The boss of England Wiegman insists that Carter is `ready to play ” against Italy despite the abuses
England coach Sarina Wiegman said on Monday that Lioness Defender Jess Carter was “ready to occur” in the women’s semi-final of the 2025 against Italy despite the racial abuses against her overshadowing the accumulation of the match.
“We have had conversations and although it is a difficult situation, Jess is a very strong person”, ” Wiegman told journalists in Geneva before Tuesday’s last confrontation.
“She also felt, just like us, that we had to remedy ourselves; We couldn’t just let him go.
“So we did it, and then we know that there is a current match and we want to play – we are ready to play, she is ready to play and compete, and that says a lot about her and the team.”
Carter, 27, has started all matches in the European Champions so far at the Tournament in Switzerland, including the dramatic victory for penalties against Sweden in the quarter -finals.
On Sunday, the English football association revealed that it had alerted British police as soon as it was informed of the abuses.
Carter, who plays club football in the United States, said she would take a step back from social media to maintain her concentration on the tournament.
“It’s really sad that we have to be busy with it,” Adding Wiegman.
“It is ridiculous and disgusting that it happens, and it goes beyond football, so we had to pay attention to it and support Jess.”
Midfielder Georgia Stanway, on the other hand, insisted that what had happened had gathered the team when they target the victory for a third final of the major consecutive tournament.
“If anything, he probably gathered us as a team,” said Bayern Munich player.
“There are things that we can never understand. We have to cut it from society and we have to cut it from football”, “ She added, while saying that the team had chosen to stop taking a knee to highlight racism because it had become “a little repetitive”.
“We thought it had happened to a point that it did not do what we wanted to do. I hope it will cause more change and make people talk.”
No complacency
Despite the high challenges, the Italian defender Cecilia Salvai put the rivalry on one side before the confrontation in the semi-finals while he expressed solidarity for Carter.
“As a player, I can say that we will not be opponents tomorrow”, “ Salvai said.
“I really hope that she can play because she is a semi-final, so I hope she will be able to break away from what happened. We have the greatest solidarity with her.”
England returned from the edge against Sweden in Zurich, marking twice later to force more time before triumphing in a remarkable penalty shootout.
If they win against 13th row Italy, they will go to the final on Sunday against Germany – the team they beat in the 2022 final in Wembley – or in Spain, which beat them in the 2023 World Cup final in Sydney.
“It would be really disrespectful towards Italy to think that we are the favorites. They did the semi-finals as we did, and it is really impressive for any team, so complacency is only the biggest error you can make,” Said Wiegman by rejecting this label.
“We have seen how they play, so I don’t think there is something that might make you think that we could be the favorites. We will have to be our best to win the game.”
Wiegman has also suggested that all of his players were in good shape and available for the match, which means that Captain Leah Williamson should appear despite his demonstration with an ankle injury against Sweden.
Italy is in the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time since the euros 1997 after having beat Norway in the last round, when the veteran Cristiana Girelli struck a last-minute winner.
“We know the forces of England”, ” admitted the Italian coach Andrea Soncin.
“These are the champions; they have experience to play in games like these, but we are strongly convinced that we can compete with them. We have a big dream and we want to reach the final.”
(Tagstotranslate) Football (T) Euro Women (T) Jessica Carter (T) England W (T) Italy W (T) Cecilia Salvai (T) Georgia Stanway (T) Cristiana Girelli (T) Leah Williamson (T) Global