Four finals out of four: England's Sarina Wiegman in a league of her own among international coaches

The biggest thing that the England players talk about when discussing the impact Wiegman has had on this team regards mentality. The Lionesses have had a lot of talent for a while now – you don’t get to three successive major tournament semi-finals by chance, after all – but they’ve got over that hurdle with the Dutchwoman in charge, and it’s because of the confidence that she has instilled.

“I think we just believe,” Chloe Kelly said after the win over Australia. “We believe in the backroom staff and what they're training us to do every day. We're on the pitch and we just enjoy ourselves. You can see that we're having fun out there and when we're having fun, look at what we do.”

"The mentality of this group is something I have never seen before,” captain Millie Bright added. “That comes through Sarina and the belief she gives us.”

It cannot be underestimated how significant these changes have been in helping England become one of the absolute best teams in the world.

Wiegman has helped take the players’ performances to another level, too, though. Time and time again, so many members of this squad have noted that she is getting the best out of them. How does she do it?

“She's always pushing us, whether that's on the pitch, off the pitch, in meetings and things like that,” Lauren Hemp, the star of the show against Australia, explained before the tournament. “I feel like for me personally, I'm always learning. There's always something that I don't know that she's bringing to the table, that she's explaining to me. I never go into a training session where I don't feel like I'm getting something out of it.

“She knows exactly what she wants and she's always pushing us to be that bit better. Like, 'Yeah, that's the level now but now you need to get higher than that'. We're always pushing on and wanting to do better, and Sarina is the driver of that.”

“I think it’s her directness,” said Chelsea defender Jess Carter. “[She and her staff] have a way they want to play and we all get on board with that. It makes it easier going out onto the pitch.

“When we are trying to get different players from different squads to gel together, she’s like, ‘This is how we want to play, these are our values’. It’s that directness. She knows what she wants and she lets us know that really well.”

“What you see is what you get,” added Ella Toone. “Direct but just a leader and someone who is very caring and wants the best for each of us. She really pushes us to be the best. I think the main thing Sarina always says is to make sure we enjoy ourselves.”

These two factors were evident throughout England’s triumph at the Euros last year, as well as during this World Cup run. One thing that has been different in Australia, though, has been the adaptability of the team.

During the Euros, Wiegman never changed her starting XI. The same line-up played all six games as the Lionesses lifted the trophy at Wembley, and the substitutions she made were usually pretty similar, too.

This time around, it’s been nothing like that. England came into this tournament without Ballon d’Or runner-up Beth Mead, captain Leah Williamson and playmaker Fran Kirby. With Williamson suffering an ACL injury in April, there wasn’t much time for Wiegman to trial different options and systems with the personnel she had available, and so some of that almost came in the group stages. After starting the first two games in a 4-3-3 set-up, England have played in a never-seen-before 3-5-2 system in their last four outings.

Briefly losing Keira Walsh to an injury scare and seeing star player Lauren James sent off in the last 16, Wiegman has been forced into personnel changes along the way, too.

“This tournament, she's shown a different side to her,” Lucy Bronze said on Wednesday. “She’s had to roll her sleeves up a little bit, make changes, adapt the team. Previously, people were like, ‘She keeps the same team and she doesn't change’. She's put in a lot of work this tournament to get us to the final and her experience has really shown throughout.”

Building the mentality, getting the best out of the players and being adaptable does not just come from Wiegman, though. This is a coach backed by a really knowledgeable and well-respected team of staff – and, of course, a really coachable and talented group of players, too.

Arjan Veurink, her assistant, regularly comes in for praise from the players for his footballing intelligence and passion for the game, as well as how well he works with Wiegman. Geraint Twose is another of her assistants, one who does a lot of the one-to-one individual development plan work. Goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck described him as "just good energy to have around".

Then there is Darren Ward, the goalkeeper coach who Manchester United's Dean Henderson dubbed as the best he has ever worked with. “He's incredible,” Roebuck said. “I loved working with him at the Euros and I was really excited to get into camp this time around and know that I've got six weeks of working hard, improving my game and really utilising his strengths. He's an excellent goalkeeping coach.”

“They bounce really well off each other,” Carter said of the whole staff. “They are able to provide us with everything we need.”

“We're really fortunate [because] the staff group is amazing,” Roebuck added. “Everyone is like family. It's really chilled. If you're around the hotel, it's not like players and staff. It's all integrated.”

But one quality Wiegman has, one that might not seem so important but certainly has an effect on the players, is that laser-focus, that calm, that composure. While the media might sometimes want her to be more hyped about a game and showcase great emotion, that’s just not her, and it’s also part of what makes her a great coach.

After Wednesday’s win, Walsh described how “calm and collected” Wiegman appears when a player looks to the dugout as something that “obviously makes a difference on the pitch”. Goalscorer Alessia Russo, meanwhile, credited the team’s cool headedness as coming “from us as a group and Sarina” on BBC Radio 5 Live.

That calmness was evident in the team in how they handled being booed by over 75,000 fans at Stadium Australia whenever they touched the ball. It was evident in England’s reaction to Sam Kerr’s thunderous strike that levelled the game up in the second half, with Hemp restoring the Lionesses’ lead just eight minutes later. And it was evident when Hemp and Russo raced up the pitch on the counter, as the Matildas were searching for another equaliser, and finished off the game ruthlessly to secure England’s place in the Women’s World Cup final.

“To be honest, I'm out of superlatives to describe Sarina Wiegman,” former England international Izzy Christiansen told BBC Radio 5 Live. “To come in and change the culture, instil a winning mentality, to create a brand of football that is pragmatic, interesting, lets the talent flourish… You've just seen another masterclass again from Sarina this evening.”

One more, and England will be champions of the world.