European Championship 2022: England 4 Sweden 0
ENGLAND are through to their first major final since 2009 after the Euro 2022 hosts swept past Sweden with a 4-0 victory at Bramall Lane.
After a shaky start for the Lionesses in which Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius hit the bar, Beth Mead, who was already leading the race for the Golden Boot, put Sarina Wiegman’s team ahead with a 34th-minute goal that took her to six goals for the tournament.
Whitby-born Mead then turned provider in the opening moments of the second half, delivering a corner which was headed in by her former Sunderland Ladies player Lucy Bronze, before substitute Alessia Russo registered her fourth goal of these finals with a lovely back- overturned the effort in the 68th minute.
Fran Kirby added the fourth with a chip eight minutes later and it could have been even better for England, with Lauren Hemp having rattled the woodwork 2-0, as they completely avoided more semi-final disappointment after leaving in this stage at their last three major tournaments.
They can now look forward to a showdown on Sunday with either Germany or France at a sold-out Wembley, where victory will secure them the first major trophy in their history.
It will be a third appearance in the competition’s final after runners-up 13 years ago – when they lost 6-2 to Germany – and at the inaugural European Championship in 1984, which saw them beaten on penalties by Sweden.
Triumph on Sunday would also mean success at the European Championships for boss Wiegman, who, having overseen his native Netherlands to win the 2017 edition on home soil and then reach the 2019 Word Cup final, has had an England spell that remains unbeaten after 19 games, with 17 wins, 104 goals scored and only four conceded.
The sense that the team is on the brink of something special was certainly palpable among the England fans in the 28,624 crowd at the stadium, with chants of “the football is coming home” echoing around the ground at various points.