England will need to be top level to beat friendly opponents says Wiegman | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that her side will have to be at their top level to beat their final four opponents of the calendar year.

The Lionesses take on Germany and South Africa in home international friendlies in the October window before ending the year with further home fixtures against the United States and Switzerland.

Wiegman named a 25-player squad for the October international window and she is looking forward to seeing how those players connect with each other both on the training pitch and in games.

“It’s nice to bring in 25 players,” Wiegman said when speaking in an England press conference. “We are really happy that we qualified [for the EUROs] because we can play four friendlies this autumn and we can play very good games. It’ll be challenging and it will show us where we are.

“We are bringing in 25 players and we can see a little more about how they relate to each other in our environment in training sessions. We can also try out some more things in the games and see different connections. I’m really excited to start again.”

Wiegman is excited to experiment with her squad against four very different opponents.

She said “We play many different styles in the upcoming four games which is exciting. We will be exposed to many things and we will need to be at our top level to win those games.

“It is also an opportunity to make new connections, see more players, although I do think that we played many players in the Nations League last year too.”

Wiegman went on to explain how her side will be tested by October opponents Germany and South Africa whilst re-emphasising the need for England to be at their very best.

She said “Germany are top level, they are very physical. They have a new coach and are a little bit in transition with some players retiring from international football. They are still very strong, powerful and they always bring a certain level and we will have to be at our best.

“South Africa are different. They are very physical, athletic and have a lot of pace as we saw last year at the World Cup. They were really giving countries a hard time, they did really well and are very dangerous on the counter attack. We will have to be at our top level to play well and beat them.”

England face Germany at Wembley on Friday 25 October 2024 before taking on South Africa at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Tuesday 29 October 2024. Tickets remain on-sale for both matches and can be purchased by clicking here.