England’s 6-1 win over Wales secured their place in the last eight, concluding what was eventually a successful group stage for the defending champions.
By Jamie Spencer
Since a humbling defeat to France at Euro 2025, England have upped the intensity, made sure to get the basics right and played with an admirable directness that has been difficult for subsequent opponents – Netherlands and Wales – to contend with.
“It wasn’t the way we wanted to start the tournament but it’s a bit of a rocket and we’ve shown in these last couple of games that this is how we play,” Ella Toone told BBC Sport following Sunday night’s one-sided score-line against the Welsh.
Beth Mead echoed those comments, also telling the BBC, “We said that you don’t win or lose a tournament in the first game. We are a very motivated team and we enjoy being under pressure, you can tell that in the last two games when we’ve needed to win.”
Now that they’ve hit their stride, the Lionesses will expect that standard to remain throughout. Overall, England scored 11 group stage goals, bettered only by Spain (14), and conceded just three, with only Sweden (1) putting up a meaner defence in the opening round.
Sarina Wiegman’s team selection against the Dutch on matchday two of the group stage had been motivated by a desire to play direct. Toone’s ability to break forward from midfield and Alessia Russo’s willingness to run behind defences were both decisive factors in that crucial win.
Once Wiegman finds a winning formula, she rarely strays from it – the same XI famously started all six games at Euro 2022, while there was a similar pattern at the World Cup in 2023 after switching to a 3-5-2 during the group stage. And although here were doubts about her choices at the beginning of this tournament, the loyalty shown to certain players has now been rewarded, the tweaks between facing France and the Netherlands worked, and the Lionesses are properly up and running.
England should never have had a problem facing Wales. The result, with a win necessary to reach the quarter-finals and keep their destiny in their own hands, was the important bit and it was a walkover.
Wales had conceded seven goals across their opening two games and were the lowest ranked team in the competition. Even a bit of extra fight because of the geographic rivalry was never going to be enough, especially after conceding the early penalty.
The 13th minute spot-kick, converted by Georgia Stanway – who had herself been tripped just inside the penalty area, was a gift. But it came from building play on the right and Lauren James firing a cross into the box. The second started with a raking ball from deep towards the left flank from Leah Williamson, nodded into the area and causing chaos that Wales failed to deal with – Toone was there for the tap-in. A cross from Toone created Lauren Hemp’s third, a header at the far post, simple but effective. The fourth for Russo, her first goal of the tournament after racking up three assists, was more intricate play, but simplicity returned when Mead made it five as England quickly transitioned. And, again, a long diagonal pass out from defence, this time by Alex Greenwood, started the move that led to Aggie Beever-Jones getting the sixth, a knockdown, a cross and a free header.
England played on the front foot, with 58% of passes made in Wales territory. Favouring directness, 53 long balls found their intended target from 68 attempts – by contrast, Wales completed only four long passes. They also peppered the Welsh box with crosses, 25 of them, with 44% finding a fellow Lioness, and dominated the aerial game by winning 13 such duels against Wales’ eight.
“The team just showed up today,” was how Wiegman, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, described the performance. England are already very talented team, but ‘showing up’ probably matters more looking forward when there will be increasingly less to separate teams on a technical level.
Consistency is the next test for the reigning champions. Victory over Wales made it two consecutive wins for only the second time in 15 outings since last July, while England haven’t put together a run of three successive competitive wins since the 2023 World Cup.
The back and forth nature of the France-Netherlands result in the group’s other final fixture kept changing the standings and therefore who England will face in the last eight. France were ahead, then behind, and eventually victorious to finish top. They will go on to play Germany in the quarter-finals because of that, with England handed a meeting with an impressive Sweden that won Group C, but on the kinder side of the knockout bracket, away from the Germans and Spain.
‘Showing up’ against the Swedes, with the momentum built so far, and either Norway or Italy to face in the semi-finals if they get through, presents England a huge chance to go very far in defence of their title.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the 2025 Women’s Euros with FotMob – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings.
And for exclusive coverage from on the ground at the tournament, please sign up for our free newsletter – here.