There was nothing glamorous about the way England qualified for Euro 2025.
Two summers ago, the Lionesses surprised a home tournament with spectacular football, becoming European champions for the first time in their history.
They have struggled recently to reach the level they had set for themselves, but next summer they will be in Switzerland to defend their title.
To do that, they will have to play better than they did in Gothenburg on Tuesday night. It wasn’t a championship performance against a Swedish team that needed to win to advance, but it was enough to get the job done and avoid play-off matches later this year.
With two of the top six countries in the world all in the same group, automatic qualification for the Lionesses was not easy.
Defending champions England have automatically qualified for Euro 2025 in Switzerland
Hannah Hampton in goal helped neutralise the Swedish threat, giving England a much-needed draw
Sarina Wiegman will need to see more of her team to pose a threat for next year’s tournament
They finished in second place despite France suffering a surprise 3-1 defeat to Ireland in their last match.
England needed just one point against Sweden, who finished in third place, two points behind them.
This campaign has shown that there are issues that Wiegman needs to address. They lacked fluidity and seemed to tire in the second half of every game they played in their group.
“Yes, that’s something we definitely need to improve on,” Wiegman said of England’s second-half performance.
“It’s good that we have a year now. I think we played very well in the first half. The only thing we didn’t do is score. We could have created more chances if we had more players up front in the last third.
Hampton was selected ahead of number 1 keeper Mary Earps and proved her worth in goal
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‘In the second half it was a battle. In those moments, when they press higher with more players, than when you have the ball, you want to hold on to it better so that we have more control over the game. That’s right, we had it against France and here too. That has to do with the quality of the opponent, but it’s good that you have a year to prepare for the Euros and work on those things.’
One of the biggest dilemmas for Wiegman in selecting for Tuesday’s crucial match was whether to return goalkeeper Mary Earps to the starting lineup or keep Hannah Hampton, who has started the last two games.
Earps missed last month’s win over France after suffering a hip injury in the defeat to Les Bleus four days earlier. She was fit to play Ireland on Friday but Hampton retained her place, with Wiegman opting to keep the Chelsea keeper in goal here.
The England manager had stressed before kick-off that it was too early to say the goalkeeper would be the first choice. Still, it was a bold move to start Hampton instead of Earps. It now feels as if she could lose her shirt.
“Mary was very professional and prepared,” Wiegman said of the Earps’ reaction to not starting.
The reigning champions had a strong first half but struggled to contain a revived Sweden in the second half
‘We split the games in February and April. In the May/June window, Mary unfortunately got injured. In that period we said there is more competition between the two, of course we have Khiara [Keating] and we had Anna Moorhouse in the squad and she’s doing well too.
‘The competition has started, really started. They are both incredibly talented goalkeepers that we are very happy with and of course with the others. Now that we have done this, it is three months until our next transfer window, they go back to their clubs, Mary of course to France, and we will see how that goes first and when they come in October.’
England had the ball in the first half without creating any significant chances. Neither team managed to get a shot on target before the break, with Sweden’s best chance coming from right-back Hanna Lundkvist, whose shot from the edge of the penalty area flew over the bar.
England needed a vital save from Hampton to stop Filipa Angeldahl’s close-range shot from a set-piece, before Lucy Bronze saw her header saved at the other end by Zecira Musovic.
Lucy Bronze (right) saw her header saved by Swedish goalkeeper Zecira Musovic
Sweden will now have to navigate the choppy waters of play-off matches to qualify
Wiegman has often criticised sloppiness on her part this campaign and they were guilty of getting themselves into trouble as the half wore on. Leah Williamson and Jess Carter were both guilty of giving away possession, while Millie Bright repeatedly got in the way of Hampton as the keeper tried to collect crosses. Hampton dropped the ball on several occasions, although Wiegman was furious at a perceived lack of protection from the referee.
Hampton was almost caught when Angeldahl fired a 27-yard shot into the top right corner of her goal, but she recovered well to make a one-handed save to ensure England kept a clean sheet.
England held on for four minutes of added time, but as has often been the case this season, they did just enough to get over the line.