Wiegman: A very difficult night

Sarina Wiegman was left disappointed as the Lionesses were denied the chance to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 after a 4-0 defeat to Spain.

The European champions had a night to forget in Mallorca and the England boss conceded that the world champions were ‘a lot better’ than her side in their penultimate World Cup Qualifier.

“A very difficult night,” Wiegman summarised. “I think the difference tonight between Spain and England was big. I think we weren't at our best, although I think we started well.

“When they got into a rhythm and when they got their first goal, I think we just didn't play to our strengths too much and they played really well. That showed its difference tonight and that was very disappointing.

Avoiding defeat would have seen England book their place at next year’s tournament against Brazil but it wasn’t to be.

“It also has to do with a very good Spain [team] tonight,” continued Wiegman. “That is never an excuse when you lose 4-0.

“We wanted to harm them at the back and in the first half especially, after those first minutes that we started well, we played back, we played short all the time and that played to their strengths and we harmed ourselves.

“We lost the ball a couple of more times when they missed chances. We should have skipped players and wanted to get in the pockets or in behind them. We found it really hard to keep the ball. That has to do with us, it also has to do with the strength of Spain.”

England head to Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium next week to sign off the 2025-26 campaign against Ukraine and will be aiming to respond by qualifying for the World Cup at the second attempt.

“What we need to do now is stick together,” said Wiegman. “We have one more game on Tuesday – we need to show what we can do.

“This is tough. These are always the hardest moments. We haven't had these moments – I haven't had these moments with England.

“We have to recover from this and get really sharp for Tuesday and show we are still a really good team.

“Let's first win our game ourselves and then see what they do. We have to step up again, play a good game on Tuesday and win.”