sport news Sarina Wiegman defends the decision to play warm-weather friendlies in Spain - ... trends now
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Sarina Wiegman has defended England’s decision to play two warm weather friendlies in Spain after just 949 fans watched them beat Austria last week.
The Lionesses are playing friendlies because they failed to reach the knockout stage of the Nations League. Wiegman opted to take her squad to Marbella for games against Austria and Italy, rather than playing fixtures at home, where they would have attracted bigger crowds.
Only 949 supporters were present as England thrashed Austria 7-2 at the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla. The stand housing the fans did not have a roof, so many had to take cover when torrential rain hit in the first half.
With a similar crowd expected for Tuesday’s game with Italy, Wiegman defended their reasoning for choosing their Marbella base.
‘That’s finding balance,’ Wiegman said. ‘What we wanted to do was play good friendlies in good circumstances.
Sarina Wiegman took England to Marbella for warm-weather friendlies against Austria and Italy
The Lionesses secured a comfortable 7-2 win over Austria on Friday and take on Italy on Tuesday
‘We have very good pitches here, the weather is also that we can stand still a little bit, have good training sessions and good pitches.
‘Then we did know that there probably wouldn’t be as many fans here as we had hoped. Of course there were fans on Friday and I hope they
