Wiegman excited to see England’s true standing in push for Euros glory

Sarina Wiegman readily acknowledges she is stepping into the unknown and does not know quite what to expect.

As a first-time visitor to Middlesbrough on Thursday night England’s coach will be confronted by not only Tememos, the giant, futuristic, Anish Kapoor sculpture situated outside the Riverside Stadium but the town’s famous Transporter Bridge spanning the River Tees.

Yet intrigued as Wiegman may be by her temporary Teesside habitat, events on the pitch could leave the most significant impression. Although the former Netherlands coach has been in charge of the Lionesses for six games, they all involved significantly weaker opposition, resulting in six victories, with 53 goals scored and none conceded.

Impressive as November’s 20-0 win against Latvia undeniably was, England face the first proper litmus test of Wiegman’s tenure against Canada’s Olympic gold medalists on Thursday night in the first fixture of the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup.

Played across six days in a round-robin format as England limber up to host the European Championship this July, it also involves fixtures against two more of the world’s top 10 teams in Spain and Germany.

“Since I’ve come in we’ve played games where we were in possession all the time,” said Wiegman, speaking from England’s training base at Rockliffe Park, near Darlington. “Although we did really well, the pressure wasn’t as high as we expect from these upcoming games. After these opponents I’ll know better where we are as a team.

“In order to become better we need to be know where we are at this point; it will be good preparation for the Euros. We really need these games against a higher level of opposition.”

As Storm Dudley began battering the north-east, Wiegman was busy devising