England boss Sarina Wiegman transforms lionesses from serial bottlers into steel stars, now they face the final of Euro 2022

ON SUNDAY she will emulate Sir Alf Ramsey and Gareth Southgate by leading an England team to a major tournament final at Wembley.

Sarina Wiegman, the inscrutable former PE teacher with the most impressive resume in women’s training, has always been a good bet in transforming England from serial bottlers in the semi-finals into steel-eyed winners in the Steel City.

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After the frankly odd appointment of Wiegman’s predecessor, Phil Neville – a ‘big name’ with no prior experience in women’s football – the FA just went ahead and brought in the best person for the job this time.

Wiegman won the last Euro and reached a World Cup final with her native Holland and is now 19 games unbeaten with the Lionesses.

Prior to their arrival last year, England had not only lost three consecutive semi-finals, they had lost them to own goals, red cards, missed penalties and dubious returns.

That pointed to a psychological problem, a susceptibility to pressure. None of that was on display at Bramall Lane last night as England beat Sweden in the Euros semi-finals.

Under Wiegman, the Lionesses were absolutely clinical against a team ranked second in the world.

You’re not forcing a keeper with a butt to score in a major semi-final – as substitute Alessia Russo did to earn that win with England’s third goal – if you shy away from the limelight.

Wiegman has molded England into an impressively ruthless team.

He beat a decent Norwegian side 8-0, then found a late equalizer and an extra-time winner to defeat a technically superior Spanish side in the quarter-finals.

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And now this, when the Dutch lady led us to never-never-land.

Wiegman’s players insist their manager, behind her emotionless sideline persona, is a decent “people person” – although she can be brutal in the dressing room if need be.

The Lionesses have become premier 35mm stars in this groundbreaking tournament.

But Wiegman is no TV personality, no easy entertainer. She reveals little in interviews, she reveals little in the dugout, and her team model themselves on their manager.

While Boss has poker face, she is not a shuffler of the pack and picks the same starting lineup for the fifth game in a row.

After some impressive substitutions against Spain last week, there had been many calls for change – not least from Russo, whose cheeky goal capped a crucial evening for English women’s football.

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But Wiegman remained unmoved. After ten straight Euro finals victories, perhaps it’s best for everyone to admit she knows what she’s doing.

The Swedes are the highest-ranked nation in Europe, but they had hardly set the tournament on fire – battling to defeat a limited Belgium in the quarterfinals.

Still, they could have scored three goals in the first ten minutes, hit the crossbar and made a couple of decent saves from England goalkeeper Mary Earps.

For a short time England looked nervous in defence, almost panicked.

However, as the half progressed they began to create half-chances and then, in the 34th minute, it was time for Sudden Beth.

In the blink of an eye, Beth Mead spun and slammed home her sixth goal of the tournament, keeping her on course for the Golden Boot.

England were lucky to lead at the break but there was nothing lucky about a dream second half.

Lucy Bronze headed in from a corner, Russo applied her glorious dollop of sauce and then Fran Kirby praised goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl for the fourth.

At this point, the cameras were trained on Wiegman and there seemed to be only the hint of a half-smile on the England manager’s lips.

Or maybe it was just a trick of the light.