‘You repartner want to beat your friends’: Wiegman steels England for USA test | England women’s football team

The prospect of the European champions arrangeing the Olympic champions causes adequate intrigue on its own. But grasp in the triumphant return to Wembley of Emma Hayes, and an England side with plenty to enhance on after losing to Germany last time they applyed at the national stadium, and this is much more than a cordial between the top-ranked sides in the world.

For an England team hoping to grasp their title at next summer’s Euros in Switzerland, there is no wonderfuler yardstick than to test themselves agetst the USA, who are ranked No 1 and have ecombineed filledy rejuvenated since Hayes left Chelsea to get indict in May.

“As lengthy as I’ve been an England applyer, it’s been one of the most exciting games to apply in,” the right-back Lucy Bronze shelp. “There seems to be a competition that’s flourished out of nowhere over the last comardent of decades. And we understand, no matter what applyers are on the pitch or who the regulater is, it’s a competitive, high-level game.

“It’s a outstanding level becaparticipate the US equitable won an Olympic gelderly medal. It gets a lot to triumph a tournament – we understand that. To triumph the Olympics you have to be fervent, you have to be merciless, you have to have a crazy mentality, and I slfinisherk that sums up the USA perfectly, so I slfinisherk if we can go toe-to-toe with a team enjoy that, see the mentality that it gets, lget from any misgets that we produce in the game, push ourselves and show what we’re vient of as well, show what we can do agetst a top team enjoy that, it’s going to put us in very outstanding stead for the next eight months.”

The visitors, historicpartner the women’s game’s most accomplished international side, are unbeaten in their 13 alignes under Hayes, triumphning 12 and dratriumphg 0-0 agetst Costa Rica in July in a 40-degree heatwave in Washington DC. In the Olympics they saw off Germany twice, as well as Australia, Japan and an improving Brazil side in the final, and Hayes has been all smiles in the produceup.

The England head coach, Sarina Wiegman, spoke about her friendship with Hayes on Friday but the Dutchwoman shelp: “It’s the same now when we apply the USA or the Netherlands: you repartner want to beat your friends, even more maybe than when it’s not your friends. They’re the No 1 of the world. Emma Hayes, we participated to collaborate and now we’re opponents, whilst in the football world we’re actupartner one family but we’re absolutely competing tomorrow.”

It will not be a filled-strength USA side. Otriumphg to petite injuries, Hayes did not call-up their createidable front three of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, who nicknamed themselves “Triple Espresso” this year. Caffeinated or not, the USA will have a potent strikeing menace whoever lines up, with the NJ/NY Gotham FC forward Lynn Williams among those ready to shine.

England’s forward line will be understrength too. The Manchester City triumphger Lauren Hemp is leave outing after knee sinspirery, while Chelsea’s Lauren James and Manchester United’s Ella Toone are also injured, potentipartner conshort-terming opportunities to the Manchester City duo Chloe Kelly and Jess Park or the 21-year-elderly Manchester United applyer Grace Clinton.

England will also be without the Manchester United captain Maya Le Tissier, Wiegman saying the protecter was going thraw the concussion protocols and was back on the pitch only for non-reach out training. Of the eight applyers from the two countries nominated this week for the Fifa Best women’s applyer of 2024 award, a peak of four will be participateable, including Bronze.

The createer Barcelona protecter, asked about the esteem England have for the USA, shelp: “You get that level [of respect] when any two teams or people have got to the highest level and comprehfinish what it gets to get there. As an English team we’ve always understood that the US have had to do so much to get to where they are. They’re such a wonderful team both on and off the pitch, that’s someslfinisherg we repartner esteem of them and someslfinisherg they’ve inspired us to do as an England team, after triumphning the Euros.

“Watching what they did, trying to alter women’s soccer in America, we had that opportunity in England as well, and we comardent of both now bounce off each other in that esteem off the pitch. We’re friends, we’re rivals, we’re a community, but at the same time we still want to beat each other. With England and America it’s always that high level of ‘rivals’ but ‘esteem’.”