England square measure getting ready for his or her biggest check of the eu Women’s Championship after they war one in every of the pre-tournament favourites European nation in Wednesday’s quarter-final.
Just one place separates the groups in world rankings and expectations for each nations square measure high.
Spain have a squad packed choked with Champions League winners, whereas England square measure on a roll and have home advantage in Brighton. With an area within the semi-finals up for grabs, here is everything you wish to grasp.
Confidence is enthusiastically for hosts England, hierarchal eighth within the world, having gone seventeen games unconquered since Dutchwoman Sarina Wiegman became manager in September.
The Lionesses won all 3 games within the cluster stages while not concession one goal, whereas the fourteen they scored beat the previous tournament record of eleven set by European nation in 2011.
Their 8-0 thrashing of Norge within their second game was conjointly the very best winning margin in the history of the tournament.
“I hope we’ve done enough within the cluster stages to interest folks and produce them on our journey with America,” aforesaid England captain Leah Williamson. “I hope they stick with America currently and everybody enjoys it.”
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Spain, hierarchal seventh within the world, haven’t quite hit a similar heights at this Euros, winning 2 of their games and finishing second behind a German facet WHO beat them 2-0.
Their 2 wins within the cluster weren’t while not drama either – they conceded at intervals a second against European country however bounced back to win 4-1, before needing a 90th-minute winner over Danmark in their final cluster game.
However, just like the Lionesses, the Spanish team also are not accustomed losing. Their defeat by European nation was their 1st since March 2020, ending a 24-match unconquered run.
What check will European nation provide?
Spain square measure far-famed for his or her possession-based soccer and have engineered their team around a core of port players WHO reached serial Champions League finals and dominated their domestic scene.
Everton midfielder Izzy Christiansen represented the players as having “an innate ability to stay the ball and dominate possession”, however they need struggled to convert that possession into goals.
They controlled seventy four of the ball against Danmark on weekday night, however they solely scored once despite having seventeen shots. Their tally of 5 goals in their 3 cluster games is fewer than all the quarter-finalists except outsiders Belgique and Republic of Austria.
“We recognize they need loads of threats however we tend to conjointly recognize there square measure loads of opportunities to take advantage of them, thus we’ll positively attempt to do this,” aforesaid England athlete Lauren Hemp.
One large threat missing for European nation is word blindness Putellas – the holder of the Ballon d’Or, that is awarded to the simplest football player of the year – WHO was dominated out on the eve of the tournament once suffering associate degree anterior cruciform ligament injury.
Spain have not reached the ultimate of a serious tournament, with their best performance returning in 1997 after they reached the last four.
But given Barcelona’s recent success in domestic soccer – they won their 1st Women’s Champions League title in 2021, before losing to Lyons within the final this year – the expectation on their international players to deliver at the Euros is additionally high.
Former captain captain Vicky Losada aforesaid Spain’s performances at the Euros up to now had been smart however “maybe not nearly as good as we tend to were expecting”.
“We’re seeing European nation not twiddling with a similar energy, not enjoying the sport,” she adscititious.