England face Ghana at St Mary's in Southampton; however, unlike the game against China, this is not a sell-out and not even close.
In their homecoming tournament, they have had underwhelming attendance at Etihad, as it was held at the same time as Manchester United's match in the city.
The Australia game in the derby was a sellout, but in a more minor stadium; Wembley could have easily sold out due to the strong Aussie community in the capital city.
Not everyone is available for the game. Grace Fisk, who is yet to earn her first cap for England, has picked up a minor calf injury and is unavailable. This adds another injury in England's defence, which has already been considerably depleted
The only criticism Sarina Wiegman faced was not rotating her side enough, giving players like Alessia Russo, Lucy Bronze and Ella Toone more rest, and bringing in new faces to the sides, like Anouk Denton or Freya Godfrey, to get their debuts and get some minutes in friendlies ahead of the World Cup qualifiers next year.
She said on managing players' minutes and busy club schedules: “There’s always connections with the managers, and there’s also always calls before and after camp. I’m very aware of the schedule, so you’ll see some changes tomorrow and try to manage minutes, but we also don’t have many opportunities to play friendlies.
After this camp, we have only eight more camps left until the World Cup. We need to qualify first – I know that. You want to use the time together and the minutes on the pitch as much as possible, too.”
Wiegman won her 50th game for England against China and returned to St Mary's, where she took charge of her first game.
The manager spoke about the return: “When we came here, I said this is what it was. Time flew, so it feels like ages ago since that game, but I still have a good memory of it. It was a very nice start. To be in England and starting that journey, it’s nice to be back.”
There are 63 places between the nations in FIFA's world rankings.
Ghana also have a clear structure of how they want to play. In moments, they want to play a possession game, but they also want to be direct.
"That is what we want to force them to do - not to give them time to play. It's good to have that challenge because we want that going into the next stage."
Wiegman also hopes the match, which will be played in front of a 24,000 crowd at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, will attract interest in Africa and increase exposure to the women's game.
"As we say all the time, the women's game is growing, and here it grows really fast. In England, we are a kind of trailblazer with everything growing so fast," she added.
"I think this is also an opportunity for them. We play each other, and I hope we get a lot of attention in Africa and, of course, in Ghana specifically.
"I think it's growing [in Africa] too - and it can't go fast enough for me."
England Women's manager Sarina Wiegman claimed she was relaxed about her future, insisting she is still enjoying being in charge of the Lionesses.
Wiegman's contract runs out in 2027 after the World Cup, and the 56-year-old revealed that no concrete talks have taken place about an extension.
"We haven't had obvious conversations. Sometimes it's a process. But we know it is 2027," Wiegman said.
"I'm still really enjoying the job. I think the team is still enjoying that I'm around. I think that's really, really important too.
"Let's see what the future will bring. I'm very relaxed about it.
"I don't plan. Maybe that looks like it. I don't plan my career a lot. I know what I really enjoy, and I want things to fit both sides."
This will be the first-ever meeting between England and Ghana. The Lionesses are unbeaten in their last 39 matches against opponents for the first time (W32 D7) since a 2-0 loss to Germany in 1984, and have won each of their last 12 such games by an aggregate score of 65-1.
England are unbeaten in their last five matches against African opposition (W4 D1) since a 3-0 home loss to Nigeria in April 2004.
England have never conceded in four previous games at St Mary’s Stadium, the joint-most times they have played at a venue without doing so (also Keepmoat, New Meadow and Bramall Lane). That includes Sarina Wiegman’s first game in charge of the Lionesses in September 2021, beating North Macedonia 8-0 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier and, most recently, a 5-0 victory vs Northern Ireland at UEFA EURO 2022.
Ghana are unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions (W3 D4), since losing their first match of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations this summer to South Africa.
England are unbeaten in their final home game in each of the last four calendar years, since they lost 2-1 to Germany in 2019 (no home game in 2020); the Lionesses beat Latvia 20-0 in November 2021, drew 0-0 with Czechia in October 2022, beat the Netherlands 3-2 in December 2023 and in December last year won 1-0 against Switzerland.
Last time out, 30-year-old Anna Moorhouse became the oldest player to make their England debut on record (since 2007); she was also the first goalkeeper to debut for the Lionesses while playing their club football outside of England (Orlando Pride) since Lizzie Durack in March 2014 (Harvard University).
England beat China PR 8-0 Last time out, their biggest win since September 2022 vs Luxembourg (10-0). It was the eighth time the Lionesses have won a game by eight or more goals under Sarina Wiegman, at least five more such wins than under any other manager
Ella Toone has both the most goal involvements (11) and the most assists (6) of any England player in 2025 – the last Lioness to record seven assists in a calendar year was Lauren James in 2023, and the last to provide eight or more was Beth Mead in 2022 (10).
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