England v Switzerland
Women's International
7.45pm GMT, Tuesday 3 December 2024
Bramall Lane, Sheffield

Sarina Wiegman and Jess Park spoke to the press on Monday morning ahead of England’s second and final international fixture of the window against Switzerland – who will host UEFA EURO 2025 – on Tuesday.

Wiegman and Park looked ahead to the game, which takes place at Bramall Lane, against Pia Sundhage’s team.

Here is what they had to say in full.

Wiegman on continuing to experiment with the squad:

It gives opportunities for us to try out things and to play many players so absolutely, we need this game to try out these things. We still have seven months to go but we want to get as much information as possible and develop our style of play and experience where we are at the moment.

On looking ahead to UEFA EURO 2025:

Before the tournament, you want clarity. Now, you’re trying out things and now, you want everyone to compete at the highest level – compete against opponents but also compete with each other. That’s what you need to become better. Of course, we’re not going to get everything right but we’re learning and it gives us information.

On the challenges England will face against Switzerland:

We took a lot of learnings from Saturday but I think tomorrow will be a different game with different challenges. I do expect, first of all, that Switzerland will play in another shape and what we’ve seen from them is that they drop deeper quicker a little bit, so we expect to have the ball more.

On the learnings the Lionesses will take from the USA:

In the USA game, we had in the second half about 20 minutes of momentum where we kept the ball and we want to get those minutes longer that we dominate. In the ideal world, that’s 90 minutes but in those big occasions, that’s hard but we can get more out of that. 

We're LIVE from Sheffield as Sarina Wiegman and Jess Park preview tomorrow’s game against Switzerland. https://t.co/nq0QLAtlRs

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) December 2, 2024

Park on establishing herself as a regular for the Lionesses:

I’ve learnt a lot from playing at club level and obviously, I’ve had a lot more experiences now internationally. I feel like I’m getting there. I’m really getting comfortable in the environment with my team-mates and coming onto the pitch and being on the pitch. I feel like it’s really progressing.

On where England can improve in attack:

Sustaining the attacks for a bit longer and creating them really clear-cut chances will be a really massive part in our development. I think that’s something we need to focus on.

On competition for places within the team:

That’s the best way a team needs to be. If there’s no competition, it’s not going to bring out the best in you and I think that’s the important thing.

On playing alongside some of her former Young Lionesses team-mates:

It’s nice to be around a lot of the younger girls that I know as well and that I’ve grown up with and played with before. That’s really nice to have them in and around camp. They kind of look to me to help them out now as well, so that’s really nice.

Switzerland in profile

Match Stats

● England are unbeaten in eleven previous meetings with Switzerland (W10 D1), with the Lionesses only facing Finland (P13 W9 D4) and Northern Ireland (P12 W12) more often without ever losing in in their entire history.

● Switzerland have lost each of their three previous away games against England, losing 9-1 in April 1977, 1-0 in May 2000 and most recently 2-0 in September 2010.

● This will be England’s fourth game at Bramall Lane, winning each of the previous three by an aggregate score of 11-0; their most recent game at the Sheffield venue came in the semi-finals of EURO 2022, beating Sweden 4-0.

● Switzerland have won three of their four away games in all competitions in 2024 (L1) after losing their final three on the road to end 2023.

● England have won just six of their eleven games in all competitions in 2024 (D3 L2), giving them their worst win-rate (54.5%) in a calendar year they’ve played ten plus games in since 2007 (50% - P14 W7 D4 L3).

● Switzerland lost 0-6 to Germany last time out, their heaviest defeat in friendly since a 0-7 defeat to the Germans in June 2022 – back then, the Swiss lost their following game after that loss, 0-4 to England.

● In their goalless draw with the USA on Saturday, England recorded their fewest shots (4) and expected goals figure (0.07) in any of their 56 games under manager Sarina Wiegman.

● England have recorded two clean sheets in their last four games (vs. Sweden & USA), as many shutouts as they managed across their previous ten matches across all competitions.

● Against the USA last time out, Beth Mead created the most chances (2) and had the most touches in the opposition box (5) of any England player – the Arsenal forward has created 19 chances for the Lionesses in 2024, at least six more than any of her teammates.

● Keira Walsh (49 currently) could become the fourth player to make 50 appearances for England under manager Sarina Wiegman after Lauren Hemp (53), Georgia Stanway (53) and Ella Toone (51).

England Squad News

Ticket Information

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How to watch or stream

Sarina Wiegman has named her line-up to face Switzerland in Sheffield and there's two debutants with Ruby Mace and Laura Blindkilde Brown in the team. 

The Lionesses are much-changed from the team who faced USA on Saturday with only Jess Park starting at Bramall Lane from the team who played at Wembley.

England: 1 Hannah Hampton, 2 Esme Morgan, 3 Gabby George, 4 Ruby Mace, 5 Millie Turner, 6 Millie Bright (c), 7 Jess Park, 8 Maya Le Tisier, 9 Aggie Beever-Jones, 10 Grace Clinton, 11 Laura Blindkilde Brown

Substitutes: 13 Mary Earps, 14 Georgia Stanway, 15 Beth Mead, 16 Keira Walsh, 17 Jess Naz, 18 Jess Carter, 19 Alessia Russo, 20 Leah Williamson, 21 Anna Moorhouse, 22 Alex Greenwood, 23 Lotte Wubben-Moy

Ready to make their #Lionesses debuts tonight! 🤩@OfficialRubyM 🤝 @Laurablindkilde pic.twitter.com/Ffel6gOCQS

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) December 3, 2024

England ended 2024 with a bright 1-0 win over Switzerland at Bramall Lane as Grace Clinton netted an early winner. 

Fielding a team full of youthful talent, England showed plenty of spark after Clinton tapped in on eight minutes. 

The game became more expansive in the second half as Switzerland found their attacking flow but the Lionesses did enough to claim the victory. 

Sarina Wiegman made 10 changes to the starting XI that held Olympic champions the USA to a 0-0 draw at Wembley as Ruby Mace and Laura Blindkilde-Brown started on their Lionesses debuts.

England immediately seized the momentum as Clinton opened the scoring after just seven minutes, latching onto a rebound from a Millie Turner header for her third goal in five Lionesses appearances. 

Jess Park showed why she was the only player retained from Saturday’s draw with the USA as she wound her way into the middle of the pitch before testing Elvira Herzog in goal. 

Maya Le Tissier sent a shot wide having been left free in the box before Gabby George did the same as England threatened a second. 

England boasted a youthful line-up but there were plucky youngsters in the Swiss XI too as 17-year-old Sydney Schertenleib forced Hannah Hampton into a save with a shot from distance, after Switzerland had struggled to get out their own half in the first half. 

Park made way for Alessia Russo at the interval and the Arsenal striker almost made an instant impact as she connected with a well-placed cross from George, but Russo nodded past the post. 

Switzerland’s three changes at half-time saw the game open up as Hampton was called into action to deny Iman Beney’s shot.

England continued to show creativity and commitment to the cause as Beever-Jones and Blindkilde-Brown neatly played the ball between themselves before Herzog did well to stop an effort from the latter. 

With 12 minutes remaining, Meriame Terchoun sent a dipping shot on target that Hampton did well to stretch and tip behind as Switzerland piled on the pressure.

The final attacks of the night saw Georgia Stanway find the side netting having been played into the near post by Mead before hitting the post in the very next move.

England: 1 Hannah Hampton; 2 Esme Morgan, 3 Gabby George, 4 Ruby Mace, 5 Millie Turner, 6 Millie Bright, 7 Jess Park, 8 Maya Le Tissier, 9 Aggie Beever-Jones, 10 Grace Clinton, 11 Laura Blindkilde Brown 

Substitutes: 19 Alessia Russo for Park 46’, 16 Keira Walsh for Mace 63’, 15 Beth Mead for George 63’, 18 Jess Carter for Turner 84’, 14 Georgia Stanway for Blindkilde-Brown 84’ 

Substitutes not used: 13 Mary Earps, 17 Jessica Naz, 20 Leah Williamson, 21 Anna Moorhouse, 22 Alex Greenwood, 23 Lotte Wubben-Moy 

Goals: Grace Clinton 8’ 

Coach: Sarina Wiegman 

Switzerland: 21 Elvira Herzog; 2 Julia Stierli, 3 Lara Marti, 5 Noelle Maritz, 7 Sydney Schertenleib, 9 Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic, 11 Coumba Sow, 14 Smilla Vallotto, 18 Viola Calligaris, 22 Meriame Terchoun, 24 Iman Beney 

Substitutes: 8 Nadine Riesen for Marti 46’, 15 Noemi Ivelj for Sow 46’, 19 Lydia Andrade for Schertenleib 46’, 6 Riola Xhemaili for Crnogorcevic 87’, 20 Aurelie Csillag for Stierli 88’ 

Substitutes not used: 1 Nadine Katja Bohi, 4 Larina Baumann, 12 Livia Peng, 13 Stephanie Esther Waeber, 16 Sandrine Mauron, 17 Seraina Piubel, 23 Alisha Lehmann, 25 Alena Binex

Coach: Pia Sundhage