The start of England’s defence of their European title got off to a frustrating start in front of 63,248 at Wembley, with Sarina Wiegman’s side held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Sweden.
Drawn in the Euro 2025 qualifying ‘Group of Death’ with the World Cup bronze medallists, Euro 2022 semi-finalists France and the only team from pot four to have qualified for the 2023 World Cup, the Republic of Ireland, England needed a strong start to the campaign to retain their European title.
However, despite Alessia Russo’s diving header to open proceedings and haunt the Swedes, who were on the receiving end when the forward scored a sublime backheel in their 4-0 Euro semi-final defeat of Sweden in 2022, Fridolina Rolfö’s headed effort was enough to ensure the spoils were shared.
“In the Nations League you have very competitive games and Sweden is a very tough opponent,” Wiegman said. “I do think we could have done a couple of things better … but it just shows how close and how tight our competition is.”
Wiegman made one change to the team that earned an impressive 5-1 win over Italy in a friendly in February in Marbella. Lauren James returned to the starting XI in place of Chloe Kelly, who had been dropped to the bench in favour of the Australian Mary Fowler at Manchester City in recent weeks.
Significantly, the 21-year-old Tottenham midfielder Grace Clinton, on loan from Manchester United, retained her place in midfield, partnering Keira Walsh, who was targeted by Sweden, and Georgia Stanway.
Leah Williamson, back for England for the first time since she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in her knee last April, was on the bench, with her Arsenal teammate Lotte Wubben-Moy, rewarded for her fine domestic form, playing alongside Alex Greenwood in defence.
Meanwhile, Peter Gerhardsson made eight changes to the team that defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-0 to ensure a 10-0 aggregate win that meant Sweden remained in League A for Euro 2025 qualifying.
Wiegman said the Marbella camp had helped the Lionesses reset after December’s disappointing exit from the Nations League, which also ended Team GB’s hopes of Olympic qualification. Sweden at Wembley was the opportunity “for us to again show what we can do and how good we can play” after a somewhat disappointing post-World Cup dip.
There was an early warning sign of the threat posed by Arsenal forward Stina Blackstenius when she was played through a minute in, but Wubben-Moy blocked her effort and Mary Earps was there to collect.
Blackstenius’s club colleague Russo would feel the force of a Magdalena Eriksson challenge minutes later, needing lengthy treatment to bandage a nasty-looking gash on her shin.
Lauren Hemp looked ineffective on the right, having been asked to begin on the unfamiliar flank to allow Lauren James to slot in on the left where she is preferred for Chelsea, but just past 20 minutes there was a switch.
The impact was instant, James clipping a ball in from the right that Russo met with a diving header to power the home team ahead.
Wiegman had wanted a statement performance, but this was far from it. Her charges dominated possession but against the well-organised Swedes they struggled to carve out chances.
Meanwhile, the visiting team were increasingly threatening on the break and they found the equaliser in the 64th minute. A quick throw-in was worked to substitute Rosa Kafaji in the box and she flicked it towards Rolfö at the back post who nodded past Earps.
There was almost instant disaster for England moments later when Blackstenius was played through the middle but Earps came out and the Swedish forward inexplicably put her effort wide.
Ella Toone came on as a substitute for Clinton prior to the equaliser and James exited for Beth Mead just after. There would be further changes for England with just over 10 minutes remaining; Jess Carter and Chloe Kelly replacing Niamh Charles and Russo as they went in search of a late winner.
It was the departure of James that felt most worrying, her creativity the difference when England scored the opener in the first half.
“We wanted more energy in the team, we know she [James] can always change a game, but we wanted more tempo in the game and I thought we got that. Those are technical decisions we make,” said Wiegman.
Hemp went close with two minutes remaining, testing Jennifer Falk before Eriksson cleared her rebounded effort off the line, while Mead forced a save from Falk.
“We want to have the ball a lot, how they press we struggled a bit, we went too much inside and short options we chose,” said Wiegman. “We could have done better with our decision-making on the ball but we found it hard. They defended really well.”
