Preview for Sweden v England
England’s defence of their European Championship title faces another stiff examination tomorrow night when they take on in-form Sweden in Zurich.
Sarina Wiegman’s side overcame a sticky start to finish second in Group D and will now meet the Group C winners, who come into the game on the back of a 4-1 thrashing of Germany.
The Lionesses regained their mojo following a sub-standard performance and 2-1 defeat to France in their opening game in Switzerland with impressive back-to-back wins over the Netherlands (4-1) and Wales (6-1) to progress, but the Swedes are likely to pose bigger problems.
England midfielder Ella Toone raised the stakes further by declaring their last-eight opponents should be “scared”, comments that have raised eyebrows in the Sweden camp.
Defender Magdalena Eriksson said: “Absolutely not scared, but we have respect for the opponent.
“We always have and the fact that we respect and analyse all opponents in the same way is a big success factor for us. All opponents have top qualities but also weaknesses and we will analyse them.”
Eriksson hinted England were prone to over-confidence but believes the defeat to Les Bleues did them a favour.
She added: “They got a real lesson from France. It can be good when such matches come early in a tournament, that you understand that you have to come down to earth again and be a little humble and examine yourself.
“It felt like they really did that before match two against the Netherlands. Then they go out and look like a new team. It can be an advantage for them that they have received that slap in the face early and have been able to learn from it and be a little more humble about it.”
“I don’t know why we should be scared, hopefully we can show them” 👀
Jonna Andersson responds to Ella Toone’s comments that Sweden should be ‘scared’ of England. pic.twitter.com/K7hijfEKgP
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 16, 2025
Unlike Toone, England captain Leah Williamson appeared to have got the memo and the Arsenal defender was quick to talk up the Swedes.
She said: “Sweden’s previous results at tournaments are incredible. They are relentless when it comes to tournament football.
“I do think they deserve a little bit more recognition.
“When you have a team who work for each other like Sweden, then you don’t need to necessarily have a crazy standout threat because everyone plays their roles.
“They are hard to prepare for in that sense. The discipline for them all to complete their jobs on the pitch makes them a dangerous side.”
For England to progress to a meeting with either Norway or Italy in the semi-finals, Williamson will have to keep Sweden striker and Arsenal team-mate Stina Blackstenius quiet.
Blackstenius scored the only goal as the Gunners beat Barcelona in the Champions League final in May and the 29-year-old will spearhead the Swedish attack.
Williamson added: “Stina is an incredibly powerful footballer. She’s very intelligent with her runs. She’s a hard player to play against in that respect.
“We were celebrating her success at Arsenal – but not so much now! She’s a great player and she has been for many years now. Her experience speaks for itself.
“It’s different [to] playing each other in training with restrictions. It’s rare that I get to play against Stina in this setting. I enjoy it, and I like Stina.
“It’s tough to remove all of that. You don’t want to focus on it too much and there’s lots of things that come into play when you play against a team-mate, but I think I’ve known Stina long enough that I know who she is and it’s time to focus on us.”
