have had a problem in training. Wiegman would not be drawn into the dispute between Vilda and his players, instead praising the Spanish team when asked about her thoughts on the manager.

“The Spanish team is in a good place, they’ve had a very good tournament so far,” she said. “As always, they want to play a possession game, they’re very dynamic, they want to play forward all the time … that’s not very different from when I’ve seen them before. In moments they will challenge us, but we will challenge them too.”

Bright thanked the fans for their support. “As a group we would like to say thank you, not only to the fans back home but to the fans out here as well,” she said. “We have felt really welcomed and really special over here. Every game has been incredible, everyone has seen that first hand. Back home, we have seen the videos, we really appreciate everyone setting their alarm clocks and making the effort to support us. Even though we are a million miles apart, it is amazing what football can do in really bringing everyone together, but especially our nation. We are really proud. Stick with us one more game.”