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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Katy Perry’s chilling nickname for former husband Russell Brand has been revealed amid accusations of sexual assault against him. Last week, a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4’s Dispatches revealed that accusations of sexual assault and rape have been raised by four separate women against Brand. The comedian took to his YouTube channel to deny the accusations before they were made public and claimed that all of his relationships were “consensual”. Musician Perry and comedian Brand married in 2010 before officially divorcing two years later in 2012. Now, Piers Morgan has revealed the nickname Perry used to call him during their relationship. In his The Sun column, Morgan said in 2013 he asked Perry if she wanted to sit down and talk about her divorce, which she declined, saying that she was “not ready yet”. Morgan claims Perry added: “Because you’ll get the truth out of me, and ‘I’m just not ready to tell you the truth! In fact, I’m not sure I’m ready to admit the truth to myself.” In the column, he also claimed that Perry used to call Brand “Rasputin” after Siberian man Grigori Rasputin, who was known for seducing women and befriending the imperial family of Tsar Nicholas II to gain influence. Morgan alleged Perry explained: “You Brits are all the same, so damn confident… Trouble is, I find that irresistible. I love Brits… Well, not all of them – not Rasputin, obviously.” Morgan said that he went on to tell Brand who reportedly said: “He was a pretty powerful bloke, he could manipulate folk with his eyes. “I like Rasputin... he was all right, wasn’t he... a mad monk with magical, mystical powers, having it off with everyone, drinking and getting into fights.” Though their divorce was finalised in 2012, it is alleged that 14 months into their marriage in October 2010, Brand sent Perry a text message saying he had filed for divorce. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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