England boss Sarina Wiegman reveals concern ahead of Colombia Women's World Cup battle
England boss Sarina Wiegman has spoken out prior to Colombia Women's World Cup clash
PA
England boss Sarina Wiegman has revealed she's concerned about Colombia's attacking players ahead of Saturday's Women's World Cup showdown.
The Lionesses have reached the last eight of the competition with victories over Haiti, Denmark, China and Nigeria.
But England will need to step up if they're to see off a strong Colombia side and make the semi-finals.
Wiegman believes her team has what it takes to put their opponents to the sword on Saturday.
Colombia have won three of their four Women's World Cup matches ahead of England showdown
REUTERS
However, she also pinpointed Colombia's attacking players as ones to watch as she looks to steer her side to yet another semi-final.
"Colombia has done very well, they're a strong team," said the 53-year-old.
"They're very together. We see they're physically strong with some powerful players and want to get the ball to their attacking players because they're unpredictable.
"We're not making a plan of surprising Colombia, we're making our football plan.
"We have our style of play and also the analysis of Colombia and from there we make our plan and try to execute it [on Saturday].
"I hope we don't have that much stress [as they did against Nigeria].
"We've seen in this tournament that not one game is easy for anyone, it's so competitive and that's the beauty of the game too, and the beauty of the growth of the women's football game.
"I hope we can decide it before [penalties]. We definitely think that it's going to be a very, very competitive game and we hope it will go our way."
Colombia beat South Korea 2-0 in their opening game before proceeding to overcome Germany in their second fixture of the tournament.
They lost to Morocco in their final group stage game but set up a showdown with England after a narrow 1-0 win over Jamaica.
England will have to cope without Lauren James during Saturday's showdown.
The 21-year-old has been banned for two matches after standing on the back of opponent Michelle Alozie during the 1-0 win over Nigeria on Monday.
And Wiegman has hinted she already knows who will come into the team for James at the weekend.
"That is the decision that was made, of course that is not up to me," she said.
"It'll be two games so that's tough for us but we respect that punishment.
"We take it from here and we'll just hope we get through.
"We have a squad of 23, we are again facing a game without a player.
"We know how we want to fill that position.
"It is a team effort and we support each other and we'll have to fill the positions that become free."
Should England win, they'd make the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup for the third tournament in a row.
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They finished fourth in 2019, but did manage to secure a third-placed finish at the competition in Canada in 2015.
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