IAN HERBERT: Has Sarina Wiegman met her match in ‘David Brent’? It’s chalk and cheese as Mrs Cool collides with bonkers Matildas boss Tony Gustavsson in World Cup semi-final
It was strictly Pom and Aussie business 20 years ago, when Eddie Jones and Sir Clive Woodward sent teams of their compatriots into the rugby World Cup final. In the same stadium today, it’s a curious coaching collision of Swede v Dutch. Chalk and cheese, you have to say.
The theatre of the pre-match press conference can sometimes seem a serious inconvenience to Sarina Wiegman, who towards the end of a half-hour’s talk yesterday seemed startled to be asked if the eve of a World Cup semi-final was a moment to ‘soak up the joy’.
She left her captain, Millie Bright, to answer, before the question stubbornly bounced back to her. ‘You want me to…?’ she said, eventually declaring: ‘When we win, I enjoy it a lot.’
Her Swedish opposite number, Tony Gustavsson, was the one having all the fun, lobbing in a few grenades about the English women’s football team receiving more funding than Australian football in its entirety.
Then revealing two English players had been successfully targeted in Australia’s 2-0 friendly win over Wiegman’s team in April.
Sarina Wiegman’s England side are set to take on Australia in the Women’s World Cup semi-finals
Wiegman will come up against Australia’s Swedish coach Tony Gustavsson (pictured)
The Lionesses on Tuesday were preparing for the match at Stadium Australia in Sydney
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One of the pair is thought to be defender Jess Carter, whom the Matildas repeatedly isolated as winger Hayley Raso gave her a rough time down the right flank.
There was something equally carefree about Gustavsson’s goalkeeper, Mackenzie Arnold, who was asked about Australian streets being named after her.
‘I’ve had to block it out because I know if I play like s**t tomorrow it could be a whole different response,’ she said. You gave thanks for someone to dispense with the usual caution of these stage-managed events.
There’s definitely something of the David Brent about Gustavsson, who was a game…
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