Players have had to pull together behind Carter to encourage, while keeping their minds on their efforts to defend their European crown. After going through a tricky couple of days, whether Carter will be included in the starting line-up is one of the choices Wiegman will have to make as England tries to make it to a third consecutive major tournament final.
But can Italy beat the champions and get England to sort out their defensive problems? A theme that has run throughout England’s tournament is the defensive weaknesses that have been exposed, with France and Sweden’s speed troubling them.
Carter has changed positions three times – playing as a right-sided centre-back, a left-sided centre-back and a left-back in an attempt to address the problem. Alex Greenwood has also swapped from centre-back to full-back, and defender Esme Morgan impressed when she came on as a substitute in the victory over Sweden.
Wiegman has a headache over selecting with Morgan desperate for a starting position, and she may also want to defend Carter after the racial abuse. Even though it’s a difficult one, Jess is an extremely resilient person and wants to get on. She also felt we needed to do this. You cannot just leave it,” Wiegman said.
“We’re aware that there’s a match taking place and we’re prepared to perform – she’s prepared to perform and compete. That says a lot about the team and her. We have headaches all the time because a lot of the players can start. It’s what makes the team so powerful.”
There were also concerns regarding the fitness of captain Leah Williamson after she was spotted on crutches and sporting a protective boot on Thursday. However, Wiegman confirmed that Williamson has overcome an ankle injury and she trained fully on Monday.
“She truly wants to play, and she did everything to come back quickly – and she has done so. It means that she is available,” said Wiegman. England became the first team to progress from a knockout tie at the Euros, having trailed by two goals in their win over Sweden.
Meanwhile, Italy have opened the scoring in all four of their matches so far. So can England wipe away the cobwebs and produce a solid defensive display? I’d like to think we’ve got all the wobbles out of the way,” England forward Beth Mead told BBC Sport.
“I believe this is hugely the business end of the tournament, we’ve got to be on it and we’ve got to be in the right headspace. We’ve got to perform well in knockout football now.”
England have beaten Italy seven times in their previous 10 matches in all competitions and are appearing in their seventh Euros semi-final. They have come up from two of the previous three, while their opponents, Italy, 13th in the world, are semi-finalists for the first time since 1997.
It means England enter Tuesday’s match as favourites – but Wiegman is reluctant to admit it. It would be disrespectful to think we are the favourites,” she said. They reached the semi-final as we did, and that is tremendous for any team. Complacency is the biggest error that you could make.
“You have seen them, the way they have played. I don’t believe there is any way that we can feel that we could be favourites. We will have to be at our best to beat them.”
Defender Alex Greenwood explained to BBC Radio 5 Live that it has become an “expectation” for England to get at least to the semi-finals. I think as a team now, we’ve set those standards to reach these levels. We’re proud of that achievement,” she said.
Mead stated England “thrives under pressure”, while Brighton midfielder Fran Kirby, who retired from international football before the tournament, conceded Italy are “definitely the underdogs”.
“I believe everybody knows that from the outside,” Kirby said on BBC Radio 5 Live. But on the other hand, Italy will have witnessed England’s displays and believe that there’s potential there too because they realise that they can score goals.
“[Hopefully] England play the way that we know they can play and shut up shop really at the back. While the female game’s top division in Italy was formed in 1968, only in the last few years did its domestic competition go completely professional.
Their national team have never fallen below 19th place in the Fifa world rankings – although they did miss four consecutive World Cups between 2003 and 2015. So what sort of test will Italy give England when the two teams face each other at 20:00 BST on Tuesday?
“They have a never-say-die kind of attitude. They are a highly aggressive team to play against,” added Mead. They can be infuriating, and they do possess individual qualities. It is going to be a difficult game, and I am aware that they’re going to be highly up for it. They do have something to prove, as do we.”.
“We’re defending champions, but we’ve got to go out and deliver the performance. We’ve got to be at the races to beat this Italian team. England has had the upper hand in recent encounters. Wiegman’s team claimed a 2-1 victory in the Arnold Clark Cup in February 2023, before giving them a 5-1 thrashing in a friendly 12 months later.
But in captain Cristiana Girelli, Italy possess a player in form – the 35-year-old has scored three goals in the tournament to date. I think both teams will be feeling confident going into the game for different reasons,” added Kirby. It’s going to be interesting, but I think England just need to tighten up a bit. The Italian fans are also super passionate.”
