England can savour Swede taste of success after hitting top form Rachel Brown-Finnis Pass master Hannah vindicates selection call ‘James has been at her best with Toone operating alongside her'
Sweden destroyed Germany 4-1 in the last round of Group C games and it is hard to call which one you would rather face. There's not much in it. Sweden are the higher-ranked of the two and obviously have real quality.
But they have just come up short in tournaments, not quite being able to get over the line. They will feel they have unfinished business at this Euros after going out 4-0 to the Lionesses in the 2022 semi-finals.
They are dangerous and full of confidence but I still think Germany can also be a real danger. The strength of the European teams is just so good.
When England are at their best, and Sweden too, Sarina Wiegman's team can edge it. The question will be, though, can they both be at 100%? England absolutely have to be to win it and not fall short of that level.
More of the same from the Netherlands and Wales matches is needed. That's the bar now. We saw some 'proper England' there.
Wales targeted Georgia Stanway with some strong challenges early on but she got up, dusted herself down and offered it back to her opponents in the 6-1 win.
Lauren James has been playing at her best with Ella Toone operating alongside her. Lauren draws two players to her each time and that allows Ella to find the spaces Lauren has unlocked and that has got her two goals in two matches.
Any team in the world would want Lauren but you have to have the players around her to allow her to flourish and that has been the key to England scoring the goals they have in the last two games.
I wasn't all doom and gloom after losing to France. I saw it as a chance to go to war – 'win or we go home'. That's the mentality the Lionesses have carried since that loss and they need to keep that going.
This looks like the best version of England. We know our best starting XI and also have the squad depth as shown against Wales, with eight different goalscorers so far.
The fact England went into the Netherlands game needing to win to stay in the tournament means they have already been playing knockout football, which gives them a real advantage in my eyes.
Any top goalkeeper has to shut out the attention and England's Hannah Hampton has done just that in Switzerland so far. More Trending
The reason she is now Sarina Wiegman's No.1, ahead of Mary Earps, is that, not only is she an excellent shot-stopper, but she is also brilliant with her feet, as that wonderful goal-making pass in the win over the Dutch showed.
That ability tipped the balance in favour of Hampton (pictured) and if anyone needed affirmation of the reasons why she has the gloves, the ball to Alessia Russo was it.
I love the fact Wiegman backs her keeper and doesn't care about the noise. She backed Mary in the same way and she grew and grew and grew. I fully expect that to be the case for Hannah too.
Rachel Brown-Finnis is working on the BBC's coverage of Euro 2025
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