Reigning European champions England thrashed neighbours Wales 6-1 to achieve the Girls’s Euro 2025 quarterfinals on Sunday, securing second spot in Group D and cruising into the knockouts on a excessive observe.
Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones had been all heading in the right direction for England, who completed runners-up to France after their 5-2 victory over the Netherlands.
Subsequent up for Sarina Wiegman’s staff are Sweden — who gained all three of their video games to prime Group C — within the quarterfinal on Thursday.
“It’ll be a tough sport. We watched [Sweden] the opposite night time they usually had been actually good. We have to be on our greatest sport,” Toone mentioned. “I feel they need to be scared.”
The second-place end, nonetheless, might be a bonus as offered they get previous Sweden, England would keep away from world champions Spain within the semifinals.
Stanway struck from the penalty spot within the thirteenth minute after a foul within the field, calmly sweeping her shot into the far-left nook previous the outstretched fingers of goalkeeper Olivia Clark to open the floodgates.
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Toone then discovered the again of the online with a scrappy purpose eight minutes later as England capitalised on a sloppy clearance by Rhiannon Roberts — with the ball falling to Russo who nudged it into the trail of Toone who fired house on the second try.
Hemp nodded in a 3rd inside half-hour after a intelligent move from Lauren James to Toone on the byline. Toone discovered Hemp on the far submit with a pinpoint cross for a straightforward header.
Russo bagged her first purpose of the event simply earlier than halftime when Toone made one other dart to the byline earlier than slicing the ball again for the Arsenal ahead, who took one contact to manage it earlier than firing house. Mead lower inside a Welsh defender earlier than a cute end secured England’s fifth within the 72nd minute.
Hannah Cain pulled one again within the 76th minute, a lot to the delight of the Wales followers, however England’s Beever-Jones replied within the 89th together with her first purpose in a significant event, ending off a Mead cross.
“That is the start of a journey for us,” Wales midfielder Jess Fishlock mentioned. “We have performed three of the very best groups on the earth at this event and we have came upon how large that leap is.”
A lot was made concerning the conventional rivalry between England and Wales, with Wales wanting nothing higher than to spoil England’s celebration. Hundreds of Welsh followers within the Pink Wall did not lose their voice all through Sunday’s match, regardless of the scoreline.
However Wiegman’s staff — World Cup finalists in 2023 and European champions the yr earlier than — confirmed their huge expertise towards a Wales facet making their main event debut.
“We scored six targets and an enormous a part of the sport we dominated, an excellent sport,” head coach Wiegman mentioned. “Enjoying nicely is an important, who scores isn’t that essential.”
England have gained 10 of the 11 conferences between the 2 groups, with Wales’ finest outcome being a 0-0 attract 2018.
“We had been actually good. It’s at all times onerous to play towards a staff that sits in a low block,” Toone mentioned. “It was good we obtained an early purpose within the first half and we loved the sport.”