Boxes ticked, questions answered, Olympic disappointment a distant memory.
The overall picture of England’s warm weather camp in Marbella is one of success. They secured two convincing victories over Austria and Italy while Sarina Wiegman got the chance to see more players in new positions.
The standard of the opposition left a lot to be desired, but that was always going to be the case given the limited range of teams not involved in Nations League knockout matches or promotion/relegation play-offs.
England were in Spain because they missed out on qualifying for the latter stages of that tournament and, in turn, this summer’s Olympics. But those demons were banished in the Costa del Sol. Now, the focus is on April’s Euro 2025 qualifiers.
‘It [the camp] has given us a chance to rebuild the team again and focus on the next tournament,’ Lucy Bronze said.
England earned convincing victories over Austria and Italy in their friendly matches in Spain
Lucy Bronze believes the camp has given England the chance to rebuild for Euro qualifiers
Lauren Hemp scored twice as England beat Italy 5-1 in their second friendly match on Tuesday
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‘I think we’re in a really good place. I think it was quite difficult after the World Cup, I think a lot of teams, Sweden and Spain for example, showed it was difficult to pick themselves up and go again in a tough competition.
‘I think you’ve seen we’re back into that rhythm of playing for England. I think we’re improving as well, our style of play is improving and the players have got better connections again.
‘In terms of where we’re at, it’s quite exciting because I think we’ve got a lot more that we can get better at, we know that, but to be starting from a better place than what we started from two years ago [before Euro 2022] feels really good.’
The next Nations League campaign will serve as qualifying for the Euros and England will progress if they finish in the top two of their four-team group. Finish any lower and they will go into play-offs.
The Lionesses are guaranteed to draw one of Spain, Germany, France or Netherlands due to their failure to finish top of their group last time out.
Wiegman knows England could face an even tougher group this time around, but winning matches breeds confidence and she will be happy with where her squad are at.
‘I think it’s going to be a tough group again, because it’s the Nations League setup and we’ve seen in the autumn that you get very competitive games,’ Wiegman said
‘Winning helps [confidence] but it also helps that we have a very good group, and we have a very good group on the pitch and off the pitch, and we have some depth, some young players coming in.
‘On Friday we played with such a young team but today [Tuesday] there was [also] a lot of young players on the pitch too – so that gives us some good perspective for the future.
Grace Clinton was among the England youngsters to make their senior debuts in Spain
England scored 12 goals across the two matches to boost confidence ahead of Euros qualifiers
Sarina Wiegman admitted her side had been sloppy after conceding three despite dominating
‘It gives us headaches to make choices for the next camp and to make choices for the starting line-up. But let’s first see the draw and then there are a couple of weeks of course where players go back to clubs. Hopefully they come out of that good, and then we have some hard choices to make.’
While England scored 12 goals across their two games, they also conceded three, which will be a slight concern for Wiegman given her team were so dominant.
The goal they conceded against Italy was the last kick before half-time, while the two Austria scored also came in the latter stages of each half.
‘Of course I was disappointed [with Italy’s goal] because I thought the moment of that goal I didn’t like because it was the end of the first half and we started to play a little bit more sloppy,’ Wiegman said.
‘We had a sloppy moment before they scored the goal and another sloppy moment and then they scored that one. We have to keep our standards, that’s what we want to [do] and it was so unnecessary.’
England do not know who or where they will be playing next, with the Nations League draw not taking place until March 5.
Wiegman will have just under a month to prepare for the first of those qualifying fixtures and the manager admitted this camp has given her some selection headaches. That is not a bad thing. England achieved what they wanted to here and will go into April’s confidence with the belief they can pave the way for more history.