Wigman's team advanced to the Sunday final. Photo: Reuters/CARL RECINE
Comparisons between men's and women's football are usually useless, but when trying to figure out how good Sarina Wigman is as a coach, it's hard not to fall into one of them.
After that how she led England to their first Women's World Cup final. Just a year after they became European champions, Wigman's genius is beyond question.
This calm, quiet, serious and diligent Dutch coach has done what no other manager in the history of football in this country has done and compares favorably with another outstanding manager who has changed the way English football looks.
One has worked exclusively in club football with Barcelona, Bayern and Manchester City, the other has made a name for himself on the international stage, but Wigman's impact on two different countries is at least worthy of being discussed in in the same conversation as Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola is an outstanding manager of her generation, but Wigman is probably the best of her generation. Every country in the world would take her as their manager if they could, just like every club in the world would demand Guardiola.
This is because Wigman has shown that she has a golden touch in the first place with her. originally from the Netherlands, where she won the European Championship in 2017, and two years later reached the final of the World Cup, and now with England. Win the final against Spain on Sunday and she will be given the honorary title of lady.
If Wigman leads England to a World Cup triumph, a first for the women's team, she will surely achieve something as special as the treble that Guardiola won with Manchester City last season.
Pep Guardiola led Manchester City to FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League titles last season. Credit: AFP/Franck Fife
Both specialize in taking groups of extremely talented players — full of quality and skill, but with all the egos and conflicting personalities that go with them — and turning them into ruthless winning machines. England have only lost once in 38 games under Wigman.
The Netherlands may have been among the favorites to win Euro 2017 and England at home in 2022, but pre-tournament scores mean nothing when the action begins. Wigman performed brilliantly both times.
Teams coached by Sarina Wigman have won the last two European Women's Championships, first in the Netherlands in 2017 and then in England in 2022. and now England delivered trophies under pressure, so did Wigman with two different national teams. She will desperately hope that she can go one step further than with the Netherlands and actually win this time.
Indeed, the Dutch influence has been so positive and well received that the Football Association has already stated that loosen the requirement that the men's team manager be an Englishman. Instead, the FA ruled that candidates simply had to have experience in the English game. This is the Wigman effect.
After so many failed experiments with foreign coaches in the men's game, Wigman was a resounding success. And she didn't even work in English football before she changed the orange of her homeland to the flag of St. George.
Wigman is a coach, not just a manager. She thinks about the game with a sharp mind, but also has a knack for creating a close bond within the team. A leader and a brilliant communicator, she is loved and respected by the players.
There are different sides to her personality; she is holistic and easy to communicate, but also strict and demanding. There are unquestionable standards of conduct, and she has a steely edge, like Guardiola, who will not tolerate anyone who does not comply with his requirements either on the training ground or on match day.
Wigman can. be tough when she feels it's time for the player to leave. Take former Captain Steph Houghton. She was left out of the squad ahead of last year's Euros and then again missed out on this World Cup despite the injury of Leah Willamson, who replaced her as captain. Houghton was unhappy with either decision and had support in the media and among the fans given all she had contributed to the national team over the years, but Wigman was not interested or affected by any of that.
< p> Wigman's ability to raise the team after the illness and gradual decline of Phil Neville's reign, to get them to play clearly and without lack of skill, turned England into European champions.
In Australia they didn't play so well, but they worked hard to find a way to win. It can still lead them to global conquest. England is lucky to have her.
Свежие комментарии