05 December 2023 , 22:59
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Sarina Wiegman vowed England “will be back” after crashing out of the Women’s Nations League in dramatic fashion.
The Lionesses ' hopes of another major tournament - and Olympic qualification - were dashed in dramatic fashion after Netherlands scored twice in injury time to beat Belgium 4-0, meaning England's six-goal thrashing of Scotland was not enough.
Lucy Bronze’s injury time header, England’s sixth goal, had looked to have put them through. But after full-time at Hampden Park, news broke that the Dutch had scored a fourth through Damaris Egurrola.
England had raced into a 5-0 lead with Lauren James the star. The Chelsea forward scored two, with Alex Greenwood, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby also on target.
But Wiegman, although disappointed, vowed that England would be back. The Dutch coach would have led Team GB at the Olympics had they qualified.
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"This team has experienced so many things," said Wiegman. "This will take a little bit of time (to get over) but we’ll be back. I’m convinced we’ll keep growing.
"But these things happen, we’re working hard. We’re trying to get to the next level. That’s what we showed this week again.
"You could see in every player we wanted a big win and we went for it. So that is why it is really disappointing."
The defeat means England's internationals will have a rare summer off in 2024, after a brutal end to a remarkable year. They will also now need to find fixtures for February's international window, the next time the players will meet.
This could be beneficial with concerns over players fitness after a packed calendar in recent years. But Wiegman didn't see it that way, saying that every player always wants to play at major tournaments.
"You want to go to every major tournament," Wiegman added. "The career of a football player is [only] a certain amount of time. If you can play every major tournament, every player wants that."
"We’ll go and play some friendlies. That’s in progress and I haven’t spoken about that yet with our players. It’s not all set in stone, but we have plans ready to fill in."