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When Chloe Kelly scrambled home England’s winner against Germany in the Euro 2022 final last July, Sarina Wiegman achieved a feat only dreamed of since Sir Geoff Hurst’s stunning hat-trick against the same opponents at the same venue in 1966: she brought football home. Since succeeding Phil Neville as the Lionesses’s coach in September 2021, the Dutchwoman, 53, has barely put a foot wrong, winning 28 of her 35 games in charge, drawing just six and losing only once: a chastening 2-0 friendly defeat to Australia in Brentford in April that may actually have served as a timely reality check ahead of this summer’s Women’s World Cup in the Matildas’ backyard. It’s three out of three for her team in Australia and New Zealand so far, with the Lionesses’s putting two nervy 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark behind them with the 6-1 trouncing of China, which saw them top Group D in style and head into a round of 16 clash against Nigeria brimming with confidence. But while success might appear to come easily to Sarina Wiegman, matters were not always so straightforward. Born in The Hague on 26 October 1969, she played street football from a young age but, incredibly, had to pretend to be a boy in order to turn out for Wasserman side GSC ESDO at junior level. “When I started playing football as a six-year-old girl we weren’t allowed to play, so I played illegally,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast recently. “I had very short hair, looked a little bit maybe like a boy, my parents were really OK and I had a twin brother, so we just started to play and everyone said that’s OK. It wasn’t normal then and now it’s just normal, whether you’re a boy or a girl, you can play football and that’s just great. It was actually crazy before, that you couldn’t, but that’s just the way it is in development I guess.” Subsequently playing as a central midfielder for the women’s teams HSV Celeritas and KFC ‘71 in the 1980s, she made her debut for the Dutch national side in 1987 against Norway, aged 17, when the well-travelled future Rangers manager Dick Advocaat picked her for what would turn out to be his only game in charge. She would ultimately make 104 appearances for the Netherlands, becoming their first female centurion when she appeared against Denmark in 2001, prompting Louis van Gaal to pay his respects to her extraordinary accomplishment in an era in which the women’s game had been so badly neglected. Long before that moment, Wiegman’s performances at the 1988 FIFA Women’s Invitation Tournament in China had caught the eye of then-US women’s coach Anson Dorrance, who subsequently invited her to enrol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. She accepted, making 24 appearances in 1989 and scoring four times for a team that featured such future American greats as Mia Hamm. Three members of her current Lionesses squad – Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy – would later follow in her footsteps and turn out for the Tar Heels. Returning to the Netherlands, Wiegman worked as a PE teacher at Segbroek College secondary school in her hometown before signing for Ter Leede in Sassenheim in 1994, whom she would play for until 2003, picking up two championships and a domestic cup along the way. After retiring as a player, she returned to Ter Leede as the club’s manager in 2006, leading them to a league and cup double in her debut season before joining ADO Den Haag for the inaugural Women’s Eredivisie. She would spend seven years with Den Haag, again winning the double in 2012 and another cup the following year (Wiegman’s husband Marten Glotzbach, incidentally, is the current manager of the ADO Den Haag’s men’s side). Wiegman would then serve the Dutch women’s team as assistant manager between 2015 and 2017, twice stepping in as interim boss during that period while also becoming the first woman to hold a coaching role with a men’s team when she joined Sparta Rotterdam as an assistant in 2016. That same year, she also became the first woman to complete her Uefa Pro coaching licence. Finally promoted to manager of the Netherlands women’s side in 2017, she quickly led them to Euros glory that summer and the World Cup final in France two years later, where they were unfortunate to come up against an imperious Megan Rapinoe-inspired USA Joining England as the Covid-19 pandemic subsided, her impact on these shores was just as immediate, with players like Mary Earps later speaking movingly about Wiegman’s positive influence on her game and personal life, the new manager arriving at a time when the goalkeeper was suffering a crisis of self-belief and seriously considering hanging up her gloves. Bringing clear communication and direct attacking football to the Lionesses, Wiegman enjoyed the ideal approach to last summer’s Euros with an emphatic 5-1 win over the Netherlands, the reigning champions and her own former side. Speaking after that game, Wiegman was characteristically disinclined to get carried away, commenting: “We stick to our strategy and plans, and whether we would lose or win now, we’re not going to all of a sudden sit, we call it, on a pink cloud. We stay grounded.” Despite losing her sister weeks before the Euros got underway, Wiegman refused to lose focus and England would go from strength to strength as the tournament progressed, thrashing Norway and Northern Ireland in Group A, finding a way past a tricky Spanish side in the quarters before trouncing Sweden 4-0 on the way to that historic showdown with Germany. “The world around us will be changed,” she reflected in the aftermath of that famous extra-time victory, without hyperbole. “It’s positive but we have to be aware of it too. But we’ve changed society. That’s what we want. It’s so much more than football. We want to win, but through football you can make little changes in society and that’s what we hoped for. This has done so much for the game and for women and society. In England, but also across the world. It’s so nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was, inside and outside the stadium.” While she benefitted from a settled first-team at the Euros and at times appeared reluctant to make changes, Wiegman has had her preparations for the World Cup disrupted by injuries, first to Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby and now Keira Walsh, having already lost Ellen White and Jill Scott to retirement. But, as usual, she has simply taken adversity in her stride and given opportunities to promising understudies like Lauren James and Katie Zelem, both of whom excelled against China. Can Wiegman’s England go one better this time than her Dutch side of four years ago? With Brazil, Germany and Canada already knocked out and the USA decidedly unconvincing and up against a free-scoring Sweden next, the dream has rarely looked closer to becoming a reality. Read More Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest news and updates as England prepare for last-16 clash with Nigeria How the Women’s World Cup delivered its greatest ever group stage — against all the odds Wiegman hails England’s adaptability after tactics change sparks big win over China Watch England train ahead of Women’s World Cup last 16 clash with Nigeria Wiegman hails England’s adaptability after tactics change sparks big win over China Lauren James delighted to ‘carve out’ her name with superb displays at World Cup

Follow live coverage as Leicester City face Liverpool in the Premier League today. A six-match win streak has lifted the Reds back into contention for a top-four finish despite a largely dismal season, but Jurgen Klopp’s team must continue to win and hope Newcastle or Man United drop more points in their final fixtures. Dean Smith has not yet had the big impact hoped for since he replaced Brendan Rodgers and Leicester are two points from safety with three games to play including this one - though they have a better goal difference than Leeds, Everton and Nottingham Forest, which could yet prove important. We will bring you all the action and updates from today's game in the live blog below:

Liverpool have confirmed Ryan Gravenberch's shirt number following his deadline day move from Bayern Munich.

Harry Kane has been included in Tottenham’s pre-season Asia-Pacific tour – but club captain Hugo Lloris will stay behind as the French goalkeeper looks to finalise a move to a new club. England skipper Kane has entered the final 12 months of his Spurs contract and is attracting interest from Bayern Munich amid reports the Bundesliga champions have lodged a formal bid. Along with some other international players, Kane returned for pre-season training on Wednesday, with new head coach Ange Postecoglou set to lay out his vision for success to the club’s leading scorer. Spurs confirmed veteran goalkeeper Lloris had been granted permission not to travel on the tour “in order to explore prospective transfer opportunities”. Tottenham’s stance on Kane, though, has not changed since Manchester City tried to sign the forward in 2021. City’s advances were turned down and the north London club plan to reject any bids for the forward this summer, despite his contract now entering its final 12 months. Another player expected to depart is Croatia winger Ivan Perisic – one of the travelling tour party – as Postecoglou trims down a bloated squad ahead of the new Premier League campaign, which starts at Brentford on August 13. Tottenham fly out to Perth in Australia – with new signing James Maddison making the trip after the England midfielder’s £40million switch from Leicester – ahead of an opening fixture against West Ham on July 18. Spurs will play Leicester in Thailand on July 23 before the Singapore leg, which will take in a fixture against local side Lion City Sailors on July 26 after previous opponents AS Roma, managed by Jose Mourinho, pulled out of their planned trip to Asia. Several Tottenham players are still sidelined by injuries – with goalkeeper Fraser Forster (back), defender Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Bryan Gil (back) and Troy Parrott (groin) all continuing their rehabilitation. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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