The hosts England Women’s qualification for the final of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 is no shocker for the football world.
Since the star Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman has taken over the Head Coach role of the England Women’s national football team, the Lionesses have only put strong performances on the field. Wiegman started this journey last September, and since then, England Women are unbeaten in straight 19 games (17 wins and two draws).
Dominance of England Women
If we see their goal-scoring and goal-conceding records during these 11 months, we can observe their actual dominance on the field. In their 19-match unbeaten streak under Wiegman, England Women have insanely scored 104 goals and conceded only four goals.
In the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification (UEFA), England Women stormed to qualify for the next World Cup with 68 goals and zero concedes in their all eight winnings.
The Lionesses have continued their strong performances in the ongoing UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. Apart from winning all the five matches of this competition to advance to the final, they have scored 20 goals and conceded only once as they have maintained four clean sheets in this competition.
Group A
6th July at Old Trafford, Manchester: England (1) – Austria (0)
In front of the tournament record 68,871 people, England Women kicked off this tournament with a 1-0 win against Austria Women. Beth Mead scored the opening goal of this tournament which was also the winning goal of that match.
11th July at Falmer Stadium, Brighton and Hove: England (8) – Norway (0)
In their second game of this competition, England Women thrashed Norway Women by 8-0. Georgia Stanway started that goal-flood with a successful penalty (12’), while Lauren Hemp scored the second goal of the game (15’). Beth Mead scored a hat-trick (34’ 38’ and 81’), and Ellen White scored a brace (29’and 41’), while Alessia Russo also had one goal (66’).
15th July at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton: Northern Ireland (0) – England (5)
The Lionesses finished the group stage with another big win against Northern Ireland with a scoreline of 5-0. After Fran Kirby (40’) and Beth Mead (44’) scored in the first half, Alessia Russo managed a brace (48’ and 53’) before Kelsie Burrows’ own goal (76’).
Knockout stage
(Quarter-finals) 20th July at Falmer Stadium, Brighton and Hove: England (2) – Spain (1) at extra time
The first quarter-final of this tournament was probably the toughest game for Wiegman’s English team. Esther Gonzalez provided the lead for Spain Women in the early second half (54’). Ella Toone ultimately broke the deadlock for the hosts in the 84th minute of that game.
That match moved to the extra-time with a 1-1 scoreline. Georgia Stanway scored the match-winning goal during the sixth minute of the first half of the extra-time as the hosts advanced to the semi-final with a 2-1 win.
(Semi-finals) 26th July at Bramall Lane, Sheffield: England (4) – Sweden (0)
Sweden Women are the second-ranked team in the present FIFA Women’s rankings. They were unbeaten in 34 games before their semi-final match of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 against the hosts England Women. However, the scoreline of this semi-final couldn’t read the actual weight of the Swedish team as the side lost by 4-0.
Beth Mead (34’), Lucy Bronze (48’), Alessia Russo (68’) and Fran Kirby (76’) were the scorers for the Lionesses in that semi-final.
Final line
As a Head Coach of the Netherlands Women’s national football team, Sarina Wiegman won the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 and also finished as the runners-up in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019. Earlier, she also had trophy successes as the manager of the Dutch clubs. Under her strong coaching, the Lionesses are dreaming of their first major title by winning the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022.
