England have reached the final of Euro 2022 with an emphatic win
Alessia Russo scored the cheekiest – yet most spectacular – goal of the tournament as England cruised past Sweden to reach the final of Euro 2022.
Sarina Wiegman’s side had an early scare as Sweden hit the bar 10 minutes in. Stina Blackstenius rose highest from a corner in the six-yard box which came back off the edge of the bar.
Mead continues impressive goalscoring form
The Lionesses recovered from their sluggish start to take control of the game and struck the first blow shortly after the half-hour mark as Beth Mead gave England the lead.
Mead was given far too much space and time to control a cross into the box before firing past the goalkeeper to score her sixth goal of the tournament and give the hosts the first advantage.
Beautiful, just beautiful!
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— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 26, 2022
England got their second half off to the perfect start as Lucy Bronze’s header doubled their advantage just three minutes after the restart.
Bronze – who joined Barcelona from Manchester City this summer – directed her header downwards to find the bottom corner. A brief delay checked to see if Lauren Hemp was offside and interfering play in the build up to the goal, but VAR confirmed the goal would stand.
England could have gone 3-0 up after a teasing ball into the box of Mead found Hemp, however she couldn’t convert from close range and slammed her effort against the crossbar.
Simply incredible
Any feint hopes of a Sweden comeback were left dead and buried as Wiegman’s side did find a third after Russo’ audacious effort all-but-confirmed the win for Wiegman’s side.
A well-worked piece of possession led to a shot on goal from Russo after latching onto the end of Frank Kirby’s cross. After her initial effort was saved, the substitute produced one of the most audacious bits of
What can you say about that?!
#BBCFootball #BBCEuros
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 26, 2022
Kirby had been one of the standout performers on the night and her performance led to her getting a well-deserved goal and England’s fourth.
A great through ball found the Chelsea star, who tried to dink the Sweden ‘keeper. Although Hedvig Lindahl got a hand to the effort, it wasn’t enough to deflect it away from the goal as the Lionesses won in an emphatic style.
The Lionesses were able to hold on and reach their first major final since 2009 and also the first chance of winning a major international tournament
They will play the winner of the second semi-final between Germany and France, due to be played on Wednesday, at Wembley Stadium on Sunday July 31.
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