After four games played, England have sailed up as perhaps the biggest favorite for the European Championship gold.
The home nation opened the Championship at Old Trafford in Manchester by defeating Austria 1–0 in front of a record crowd of 68,871. Arsenal star Beth Mead was the scorer then, and it turned out that it wouldn’t be the only time she got it right in the tournament.
The 1–0 victory against Austria may not have raised many eyebrows. However, it won 8–0 against Norway in the next round.
The English completely pulverized the Norwegian team and led with six goals after just 41 minutes. When all was said and done, two more goals had been scored and 8–0 was the biggest victory in EC history.
Tough quarter
In the final group stage match against Northern Ireland, the goals kept rolling in and the defense held tight. It was 5–0 and England progressed to the quarter-finals on a maximum of nine points and a whopping 14–0 in goal difference. Beth Mead was also top scorer in the group stage with her five hits.
In the quarter-final against Spain, it got tougher. Spain grabbed the early lead and took the lead as well. But England captain Sarina Wiegman replaced several key players and it paid off. Alessia Russo headed down Lauren Hemp’s cross and Ella Toone equalized in the 84th minute.
Once in extra time, Georgia Stanway stepped forward and scored a dream goal for 2–1 and advancement to the semi-finals.
Advantage Sweden
+ World ranking: 8.
+ Merit: England is making its ninth European Championship and has at best two second places. In 1984 they lost the final after penalties against Sweden and in 2009 Germany was too difficult. In European Championship 2017, there was a semi-final for the English team, but once there, the champion Netherlands became too difficult and they lost 0–3.
+ Statistics against Sweden: England is a familiar opponent for Sweden. 26 times the countries have clashed on the football pitch and history is in Sweden’s favour. Sweden has 15 victories compared to England’s three. A draw has been played eight times.
The last time the teams met was in the bronze medal match in the WC 2019 when Sweden won 2–1 after goals by Kosovare Asllani and Sofia Jakobsson.
+ The star: You can pick and choose among the stars in the English team. But one who often stands out on the pitch is Lucy Bronze, 30. Bronze is a complete right-back with strengths both offensively and defensively, and was named the world’s best soccer player by the International Football Association (Fifa) two years ago. The right-back has signed for the Spanish champion club Barcelona this summer, where she will be a teammate with Fridolina Rolfö.