REIGNING champions England thrashed neighbours Wales 6-1 to reach the Women's Euro 2025 quarter-finals on Sunday, securing second spot in Group D and cruising into the knockouts, where they will face Sweden, on a high note.
Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones were all on target for England, who finished runners-up to France after their 5-2 victory over the Netherlands.
Sarina Wiegman's team will next face a Sweden side, who won all three of their games to top Group C, in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
“It is going to be a difficult game. We watched (Sweden) the other night and they were really good. We need to be on our best game,“ Toone said. “But we’re feeling confident, I think they should be scared.”
The second-place finish, however, could be a bonus as provided they get past the Swedes, England would potentially avoid world champions Spain in the semi-finals.
Stanway struck from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after a foul in the box, calmly sweeping her shot into the far-left corner past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Olivia Clark to open the floodgates.
Toone found the back of the net with a scrappy goal eight minutes later. England capitalised on a sloppy clearance by Rhiannon Roberts, with the ball falling to Russo who nudged it into the path of Toone who fired home at the second attempt.
Hemp nodded a third inside 30 minutes after a clever pass from Lauren James to Toone near the byline. Toone found Hemp at the far post with a deep cross for an easy header.
Russo bagged her first goal of the tournament just before halftime when Toone made another dart to byline before cutting the ball back for Russo, who took one touch to control it before firing home and Mead cut inside a defender before slotting England's fifth in the 72nd minute.
Hannah Cain pulled one back to the delight of the Wales fans, who celebrated by singing their national anthem, in the 76th minute, but England's Beever-Jones replied in the 89th with her first goal in a major tournament, heading home Mead's cross.
“We scored six goals and a big part of the game we dominated, a very good game,“ Wiegman said. “Playing well is the most important, who scores is not that important.”
Much was made about the rivalry between the two nations, with Wales wanting nothing better than to spoil England's party. Thousands of loud Welsh fans cheered and sang throughout Sunday's match, despite the scoreline.
But Wiegman's team, World Cup finalists in 2023, showed their vast experience against a Wales side making their major tournament debut.
“We were really good. It is always hard to play against a team that sits in a low block,“ Toone said. “It was nice we got an early goal in the first half and we enjoyed the game.”
England have won 10 of the 11 meetings between the two teams, with Wales' best result being a 0-0 draw in 2018.
“This is the beginning of a journey for us,“ Wales midfielder Jess Fishlock said. “We’ve played three of the best teams in the world at this tournament and we’ve found out how big that jump is.” - REUTERS
