England cruised into their first major women's tournament final since 2009 in devastating fashion by seeing off Sweden with a 4-0 victory at Bramall Lane. The Lionesses will play either Germany or France for the ultimate prize at Wembley on July 31 after extending their unbeaten run to 19 games under manager Sarina Wiegman.
Following a shaky start for the host nation in which Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius hit the crossbar, Beth Mead, already leading the race for the Golden Boot with six goals, put Wiegman’s side ahead with a 34th-minute strike. Mead then turned provider early in the opening moments of the second half, delivering a corner that was headed in by Lucy Bronze.
Substitute Alessia Russo notched her fourth goal of these finals with a delightful back-heeled effort in the 68th minute, before Fran Kirby added the fourth with a chip eight minutes later and it could have been even more for England, with Lauren Hemp having rattled the woodwork at 2-0.
They can now look forward to a showdown on Sunday at a sold-out Wembley, where victory will secure them the first major trophy in their history. It will be a third appearance in the competition’s final after the runners-up finishes of 13 years ago – when they suffered a 6-2 loss to Germany – and at the inaugural Euros in 1984, which saw them beaten on penalties by Sweden.
Triumphing would also mean back-to-back Euros successes for boss Wiegman, who, after overseeing her native Netherlands winning the 2017 edition on home soil and then reaching the 2019 Word Cup final. She has had an England tenure that remains unbeaten, with 17 wins, 104 goals scored and only four conceded.
The Swedes threatened in the opening seconds as Sofia Jakobsson was played in and saw her strike saved by Mary Earps’ boot, before Mead glanced a fourth-minute header wide at the other end from Kirby’s cross. There were further scares for England soon after, Blackstenius bringing another save out of Earps, then heading against the crossbar from the resulting corner.
As Wiegman’s side then started to build some momentum, Ellen White and Georgia Stanway saw efforts gathered by Hedvig Lindahl, while Bronze headed a corner wide. They then grabbed the lead just after the half-hour mark when Hemp’s cross evaded White, Bronze delivered the ball back into the danger zone and Mead turned and fired past Lindahl to add yet another goal to her haul and bring a huge roar from the crowd.
Stanway and Kirby each sent ambitious shots off-target before the break as England sought to boost their advantage. The second goal did then arrive three minutes after the interval as Bronze headed home from Mead’s corner, the effort being confirmed after a VAR check for offside.
Sweden attempted to hit back, with Blackstenius heading wide, Hemp almost made it 3-0, seeing her shot come back off the bar, and Earps did well to tip over a Blackstenius effort as Gerhardsson’s team pushed again. England’s job then appeared all but done when Russo once again made a mark after replacing White, beating Lindahl with a fantastic back-heel through the goalkeeper’s legs after she had parried her initial shot.
And it did not take long for the advantage to be extended further – and more singing to break out in the stands – as Kirby collected the ball from Mead and crafted a chipped attempt that Lindahl got gloves to but could not prevent going into the net. Russo put an effort wide late on before the final whistle saw the noise level up once again as England were confirmed as Wembley-bound.
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