Euro 2025: Wiegman wants England to carry group-stage ‘urgency’ into QF

ST. GALLEN — Sarina Wiegman has said she wants to see the same urgency from the team that guided the Lionesses through a tricky group when they face Sweden in the quarterfinals of Euro 2025.

Wiegman was delighted with England’s comfortable 6-1 win over Wales on Sunday in St. Gallen. Goals from Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones gave England a comprehensive victory and it was enough to see them finish second in their group.

England bounced back from a poor opening round defeat to France to then comfortably ease past the Netherlands 4-0 and finished up with a commanding victory over Wales. And Wiegman wants England to keep up that momentum for the quarterfinal.

“I think we built momentum also from the France game because that really brought us together and everyone really wanted to perform and be successful,” Wiegman said. “Then this urgency comes. In the Netherlands game we really created urgency and momentum by playing really well and to our strengths. You could see the togetherness of our team.

“We know today would be a different game because we knew we would have the ball a lot. We wanted to do well on the ball and for the most part of the game we did that. Where has our momentum come from? We are in a good place and are really happy. At the same time we know Sweden will be a totally different game than it was tonight.”

Events in Basel were dictating who England would face in the quarterfinals. At one stage, England were set for a showdown with Germany in the quarters, but then France came back to beat the Dutch and finish top of the group. That means England have Sweden, but Wiegman wasn’t paying any attention to the various permutations.

“I think in tournaments it’s really tricky to think ‘oh, we want to go that way because then we might have this and this,'” Wiegman said.

“If you start thinking like that then it’s very tricky. What you’re trying to do is win every game and then see where you finish in the group. Then you will play who is in front of you and that’s what it is.

“If you want to be successful in the tournament, you should be able to win every single game. So that’s how we approach it.”

England will now have a rest day on Monday but attention is switching to the challenge Sweden will pose in Zurich on Thursday.

“They’re always a team, they’re always very powerful, they have speed up front on the counter-attack,” Wiegman said of Sweden.

“It is a hard team to beat. They have done well in the group. We will see and we will get ready. Recover from this one and then we go again against Sweden in Zurich.”