Euro 2022: England star Keira Walsh warns Sweden that it is NOT possible to stop roaring lionesses ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final
KEIRA WALSH has fired a warning to England’s European Championship rivals: There is nothing stopping us now.
The Lionesses midfielder, 25, believes they have huge momentum following their epic quarter-final response against Spain.
England have scored an eye-popping 100 goals under Sarina Wiegman and are through to the last four for a fourth consecutive major tournament.
Another sold-out crowd is expected for Tuesday’s semi-final against Sweden at Bramall Lane.
Manchester City ace Walsh, who played 116 minutes of the 2-1 extra-time win over Spain, said: “The feeling in this team is just confidence.
“It has been talked about that we don’t really have any difficult games in the group. But we have come from behind and shown that we are a real force to be reckoned with.
“In any quarter-final it’s an achievement to come from behind. But the feeling was always there that we were going to win.
“That belief and the crowd was huge for us and it’s definitely been a big part of this whole tournament, with the home crowd behind us.
“We’ve got some really good momentum with us and I hope we can carry it through to the semi-finals. It’s just confidence and we’re in a really good place.”
Walsh has credited the calming effect of Wiegman, who took over last September, for helping the Lionesses keep their cool.
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They have conceded just one goal this tournament after getting through the group unscathed.
But at France’s 2019 World Cup under Phil Neville, the team crashed out in the semi-finals against the USA.
Still, Walsh said of their Dutch manager: “She’s so relaxed.
“She doesn’t put pressure on anyone. When you make a mistake in practice or in a match, she doesn’t scold you from the sidelines.
“As long as you try to do the right thing and it’s what she asked you to do, she’ll never yell at you.
We have a really good momentum with us and I hope we can carry it through to the semi-finals.
Keira Walsh
“It’s really important because it gives you the confidence to try things. And some of the goals we probably wouldn’t have done before.
“Sarina’s presence, she is so calm, really positive and not even at half time she doesn’t come in and start screaming. She always says the right thing at the right moment.
“Sarina has been hugely important to us and so have the staff in the backroom and the technical staff. We’re just in a really good place.
“No matter how she is on the sideline, Sarina is always so calm and that affects the team enormously.
“If you have a coach yelling when you’re running up and down the sideline, it affects you.”
England’s winner against the Spanish was a long-distance belter from Georgia Stanway.
And Walsh added: “Someone like Georgia has always been confident shooting and she’s got an incredible attack on her and Sarina brings that out.
“She wants people to play with confidence, have shots and play passes. In the team talk, it’s always about what we can do, the confidence she has with us – it’s huge.”