Sarina Wiegman explains bizarre reason Lucy Bronze missed Lionesses friendly | OneFootball

Lucy Bronze was unable to come on for England late on in their win over Switzerland because of the  “error” of her not being on the teamsheet.

The Lionesses right back was summoned from the bench on 83 minutes but had to return after it emerged that she was not listed to play at Bramall Lane.

Sarina Wiegman explained it was “a human error from our side” that stopped Bronze from getting onto the pitch, with England finishing their year with a 1-0 win.

open image in gallery

Bronze was unable to come on (Getty Images)

“That’s very frustrating of course, and very disappointing,” Wiegman said. “Because we wanted to bring her in – mainly for her. Things happen sometimes.”

Wiegman had mixed feelings overall about England’s performances, which featured debuts for Laura Blindkilde Brown and Ruby Mace but included a “sloppy second half”.

The England manager made 10 changes from Saturday’s 0-0 draw with the United States at Wembley and Grace Clinton’s eighth-minute goal settled the contest.

“I thought in the first half we played really well, we challenged them all the time, we played mainly in their half of the pitch, created chances, scored one goal.

“I was really happy with that because what we wanted to do, with a very young team, some debuts some starters for the first time, one starter that hadn’t played for us in six years, so many changes, but I thought that was a very good first half,” Wiegman said.

open image in gallery

Bronze returned to the bench (Getty Images)

“I think the second half our level dropped, we were more sloppy, we didn’t find the box well enough. They did some different things, but I still think we were not as good aligned as we were first half.

“I think you can tell that for some it’s the first time. You have to get through these moments, become more comfortable, and everyone’s different.

“So some were maybe a little more anxious than others, but that’s OK, you have to get through, and now it’s ‘OK, how are you going to move forward, how quick does the development go?’

“And that’s what we see also with some other players who are now more starters than they were a couple of months or years before.”