‘I make decisions to win’: Wiegman defends her handling of Earps and Hampton | OneFootball

Sarina Wiegman has defended promoting Hannah Hampton to be England’s first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Mary Earps, saying she makes “decisions to win”, after Earps criticised the head coach’s move in her autobiography.

Wiegman, speaking at Wembley after the announcement of her squad for fixtures against China and Ghana, said she had “really enjoyed working with Mary” and would cherish their time together with England but that she would make the same decision again.

Earps announced her retirement from international football shortly before last summer’s Euros in Switzerland, after Wiegman made Hampton the starting goalkeeper in place of England’s first-choice at the 2022 Euros and the 2023 World Cup. Hampton’s distribution is widely viewed as hugely important to the way England want to play.

Earps accused Wiegman in her autobiography of “rewarding bad behaviour” by bringing Hampton back into the fold, then giving her opportunities, after she had been dropped by Aston Villa and England for poor attitude and behaviour in 2022.

“We had a very good goalkeeper unit and the two goalkeepers were competing for the No 1 spot,” Wiegman said. “We kept communicating and we tried to support everyone in the best possible way. I can’t control how it comes across and there’s always learnings, but I don’t think, looking at the bigger picture, I would have done things differently.

“My reality and someone else’s reality can be different because how you experience things is very individual. I just know what I want to do is create an environment where we speak up, where I give clarity, where I always communicate with players when it’s necessary, and also, I make decisions to win.”

Hampton shone at the Euros in Switzerland, helping England triumph on penalties in their quarter-final against Sweden and in the final against Spain, where she saved spot-kicks from Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey.

Wiegman would not be drawn on conversations she had with players. Earps detailed in her book an exchange with Wiegman in a St George’s Park meeting room in which she accused the coach of previously not having been entirely “direct and honest” regarding the picture with Hampton.

“I always keep conversations private,” Wiegman said. “I’ll keep that private because that builds trust … When they feel that things stay with me, they know the door is always open and will come in and keep sharing things. That really helps on and off the pitch and helps to connect people.

“So, that’s my approach. We create an environment where we want people to be themselves. Everyone’s different and that’s nice too, because you want to get to know each other. What you’re trying to do is to know the person so well that you know how to support them in the best way, but also in moments challenge them if necessary.”

Hampton is absent from Wiegman’s latest squad for their final games of the year because of a quad injury, with Brighton’s Sophie Baggaley called up to join Khiara Keating and Anna Moorhouse in the goalkeeping group. The London City Lionesses forward Freya Godfrey has received her first call-up as reward for a strong start to the season.

Jess Carter has been omitted so she can have time to recover after playing for Gotham FC in this weekend’s National Women’s Soccer League playoff final and Lauren James has not been included as she builds her fitness, having recently returned for Chelsea.

England host China at Wembley on 29 November, with more than 80,000 tickets sold, and Ghana at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton three days later.

Header image: [Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA]