Men’s football is littered with history makers that have burnt their way into the public consciousness and now we have one name that will be forever imprinted into that consciousness from the Women’s game…. Sarina Wiegman!!
Born in the city of the ICJ mere months after the moon landing, Sarina has brought justice to Women’s football by achieving a feat just as incredible as Apollo 11’s crew when thy took the first steps on uncharted soil, leading England to a major trophy on foreign soil!
Before the coming of Wiegman, England’s Women’s team were mired in mediocrity under first time international manager Phil Neville but that mediocrity was about to be burnt to ashes as Wiegman The Wizard transformed England into Double European Champions.
The Wizard took over as leader of our national team fresh off the back of guiding her native Netherlands to back-to-back finals in her first 2 tournaments as an international manager, winning their first international trophy at their home Euros in 2017 by beating the Danes 4-2 in the final.
That was an incredible turnaround in the fortunes of a team that had 4 of the 5 games preceding her appointment and would be backed up 2 years later with a run all the way to the 2019 World Cup final in Lyon.
Despite the disappointment of losing the final 2-0 to the USA, it was still an incredible run for a team that had looked on it’s last legs before her appointment.
Confidently dispatching traditional heavyweights of Japan in the round of 16 before cruising past Italy and sneaking past Sweden showed just how much of a difference Sarina had made to the Dutch game and provided ample justification for the announcement of her addition to the statue garden of the KNVB, the first time a women had ever been granted that honour.
There must have been many broken hearts across the Netherlands when it was announced before the 2020 Olympics that the Wizard was leaving to take over the national team of an underperforming island nation nearby.
At the 2023 World Cup The Wizard would lead that nation to their first ever World Cup final as reigning European Champions, but that’s skipping ahead a little so lets first discuss a little of that European success.
England were a mess when Wiegman took the helm and they didn’t look much better in the first game of Euro 2022 as they snuck a 1-0 win from under the noses of the Austrians at Old Trafford in a disjointed display in front of 68,871 passionate home fans, including myself.
Like with all great teams they just needed a little bedding in time and by the end of their next match it was clear they were the team to beat, having swept Norway aside in emphatic 8-0 fashion.
A 5-0 drubbing of Northern Ireland 4 days later set them on their way to the knockouts as one of the favourites for the title.
Sure it took extra time to beat Spain in the quarter-finals, but Sweden in the Semis proved a much easier battle to win, before it was back to extra-time and a 110th minute winner from Chloe Kelly at Wembley to send the nation into raptures and secure our first major trophy since Alf Ramsey’s world beaters of ’66.
Now back to 2023 and that World Cup Final run which saw England win our first Women’s penalty shoot-out, dispatching Nigeria 4-2 from 12 yards after a goalless game.
Decamping to Sydney for the rest of the tournament we dispatched Colombia and the hosts Australia in quick succession to make it 4 finals in 4 tournaments for The Wizard, maintaining her 100% record of making finals as an international manager.
Losing that final 1-0 to Spain denied England and Wiegman their first World title, but set them up beautifully for revenge in Switzerland this summer when they faced down the same opponents for the European title at the weekend in yet another final for The Wizard.
Making that final in Basel made it 5 out of 5 for The Wizard Wiegman and 3 in a row for England.
No other coach in football history has made it to the finals of 5 consecutive major tournaments before and to do so with 2 different nations, that were both struggling to secure any positive results before she came in, shows just how magical The Wizard’s effect can be on whoever has the good fortune to have her leading their nation.
To win 3 European titles in a row as a newbie to International Management and become the first Manager to make 5 finals in a row in football history can only be down to magic right? or maybe just incredible skill and planning.
Long may The Wizard grace our national team with her presence in the dugout.
The Football tourist 