ST. GALLEN, Switzerland (AP) — Another rampant England performance saw the defending champion demolish Wales 6-1 on Sunday and book its spot in the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championship.
England had bounced back from losing to France in its opener by routing the Netherlands 4-0 and it raced into a 4-0 halftime lead against Wales following goals from Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo.
Substitutes Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones added more in the second half either side of Hannah Cain’s stylish consolation for Wales.
“We’re just happy that we continued the standards that we’d set against the Netherlands,” Stanway said. “It was super important that we continue where we’d left off and we could build momentum post that.”
The result saw Sarina Wiegman’s team advance as runner-up in Group D, ensuring England a potentially easier path to the final, after France beat the Netherlands 5-2 to win the group. Wales and the Netherlands are eliminated.
England will play Sweden in the quarterfinals and could then face either Norway or Italy.
Had they won the group, the Lionesses would have encountered Germany before a possible semifinal against World Cup winner and tournament favorite Spain, which plays host nation Switzerland in the last eight.
England beat Sweden 4-0 in the Euro 2022 semifinals, although the two subsequent matches between the two nations have ended in draws.
“It’s a completely different tournament, it’s really hard to compare anything that happens in other tournaments,” Stanway said. “Our focus is on us, our focus is making sure that we know our things going into the game.
“Today we focus on the result that we’ve just had and how proud we are to get out of the group. There’s been many days this tournament where we could have actually been going home, so to be in this situation, to be staying a few more days is something that we can be proud of.”
It was always going to be a tall order for Wales, on its tournament debut, to beat the reigning champion. It had lost nine of its 10 previous matches against England, only managing one draw against its neighbor and historic rival.
Penalty opener
And the challenge for Wales became even harder when England was awarded a penalty — by the video assistant referee — after Carrie Jones tripped Stanway just inside the area.
Stanway sent the penalty into the bottom left corner to give England a 13th-minute lead and a disaster in defense allowed the Lionesses to double that tally eight minutes later.
An attempted clearance came off Stanway and fell to Russo, who rounded the Wales goalkeeper before rolling it across for Toone. The Manchester United forward’s first attempt was blocked by Wales defender Lily Woodham but she lashed the rebound into the top right corner.
Toone turned provider in the 30th, running onto a pass from Lauren James and crossing for Hemp to head in from a tight angle at the back post.
It was Hemp’s first goal since returning from a five-month layoff after undergoing knee surgery in November.
Wales had been poor, while England had been brutally efficient and the Lionesses added another goal on the stroke of halftime. A sublime pass from James — between two Welsh players — released Toone, who rolled it across for Russo to tuck into the bottom left corner.
Halftime changes
With the result a foregone conclusion, Wiegman rang the changes at halftime, bringing on Jess Park and Mead for Toone and Hemp.
Mead was the Euro 2022 player of the tournament and she got her first goal in this edition in the 72nd minute after a superb bit of skill saw her latch onto a good ball from Beever-Jones and carve out some space in the area before slotting past Clark.
Cain briefly reduced the deficit before Beever-Jones headed in Mead’s cross in the 89th minute to wrap up the scoring.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
