Sarina Wiegman: 'We have work to do'

England women’s senior team head coach Sarina Wiegman acknowledged her side’s areas for improvement after playing out a 1-1 draw against Portugal in the Lionesses’ opening game of 2025.

Alessia Russo made the breakthrough for Wiegman’s team in the first half of the game at Estádio Municipal de Portimão in the UEFA Women’s Nations League.

However, Portugal to equalise in the second period, meaning the two teams shared the points in League A.

“I would have hoped to come away with more,” explained Wiegman. “I think we played a very good first half. I think we could have got some more goals that would have helped.

“The second half, they changed the shape and we had to adapt to that. When they started to push, we hoped to keep the ball better which we did in the last part of the second half. We want to do that better next time.”

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Having led for 75 minutes, Wiegman expressed her disappointment at conceding a goal late in the second half as England were unable to find a winner in the final 15 minutes despite their best efforts.

“They brought a lot more players on up front, they changed their shape and we were figuring out and at the end we did figure it out,” continued Wiegman.

“But the first moment they came through, they scored that goal really well. We could have done better there, we know that.

“We got the organisation better and pushed a little more too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get another goal.”

And attention now turns to Wednesday evening when the Lionesses welcome world champions Spain to Wembley Stadium in their second final game of the international window.

“I’m not thinking about the EUROs,” added Wiegman. “I’m just thinking about next Wednesday.

“We have work to do – it’s Spain, so it’s going to be a tough game at Wembley. We will review this game tomorrow and we’ll take steps to Spain and try to win that game.”