England boss Sarina Wiegman recovers from Covid hours before Euro 2022 quarter-final
The Lionesses head coach will be back on the touchline for the quarter-final in Brighton
England have received a huge boost in the hours leading up to their Euro 2022 quarter-final against Spain after it was announced that head coach Sarina Wiegman has recovered from Covid-19.
The manager missed the Lionesses’ final group match, a 5-0 win over Northern Ireland, after testing positive to the virus.
However, her recovery was confirmed three hours before their first knockout game kicks off.
“Sarina will return to all elements of her role and will take her place on the bench for tonight’s quarter-final against Spain,” said a tweet from the official Lionesses Twitter account.
Wiegman has overseen a promising start to the tournament for hosts England, who scored 14 goals without reply on their way to topping Group A ahead of Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland.
Assistant Arjan Veurink took charge of the final group game on Friday, and Wiegman has been communicating with her staff virtually and watching training from a safe distance.
Her negative test comes just in time for the first knockout match of Euro 2022 at Brighton’s Amex Stadium.
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England are up against a Spain side that finished second in Group B after beating Denmark and Finland either side of a defeat to Germany.
Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.