Now we can dare to dream after another magical night for the Lionesses.
Sarina Wiegman’s heroes are now just 90 minutes from glory and a place in English football history. Twelve months on from one of Wembley’s darkest days, the Lionesses have made themselves the sporting story of this summer.
It was Beth Mead again making all the headlines with another starring performance in a victory which almost had a sense of destiny. Then when England’s supersub Alessia Russo scored with a sensational back heel, the whole stadium started to sing: “Football’s Coming Home.”
It really does not get much better than this. The whole tournament has been such an important landmark for the women’s game that it is impossible not to think it will leave a lasting legacy. England were magnificent as they refused to succumb to more semi final heartbreak when lesser teams would have crumbled under the pressure.
You could sense the nerves and tension at times as England had lost their last three semi finals and Sweden gave them one hell of a scare. But the best quality within Wiegman’s squad is their mental strength because you could see they were utterly and completely determined not to let it happen for a fourth time.
They survived Sweden’s pressure, some self-inflicted scary moments to come out of the other side with a heroic victory. From the moment Mead opened the scoring, there was no looking back for England. In the end, it was a rout as they completely overwhelmed Sweden.
And now they have a wonderful chance to banish the memories of what happened for Gareth Southgate’s side at Wembley 12 months ago. England lost to Italy after a penalty shoot-out, the fans disgraced themselves and yet the atmospheres and crowds at this tournament have made it such a joy.
They stick with the team through the dark moments and you could even see England defender Harry Maguire in the stands cheering on the team. The Lionesses needed every bit of help they could get early on when Sweden dominated and it took some heroics from England keeper Mary Earps to keep the scores level.
Sofia Jakobsson, Stina Blackstenius and Fridolina Rolfö all went close for Sweden as England looked nervous, almost intimated by the expectation levels weighing heavily on their shoulders. But just like last week when they were struggling against Spain, they dug deep. They summoned up something special and took the lead against the run of play after 34 minutes as once again Mead got them going.
Rachel Daly linked up with Lauren Hemp down the left, Ellen White could not get on the end of Hemp’s cross but the ball fell to Lucy Bronze who had got forward from right back. Bronze’s first time cross was perfect for Mead who controlled the ball brilliantly, swivelled and then fired an unstoppable shot past Sweden keeper Hedvig Lindahl.
The stadium came alive, England looked a different team and, from there, it was only going to be one winner. Mead put over a corner to Bronze at the back post, her header flew into the net after 48 minutes and the goal survived a lengthy VAR check for offside. That took the pressure off England.
Hemp hit the bar, Earps made another super save and then Russo produced the best piece of sill of the night. Russo saw her shot blocked on the line but then somehow back heeled the rebound, nutmegging Lindahl in the process. What a moment.
Then Fran Kirby raced clear, chipped the keeper who got her hands to the ball but she could not stop it - or England’s charge to glory.
