England women's manager Sarina Wiegman hopes the team will learn from their surprise 2-0 defeat to Australia on Tuesday but says she's not worried the loss will halt their momentum ahead of this summer's World Cup.

The loss to the Matildas was the first defeat of Wiegman's tenure, and brought to an end their 30-match unbeaten run. England were outclassed by a Sam Kerr-inspired Australia team on a rainy night at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium as the Lionesses struggled to find the same form that led them to the Euro 2022 title last year.

"It doesn't feel great. It was a big learning game against a very physical, well-organised, aggressive, good-defending Australia team," Wiegman said of the defeat.

"We had a lot of possession but we struggled to speed up the game, go forward and stretch them. We didn't do that well. We made some mistakes, their counter-attack was very dangerous."

Kerr scored Australia's opener in the 32nd minute as she pounced on a poor header from captain Leah Williamson to give the Matildas a 1-0 lead at half-time. And they doubled their lead in the 67th minute as Charlotte Grant's header deflected off Williamson and past Mary Earps.

"Their first goal was a mistake from us, which can happen. We started the second half pretty good -- but they had a counter-attack and scored, that made it hard for us," Wiegman added. "We play against some opponents who drop deeper so we have to find solutions to create more to score goals."

The players will now head back to their clubs but with the World Cup 100 days away, Wiegman and her coaching staff will focus on how their team can break down the opposition when they play a low block.

Despite the defeat, Wiegman is not remotely concerned it will halt the team's upward trajectory.

"I'm not worried," she said. "I don't worry very quickly. We know we have to be at the top level and that's when we go into the World Cup too. We know where we want to go. It's about building, momentum. This is just a big learning moment for us."

Captain Williamson said to ITV: "It's absolutely not a setback. You have to take blessings in disguise, it's maybe not the worst thing that could happen to us. For us to lose tonight gives us a bit of fire."

Wiegman said Australia is one of the favourites for the World Cup but their star player Kerr said the team should not get carried away after their win.

"England are a great team so it's nice to put in a good team performance but we need to take everything with a grain of salt before the World Cup," Kerr said. "Of course it feels nice right now and we'll enjoy it tonight, but it's one step on the journey to the World Cup.

"Beating England tonight doesn't win us anything. We've had some up and down performances over the last couple of months so to finish up like that is nice. It's a big performance for us as a team."

Kerr looked to have picked up a late injury in the 2-0 win, but played down any fears over it post-match, saying she'd be fit to return to club duty for Chelsea and face Aston Villa on Sunday.

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Tom Hamilton

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