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England defeated Sweden 4-0 on Tuesday in the 2022 Women’s Euro semifinal to advance to Sunday’s final at Wembley Stadium as they await the winner of the Germany-France semifinal on Wednesday. Beth Mead, Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Fran Kirby each scored a goal to mark the Lionesses’ first major tournament win over Sweden since 1984. This England’s third trip to the final and the first since 2009.
Here’s some takeaways and highlights from the match:
Contents
Historic blowout
Playing on home soil, England entered the match with the pressure of an entire nation. The pressure was even greater when you add the fact that England, prior to this four-goal demolition, had been eliminated in the semis in the past three Euros and had only one win in the past seven competitive meetings against Sweden.
Sweden looked like a team finally ready to hit their stride in the tournament, playing quick in transition, forcing England goalkeeper Mary Earps to make a massive save to keep things even in the opening minute.
It took the Lionesses 25 minutes to shake off the semifinal nerves as Sweden’s failure to finish in front of goal came back to haunt them when Beth Mead broke the deadlock with a sweet finish for her sixth goal of the tournament.
With the goal, Mead is currently in the lead for the golden boot of the tournament. That’s an incredible feel-good story for someone who was left off Great Britain’s Olympic squad for the 2020 Tokyo Games and has persevered to become one of the most important players of this tournament, let alone her team. Her confidence in front of goal has paid off for the national team and she has now scored 20 goals for England in 19 matches under manager Sarina Wiegman.
Goal of the tourney
A narrow 1-0 scoreline didn’t seem insurmountable at halftime for Sweden, but England continued to capitalize on their superb chances in front of goal as Bronze extended the scoreline just…
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Source : cbssports
