04 December 2023 , 13:07
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Sarina Wiegman has dismissed any concerns around the sporting integrity of England's decisive Women's Nations League clash with Scotland.
The two meet on the final matchday at Hampden Park on Tuesday night where the Lionesses must beat the Auld Enemy to have any chance of finishing first in Group A1.
And if the Netherlands beat Belgium, England must also win by at least four clear goals to have any chance of overhauling the Dutch on goal difference. Only the group winners advance to the tournament finals in the spring, which is also the route to possible Paris Olympic qualification for Team GB.
As England are the nominated qualifying team for the British, they must finish in the top two of the Nations League to reach the games, or come third if France reach the final. This has brought about a strange scenario whereby Scottish players will only have a possibility of going to a major tournament next summer if they lose to England, potentially by a heavy scoreline.
This led to Netherlands manager, Andries Jonker calling the situation “strange” and questioning the integrity of the tournament. But Wiegman believes that Scotland will still be desperate to beat England regardless of the bizarre Olympic issue.
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"I understand those conversations," said Wiegman. "But if you have seen our group, if you have seen Scotland (performances) and if you know the history between Scotland and England, there's no way they are going to give away this game.
"They really want to beat England. And we really want to beat them of course. There is such a rivalry, that this is not going to be the case. We saw that in England (the first game) and that is what it is going to be. This is the first time we play the Nations League, so I don't have the solution. How can you solve this?
"Maybe you don't want them in the same group, but if we both topped other groups, we'd go into the finals with the same situation. So this is not an easy solution. It is about fair play and in football everybody wants to win, we know the rivalry between Scotland and England. Football is competitive and we have professionals who really want to perform at the highest level, I think it will be a good game.
The Lionesses would have boasted head-to-head superiority against the Netherlands, had they won by two clear goals at Wembley on Friday night. Instead they had to settle for a 3-2 victory, after Ella Toone's dramatic late winner.
It means England could well be chasing goal difference on the final matchday, if the Dutch are beating Belgium at the same time the Lionesses face Scotland. And Wiegman wants her team to attack right from the start, regardless of the scoreline in the other group game.
"I hope they go wild from the first minute," added Wiegman. "But you don't want to get erratic. We want to be in control.
England are only still in the Nations League running thanks to Ella Toone's last gasp winner against Netherlands on Friday (Hollandse Hoogte/REX/Shutterstock)"We want to play our best game, create chances and get a lot of players up front. But do the right things, make the right choices and stay calm at all moments. We also need to be aware of not conceding.
"But let's start with our quality, play a possession game, get behind the defence, create lots of chances and score."
With Olympic hosts France given qualification, only two spots are on offer for European nations at the tournament next summer. Twelve teams will compete at the women's finals, where Canada are defending champions, although the men's competition will feature 16 sides.
But Wiegman refused to be drawn on the issue of possible expansion for the women's tournament in the future.
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"The Olympics is a big, big tournament with all sports," added Wiegman. "For me this is not the moment to talk about that (possible expansion) we are just preparing for the game tomorrow. We want to get through and get a very good result. At this moment that is what we're focusing on."