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Leah Williamson admitted she was “devastated” by England’s Euro 2024 final defeat, but is “fully focused” on helping the Lionesses secure qualification for Euro 2025 on Tuesday.
The men’s side reached their second consecutive European Championship final on Sunday night, but were defeated 2-1 by Spain in the tournament’s showpiece.
Williamson skippered the women’s team to Euros glory in 2022 and believes fans have been “blessed with incredible tournaments” from England sides in recent years.
Speaking about England’s loss, she said: “I’m devastated for them, especially knowing some of them personally as well.
“I think what Gareth (Southgate) and his team have done over the last three, four years reaching finals and bringing that dream closer to reality, I think we’re very lucky as fans of England, men’s and women’s, to be in the position that we’re in.
“We didn’t quite get over the line to a fantastic Spanish team and I know they’ll be devastated about it, it’ll take a while, I think, for them to get over it.
“But us as a country, I think we’ve been blessed with incredible tournaments and when those wins come, which I do believe they will, then they’ll be even sweeter.”
Williamson was speaking ahead of the Lionesses’ Euro 2025 qualifying clash against Sweden in Gothenburg on Tuesday.
England moved one step closer to securing a spot at next summer’s tournament in Switzerland thanks to a 2-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland on Friday, and Williamson knows direct qualification would be beneficial for the team’s preparations rather than competing in a play-off.
She said: “We are reigning champions and we want to be at the tournament first and foremost, but securing qualification means you have a year to prepare and you know where you’re going to be.
“The later you leave it, the more that can be a detriment to your preparations, it’s important to us that’s why we’re fully focused going into tomorrow.”
Going into the final game of the qualifiers, England are second in Group A3, two points behind leaders France, who play the Republic of Ireland.
Sweden sit three points behind the Lionesses in third, meaning a draw on Tuesday would be enough for England to directly qualify, but boss Sarina Wiegman insists she is only focused on winning.
“We never play a match to draw, we play a match to win,” she said.
“When we win the game we might even top the group too and of course we depend on France, and everyone expects France to win, but you never know what happens in football so we are approaching this game to win and then we’ll see what happens in the game and what we need to do.”
England kicked off their qualifying campaign in April with a 1-1 draw against Sweden at Wembley and Wiegman knows what problems Tuesday’s opponents can pose.
“They’re a very structured team, have lots of experience, they can also play direct and want to get really behind our defence, so we have to be aware of that too,” she added.
“They’ve always been in the top level so we’re aware of that and will be prepared.”
