Sarina Wiegman has won the last two European Championships and is rightly considered a tournament specialist. But this qualifying campaign for Euro 2025 is, in a sense, a new experience for her: with the Netherlands at Euro 2017 and England at Euro 2022, her teams were the hosts and did not were not required to go through this process.
Indeed, this qualification is indeed a new experience for everyone. Rather than the usual groups that pit giants against minnows, this is a four-team group made up entirely of teams that competed in last year’s World Cup. England, Sweden, France and the Republic of Ireland probably can’t be considered a group of death given that all four teams could possibly qualify – two in the play-offs – but it remains a very difficult group.
Friday’s match against Sweden therefore looked like an unusual situation: a competitive match against strong opposition, important but not crucial. It was as much about preparing England for the next 18 months as it was about getting a good result.
But, either way, England will be disappointed with a 1-1 draw in front of 63,000 fans at Wembley against a Swedish team deprived of a few key players. They were unable to call on the injured Nathalie Bjorn, while Elin Rubensson, Sweden’s best player en route to third place at last year’s World Cup, was only fit enough for the Last 15 minutes.
England started well enough, took the lead through Alessia Russo’s header, then were found wanting.
They did not create any further chances. They did not control the game through possession play. They did not always defend their box well. Fridolina Rolfo’s equalizer was entirely deserved, and Sweden went close to winning at 1-1, when Stina Blackstenius typically sprinted behind and then, just as typically, lacked composure in her finishing .
🅰️James
⚽️ RussianEngland score first goal on route to Euro 2025#ENGSWE pic.twitter.com/K4xGAMWG4h
– ITV Football (@itvfootball) April 5, 2024
England’s lack of clean sheets, in particular, must increasingly be seen as a problem. Wiegman’s Netherlands won four in six games at Euro 2017, and his England side have managed four in six matches in 2022. But now England are down to just two in 12 games , against Scotland and Belgium in the Nations League. They have conceded once against Colombia, Australia, Spain, Scotland, Italy and now Sweden. They conceded twice against the Netherlands and Austria last month, and scored three away goals, the most problematic, in Belgium. The solidity of England has abandoned them.
This is partly no surprise given Wiegman is without Leah Williamson and Millie Bright, the centre-back duo when England won the European Championship. But the strange thing is that in their place, Alex Greenwood has been England’s most consistent player over the past year.
Here, Greenwood was effectively the reserve player alongside three defenders, all tasked with stopping the club’s teammates. Arsenal’s Lotte Wubben-Moy largely performed well against Blackstenius. Chelsea’s Niamh Charles had some problems against the speedy Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. The biggest problem was at right-back, where Barcelona’s Lucy Bronze was often surprised by Rolfo’s run, and will be disappointed to have allowed her opponent to sneak in at the far post to equalise.
Wiegman was clearly annoyed by the concession, calling it “unnecessary” after the match. “We awarded a throw-in, and from that throw-in we couldn’t get the cross out.”
💬 “The goal we conceded was really unnecessary”
🗣️ Sarina Wiegman spoke with @KatieShanahan3 after England’s draw against Sweden#ENGSWE pic.twitter.com/dPRp0JPQzV
– ITV Football (@itvfootball) April 5, 2024
Amidst all this, Greenwood was truly exceptional, winning aerial balls into the box and returning to his old left-back position to help deal with Rytting Kaneryd. From an attacking point of view, she was England’s most expressive passer, consistently hitting good diagonals down the right flank – and also playing more ambitious balls in behind for the runners. The question mark is what happens if and when Williamson and Bright are available again. Given England’s poor defensive run, you’d think Wiegman will be tempted to put Greenwood at left-back, effectively using another suitable defender.
But concessions don’t happen simply because of defenders’ mistakes. England’s midfielders were also guilty of constantly losing possession under pressure from Sweden. Georgia Stanway was excellent in the first half but got sloppy. Captain Keira Walsh was not as reliable as usual, partly because, as Swedish coach Peter Gerhardsson admitted, the visitors’ main tactic was to limit her influence. Ella Toone was presumably introduced in place of Grace Clinton to provide a run forward, but is not a useful player to help control a game. “The main thing we want to improve is holding the ball longer,” Wiegman said.
All this gives us the feeling that, for the first time under Wiegman, England is veering off course. The Nations League results were disappointing, although the Lionesses were ultimately eliminated by a narrow margin. This performance should be seen as a continuation of a disappointing, although far from disastrous, post-World Cup run.
Qualification in this group should not pose a problem and is essentially based on England’s victory over the Republic of Ireland, who they will face on Tuesday in Dublin. While England stumbled against Sweden, Ireland put on a spirited display in France, losing just 1-0 with an approach that involved the use of five established centre-backs, including Anna Patten, who was up recently the England Under-23 team. captain.
Ireland are expected to focus on their defense again on Tuesday. Maybe England should do the same.
(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)