England boss pretended to be a boy to play football but can now be World Cup winner

The Lionesses won the 2022 Euros on home soil and now have the chance to make football come 'home' in back-to-back summers.

Wiegman led the Netherlands to Euro glory in 2017 before repeating the same trick last year with England.

She has never lost a game in the Euros as a manager, and an unbeaten run in the World Cup has set up a clash with Spain in the final.

And speaking to talkSPORT after dumping out tournament co-hosts Australia in the semi-final, coach Wiegman has admitted she just wants to celebrate - but cannot lose sight now.

She said: "I feel like at the moment, I really want to party but the job is not done yet!

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"I am so happy with the big picture of how we have gone through this tournament and how we won this game.

"It was an incredible environment. 80-85,000 people behind Australia so, of course, it is going to be a tough game.

"They are a good team, they grew into the tournament, it is an away game for us but winning 3-1 is really incredible."

Given the transformative nature of their tenures, Wiegman has earned comparisons to Gareth Southgate, with FA chief executive Mark Bullingham even suggesting that Wiegman would be considered as a replacement for Southgate once he leaves his role with the men's team.

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The similarities between the pair also extend back to their playing days, with both international defenders in their heydays.

Yet it was a lot more of an arduous journey for the Lioness chief, who had to pretend to be a boy to play football as a child in the Netherlands.

"When I started playing football as a six-year-old girl we weren't allowed to play, so I played illegally."

Speaking to talkSPORT ahead of the final, she added: "At that time as a girl you were not allowed to play football.

"[In my school team] I was the only girl on that team...A lot of these guys went into professional football at the highest level so it was a pretty good team too.

"Every time when we would go back to school we would have drinks and chips and that was the fun playing football and have those things.

"There was nothing in me at that time that thought that I would be here right now having had a football career and a coaching career."

As a player, she was handed her international debut at just 17 years old by former Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat in his only game in charge.

Wiegman went onto to become the first Dutch female centurion with an appearance against Denmark in 2001.

After hanging up her boots two years later she juggled football coaching with a job as a PE teacher until the creation of the Women's Eredivisie in 2007.

From there, Wiegman led ADO Den Haag but her first season in charge proved difficult as the club finished fourth out of six teams.

Leonne Stentler, who played under Wiegman, told the Mail: "Her eyes can spit fire.

"If she's mad, you will always see. Not like yelling so the whole stadium can hear but she can get mad in her own way.

"But she's really warm, too. She's always interested in what's happening in your life."

Wiegman struck a balance between the two at Den Haag quickly and her side finished second for three successive seasons before doing the double in 2012.

"That's Sarina," added Stentler. "She's always trying to be better."

Wiegman's constant strive for success meant it wasn't long before she became a trailblazer as a coach as well as a player.

In 2016, the England boss became the first woman to coach with a men's professional club in her homeland - helping Sparta Rotterdam finish seventh during her season-long spell as an assistant.

Writing in Coaches' Voice, she said: "The players had to get used to me and I had to get used to them, too.

"As the only female coach there, I knew I had to show that I had quality. That's what I worked on all day. Work hard, put quality into everything and deliver.

"It was a new environment for me - the first time I was working with a professional men's team.

"At first, I was always asking myself: am I doing the right things? But I observed how Alex and his coaches worked. Figured things out."

Since succeeding Phil Neville as England gaffer, Wiegman has been relatively untroubled on the pitch, winning 30 of her 38 games.

However, Wiegman has faced a series of off-field hardships, with her sister's sad passing on the eve of the 2022 Euros.

Although she was touched by her England players' decision to wear black armbands during the 3-0 win over Belgium last year.

Wiegman said: "They have supported me so much. The captains came to me and asked if we could wear the armbands.

"They are such good human beings, and it shows the togetherness of the team. It was a great gesture. My sister would be proud."

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Those good human beings became icons last year, and if Wiegman was to lead the Lionesses to World Cup glory this year, they would need to start building her statue.

You can listen to live coverage of England in the Women's World Cup final against Spain on talkSPORT this Sunday.