Sarina Wiegman: 'We're just really ready to go'

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Sarina Wiegman: 'We're just really ready to go'

Sarina Wiegman insists her England team are raring to go as they prepare to kick off their Euro 2022 campaign against Austria at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The match marks the first time that England have hosted a major women's international tournament in 17 years, and a record crowd for a Women's European Championship match is anticipated at the Theatre of Dreams.

The Lionesses head into Euro 2022 as one of the pre-tournament favourites, but Wiegman insisted excitement is the overriding emotion.

"It's really incredible, it's really exciting," Wiegman said during her pre-match press conference. "We start tomorrow and I can't wait. We're just really ready to go.

"We started this preparation in September last year, but our real preparation started in May, we've just worked from week to week, training match to training match. You can feel that we're really ready and we just want to go."

While a home Euros is alien to the England squad, it's familiar territory for Wiegman. The England boss was in charge of the Netherlands five years earlier as they prepared for the tournament on home soil - and eventually went on to be crowned European champions.

However, Wiegman says that while the circumstances and pressure are greater than when with her home country at Euro 2017, her current England side also boast greater experience than the team she guided to victory five years ago did.

"Everything is bigger, more expectations, higher expectations so it's hard to compare," Wiegman added. "But I think the players are more experienced and have had more moments already in this high (level) environment so I think totally different - but you're (still just) working with a team and you're playing football."