Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman denied that she was disappointed that U.S. stars Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson won't face England.
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Lionesses will host USWNT on November 30Hayes released surprise U.S. roster on MondaySmith, Rodman & Swanson all absent for fixtureFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
The Lionesses will take on the USWNT at Wembley on November 30, fresh off the back of their Olympic gold medal triumph under new head coach Emma Hayes. However, the visiting team will look a little different in London, as none of their star attacking trident were included in the squad to face England.
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"It's been a pretty tough couple of years in terms of going from back-to-back World Cups to Olympics for those players," Hayes said of Smith, Rodman and Swanson – who earned the moniker 'triple espresso' at the Olympics – on Monday. "It's fair to say all three of them have been carrying niggles and I think it's fair to say that they had to play through the last part in in discomfort. The realities are I'm invested in player welfare and seeing the decision is the right one – they need to get the right interventions for their niggles."
WHAT WIEGMAN SAID
Asked on Tuesday if it was disappointing to see all three left off the USWNT roster, England boss Wiegman said: "I think the USA is still very, very top level. They miss some players – so do we. I think it's part of the year, November, and part of football too, that sometimes you have injuries and then other players get opportunities to play. I think they still have a very decent team and decent squad and that we can see a very competitive game on November 30."
DID YOU KNOW?
The game at Wembley will see Wiegman and Hayes face off as coaches for the first time. The pair have spent the last few years collaborating on player availability and welfare but will be tasked with out-thinking each other at Wembley. "She's done an amazing job at Chelsea but now going into that environment in USA, of course, with a gold medal, it's incredible what she's done. Really, really impressive," Wiegman said of Hayes on Tuesday. "I'm looking forward to seeing her, meeting her, and to play the USA with England. It's going to be a good one."
Asked if Hayes' instant success with the USWNT surprised her, Wiegman added: "No, it hasn't surprised me at all because I value really highly what she's done in the women's game, what she's done at Chelsea and how ready she was to go into into the USA job. I think she was really ready for that and you could tell and see, so I wasn't surprised. But that doesn't say that it's easy to do, because it's really, really hard. We saw that even in the final, how hard that game was. But they finally found a way to win that game too. Impressive."