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England boss Sarina Wiegman felt the Lionesses exhausted every effort to win their first Women’s World Cup final despite coming up just short with a 1-0 loss to Spain in Sydney. The Dutch boss, who led England to their first major trophy at last summer’s European Championship, finds herself with a silver medal in two consecutive attempts after steering 2019 runners-up the Netherlands to the title-decider four years ago in France. Second place is still a best-ever finish for the Lionesses in a global showpiece, beating their bronze medal from 2015, but the three-time FIFA Best winning coach knows from experience it may take some time before the sting subsides. Wiegman, who reiterated her commitment to remaining in England on multiple occasions this week, said: “That’s hard to take now, and of course we did everything, we gave everything, we’ve overcome lots of challenges and today we did everything we could to win. “It feels really bad, of course, and very disappointed, but still very proud of the team. “I’m just hurt about this moment. Losing a game and in a final, when you’re in a final you want to win it. I guess you mean because it’s a second final, I don’t see it (like that), this was a different game, a different team. “I was totally convinced before the game that it would be a very tight game but we were confident that we were able to win it. I hope in the future I get a new moment with the team I work with, that would be amazing, because it’s very special to play finals.” Lauren Hemp came inches away from scoring an opener with a first-half attempt that clipped the crossbar, and it remained England’s best chance of the contest. Spain took a 1-0 lead when Mariona Caldentey slipped the ball to the onrushing Olga Carmona, who finished past Mary Earps with a left-footed effort into the bottom right corner after 29 minutes. Wiegman initially employed the 3-5-2 shape that had been so successful in England’s 6-1 victory over China, but reverted to a 4-3-3 in the second half, when she brought in Lauren James – available for the first time following her two-match ban – and Chloe Kelly after the break. Spain could have doubled their advantage in the second half when Keira Walsh was punished for a handball inside the penalty area following a lengthy VAR check, but the competition’s Golden Glove winner Earps read Jennifer Hermoso’s spot-kick perfectly and produced a fine save to keep England in the contest. Wiegman said: “I think we played better in the second half. We changed shape, we got momentum, we got more in their half. Then they got the penalty and when Mary saved it I thought, ‘OK, now we’re going to score a goal and get the 1-1’, but we didn’t.” The 2027 Women’s World Cup hosts will be announced at the 74th FIFA Congress in May, while England will defend their European title in Switzerland in 2025. First comes UEFA’s newly launched Nations League, which also serves as a qualifier for next summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. England, Scotland or Wales would need to reach the final to qualify as Team GB, or finish third if automatically qualified hosts France are one of the last two. Wiegman managed the Netherlands during the postponed 2020 Tokyo Games, but was disappointed by the Covid-19-impacted experience, remarking earlier in the week that “it felt like a jail. We were stuck in a hotel.” So rather than thinking about the next World Cup in an as-yet-undecided location, Wiegman was looking ahead to just over a month’s time when England will kick off their Nations League campaign against Scotland at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on September 22. She added: “Four years is a little bit of a long time. We will start in September in the Nations League to try to qualify for the Olympics. “You want to improve all the time. This team and this group of players are so eager to be successful. We want to grab every moment to be better. We hope we come back and play good games again to win.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live World Cup final in pictures: England fall to agonising defeat against Spain Katarina Johnson-Thompson on course for world championship gold Jac Morgan in line to captain Wales at Rugby World Cup

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England go into the season’s first international break with cause to worry once more about the lack of homegrown players in the Premier League. Less than 30 per cent of playing time in the early stages of the campaign has gone to players eligible for England, continuing a running concern for national team boss Gareth Southgate. Here, the PA news agency looks at what the data can tell us. Struggle for playing time Of 86,710 minutes played by Premier League players this season, 25,399 have gone to players eligible for England. That equates to 29.3 per cent of the available playing time, a slight decline on recent seasons as a peak to nearly 40 per cent in the 2020-21 season was not sustained. Southgate said during March’s international window: “It has been around 32 per cent (in 2022-23) but that’s down from 35 per cent when I took over and 38 per cent in the years before, so the graph is clear.” The issue has been part of the ongoing ‘New Deal For Football’ discussions between the FA, Premier League and EFL, which covers the post-Brexit system of Governing Body Endorsements (GBEs) for overseas players, as well as financial distribution, cost controls and the domestic calendar. There have been 161 England-qualified players (EQPs) used in the 39 games so far, with 20 of those playing over 400 minutes including stoppage time. Eight of those 20 made Southgate’s squad for the upcoming games against Ukraine and Scotland, including Chelsea defender Levi Colwill, who joined Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah in earning a first senior call-up. Leading clubs Six clubs have so far given over 40 per cent of playing time to EQPs, a list headed by Everton at 49.4 per cent. England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has been ever-present for the Toffees along with veteran compatriot Ashley Young, with James Tarkowski just seven minutes behind. James Garner has been a mainstay in midfield, while defender Michael Keane was replaced after two games by fellow Englishman Jarrad Branthwaite. Newcastle have three English ever-presents in Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn. Trippier is in this month’s England squad though Pope was surprisingly left out. Anthony Gordon is another regular, with significant playing time too for Callum Wilson, Harvey Barnes and Sean Longstaff. Newcastle’s total includes just under 90 minutes for Elliot Anderson, the midfielder selected by Scotland for this window but who remains eligible for England until he makes a competitive debut – potentially against the Three Lions next Tuesday. Crystal Palace have three players in Southgate’s latest squad – Pope’s replacement Sam Johnstone, Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze – after giving over 45 per cent of playing time to EQPs. Arsenal are at 43 per cent, Luton 42 and Chelsea 40. Fulham lagging behind At the other end of the scale, Fulham have used only two EQPs so far this season and one of those, Tosin Adarabioyo, has played only 12 minutes. That leaves Harrison Reed carrying the load in a paltry total of just over seven per cent, the only single-figure mark in the top flight. Tottenham have fared little better at 11 per cent following the departure of Southgate’s captain Harry Kane for German side Bayern Munich – one of four members of the England squad playing his football overseas, along with Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham, Fikayo Tomori of AC Milan and Jordan Henderson following his controversial move to Al-Ettifaq. Brentford are at 13 per cent without suspended England striker Ivan Toney, with the ever-present Rico Henry instead leading the way. Burnley are next lowest at 15 per cent with Wolves, Aston Villa and Henderson’s former club Liverpool all giving between 17.5 and 18.5 per cent of playing time to EQPs. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Luke Donald ‘blown away’ by Ludvig Aberg as Swede handed Ryder Cup wild card Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher feeling ‘unbelievably healthy’ ahead of World Cup Owen Farrell says high tackle that led to World Cup suspension ‘a mistake’

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