Sarina Wiegman has defended her decision to promote Hannah Hampton as England's first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Mary Earps, stating she makes 'decisions to win'. The England head coach responded after Earps criticised the move in her autobiography, accusing Wiegman of 'rewarding bad behaviour' by bringing Hampton back into the fold after she had been dropped by Aston Villa and England for poor attitude in 2022.
Speaking at Wembley after announcing her squad for upcoming fixtures against China and Ghana, Wiegman said she had 'really enjoyed working with Mary' and would cherish their time together, but would make the same decision again. 'We had a very good goalkeeper unit and the two goalkeepers were competing for the No 1 spot,' Wiegman said. 'We kept communicating and we tried to support everyone in the best possible way. I can't control how it comes across and there's always learnings, but I don't think, looking at the bigger picture, I would have done things differently.'
Earps announced her retirement from international football shortly before last summer's Euros in Switzerland, after Wiegman made Hampton the starting goalkeeper. Hampton's distribution is widely viewed as crucial to England's style of play, and she shone at the Euros, helping England triumph on penalties in the quarter-final against Sweden and in the final against Spain, where she saved spot-kicks from Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey.
Wiegman declined to discuss private conversations with players, following Earps' account of a meeting in which she accused the coach of not being entirely 'direct and honest'. 'I always keep conversations private because that builds trust,' Wiegman said. 'When they feel that things stay with me, they know the door is always open and will come in and keep sharing things.'
Hampton is absent from the latest squad due to a quad injury, with Brighton's Sophie Baggaley called up alongside Khiara Keating and Anna Moorhouse. Freya Godfrey receives her first call-up after a strong start to the season with London City Lionesses. Jess Carter has been omitted to recover from the NWSL playoff final, and Lauren James is building fitness after returning for Chelsea.
England host China at Wembley on 29 November, with over 80,000 tickets sold, and face Ghana at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton three days later.
