Wiegman inspires England to Euro 2022 semis after overcoming death of sister

SARINA WIEGMAN is injecting some Dutch courage into England’s push for Euros glory.

At this tournament alone the Lionesses boss has already had to overcome the death of her sister and a bout of coronavirus to fire the nation into Tuesday’s semi-final.

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It is no surprise that with a fearless manager like Wiegman, 52, the Lionesses look like a new animal under her leadership.

They produced a gutsy fightback against Spain in the quarter-final to win 2-1 on Wednesday, leaving the usually ice-cool Wiegman overcome with emotion.

After all, England had been just six minutes away from a heartbreaking exit until Ella Toone equalised and Georgia Stanway hit a stunning extra-time winner.

Manchester United forward Toone, 22, said: “It shows we have character, resilience and togetherness and there was never a doubt we would go on and win that game.

“Sarina coming in has given us that mindset, that belief. We know we have a strong and talented team and we believe in ourselves and each other.”

When Wiegman took over in September she inherited a side which had lost its way amid the gloom-laden days of the end of Phil Neville’s reign and interim boss Hege Riise.

They are now unbeaten in 18 games under Wiegman — but the journey has been far from easy for the England boss.

Just a month before the Euros her sister passed away, and she took just a week away from the camp to grieve with her family.

At the time, Wiegman said it showed “how close” the group had grown when the players asked if they could wear mourning bands in the first friendly since the shock news.

She added: “They are such great people and it shows how close we are. It was a great gesture and I’m sure my sister would have been proud.”

Before the final Group A game with Northern Ireland she was then cruelly struck down with Covid.

Wiegman battled through symptoms to lead training sessions with a mask on before pulling the strings of the 5-0 thrashing of Kenny Shiels’ side from her hotel room.

She was back on the touchline for the quarter-final just three hours after producing a negative test result.

Wiegman has lived and breathed football her whole life and pretended to be a boy aged six just so she could play the sport.

Her husband coaches Dutch second-tier side ADO Den Haag, and they have two daughters Sacha and Lauren.

She was handed her international debut at 17 by former Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat in his only game in charge.

Wiegman went on to become the first Dutch female centurion with an appearance against Denmark in 2001.

She has remained a trailblazer having become the first woman to coach with a men’s pro club in her homeland.

Wiegman helped Sparta Rotterdam finish seventh during her season-long spell as an assistant in 2016.

But her challenge now is bringing football home to England, after lifting the Euros trophy with Holland in 2017.

Toone said: “Hopefully we see everyone’s beers flying around and that they’re enjoying the game, we want to make everyone proud.

“That’s the main thing — inspiring the next generation. So hopefully we can go on to put in another big performance in the semis.

“We’re getting more and more fans involved, everyone’s loving it. Hopefully we’ll have even more supporting us in the semis.”