Sarina Wiegman insists there is no chance of Scotland giving England an easy ride in their final Nations League fixture on Tuesday evening – despite a big win for her Lionesses being the best outcome for both sides.
England are striving to qualify for the Olympic Games on behalf of Team GB but must top their Nations League group to stand a chance of doing so.
The Lionesses are level on points with the Netherlands but are three goals worse off, meaning they must beat Scotland by a big margin or win and hope the Dutch draw with Belgium.
Scottish players would benefit from England qualifying due to Team GB being made up of squad members from the four home nations.
Netherlands boss Andries Jonker questioned the integrity of the Nations League due to the conflict of interest and argued it should ‘not be possible’ for England and Scotland to be drawn in the same group.
Sarina Wiegman is adamant that Scotland will not take things easy against her England team
Scotland players would benefit from an England win as it would represent a boost for Team GB
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But Wiegman is adamant the Scots will do everything they can to prevent the Lionesses from winning at Hampden Park.
‘I understand the conversations about it but if you have seen our group and if you have seen Scotland and if you know the history of Scotland and England, then there is no way that they are going to give away this game,’ Wiegman said.
‘They really want to beat England. There’s such a rivalry that that’s absolutely not going to be the case.
‘There is not an easy solution and it’s just about fair play and football and in football everyone wants to win and we know the rivalry between Scotland and England. So, that’s just the way it is right now.’
Scotland captain Rachel Corsie blasted suggestions her side would not play to win, saying: ‘It’s so disrespectful. It’s absolutely outrageous to question anyone’s integrity. It’s a huge insult to us.’
Wiegman admitted her team has to go all out attack from the first whistle to give themselves the best chance of qualifying.
‘I hope they [the players] go wild from the first minute but you don’t want to get erratic, we want to be controlled, but we really want to play our best game and create chances and get a lot of players up front.’
Should England top their group, they would progress to a one-legged semi-final. Only the two teams who make the final will automatically qualify for the Olympics. Should hosts France, who qualify automatically, make the final, the third placed team would take the second spot.
Netherlands boss Andries Jonker questioned the integrity of the Nations League