{"id":291359,"date":"2025-07-25T19:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291359\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T19:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:22:09","slug":"spain-may-dominate-final-but-englands-name-could-be-written-on-the-trophy-womens-euro-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291359\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain may dominate final but England\u2019s name could be written on the trophy | Women\u2019s Euro 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

England-Spain is the final everyone predicted before the tournament and it is a great match-up. An England victory would be an even bigger achievement than when they won Euro 2022, because this is a harder final than the one against Germany at Wembley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

England should be the favourites purely because they are the holders and they have had the experience of winning it. Their belief that they can always get back into a game, no matter how indifferent they\u2019ve been, is the one thing that stands out about England. Sometimes it pays to be lucky rather than good, but we shouldn\u2019t dismiss that or talk it down. Their resilience is their superpower, and although they haven\u2019t always been free-flowing, they\u2019ve found ways to win, which is down to the character of the players and, most importantly, the \u201cfinishers\u201d from the bench demonstrating that England have a lot of quality and depth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That does not mean Sarina Wiegman should necessarily change her starting team because, as good as Michelle\u2019s Agyemang\u2019s impact<\/a> has been with her three goals in four caps, it is another jump up to do it from the start. There is so much a starting centre-forward has to do other than score goals, including to set the press, and Alessia Russo knows that role inside out. I cannot see Sarina changing that, and the strategy of players coming from the bench is working, even if the time for them to make an impact is getting shorter and shorter.<\/p>\n

We sometimes say \u201cyour name\u2019s written on something\u201d when things go in your favour: a bounce of the ball, a referee\u2019s decision, that little rub of the green. England are scraping over the line and that may take them all the way, but this is their biggest test yet. Although Italy\u00a0were good, they\u2019re not at Spain\u2019s level.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideEngland v Spain: past three meetingsShow<\/p>\n

Spain 2-1 England, 3 June 2025, Barcelona<\/b><\/p>\n

England were knocked out of the Nations League after going ahead through Alessia Russo in the 21st minute. In the second half, Spain\u2019s Cl\u00e0udia Pina made an instant impact from the bench, scoring two minutes after coming on, then doubling her tally 10 minutes later as Spain secured victory. The Lionesses would have qualified for the semi-finals at Spain\u2019s expense with a win.<\/p>\n

England 1-0 Spain, 26 Feb 2025, London<\/b><\/p>\n

A Wembley crowd of 46,550 watched England defeat Spain in the teams’ first meeting since the World Cup final, in Nations League A Group 3. Jess Park\u2019s 33rd-minute goal secured victory for the Lionesses. Luc\u00eda Garc\u00eda\u2019s first-half attempt that rattled the crossbar and second-half chances for the winger Salma Paralluelo were the highlights of Spain’s attacking play but England held on.<\/p>\n

Spain 1-0 England, 20 August 2023, Sydney<\/b><\/p>\n

Spain became world champions with a dominant performance. Lauren Hemp hit the bar from outside of the box early on but that was the pinnacle of England\u2019s first-half chances and Olga Carmona ensured Spain went into the break ahead with a clinical finish past Mary Earps. Earps produced a fantastic 70th-minute penalty save from Jenni Hermoso and made further stops to keep England in the game but Spain deserved their win.\u00a0Eze Obasi<\/b><\/p>\n

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Spain\u2019s route to the final has been relatively uneventful compared with England\u2019s. Spain have controlled the vast majority of possession. Teams do get big chances against them, though, because they commit such numbers going forward. They leave transition spaces behind them because of their playing style, and that\u2019s where their vulnerabilities are, down the sides of their centre-backs, as Germany\u2019s chances in their semi-final<\/a> showed. Belgium scored twice<\/a> against Spain and could have scored more, Italy scored against them and there\u2019s a vulnerability to Spain that did not exist a few years ago, so the opportunity to score against them is greater.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s contest depends on who Spain start with, because when they play Cl\u00e0udia Pina and Mariona Caldentey, they\u2019re not pacey players who are going to get in behind. Is Montse Tom\u00e9 going to start with a team that will dominate the ball but won\u2019t stretch England in behind? Or will she start with the pace of a Salma Paralluelo? That is interesting, because Spain have often been kept at bay for quite a while \u2013 their knockout matches were both 0-0 at half-time \u2013 but when games become more stretched, their chances grow.<\/p>\n

Aitana Bonmat\u00ed has been instrumental for Spain in the latter stages. Photograph: Philipp Kresnik\/SheKicks\/SPP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

There have been distinct differences watching Spain this year. I\u2019ve never seen Aitana Bonmat\u00ed so wide, and that\u2019s because of having Alexia Putellas in the 10 position. But it means you get situations such as Bonmat\u00ed\u2019s winning goal in the semi-final, which was 100% a shot. Ann-Katrin Berger has demonstrated<\/a> throughout the tournament she\u2019s a world-class goalkeeper, but she has a tendency to step forward and leave a small gap at the near post, and I don\u2019t think many players can score that goal. Aitana scores it because she\u2019s Aitana. That was genius play and crucial because Berger is the best goalkeeper in the world at saving penalties, so the smart money would have been on Germany in a shootout.<\/p>\n

In terms of Spain\u2019s threats, what I find fascinating is they are very good at set pieces. They\u2019re well rehearsed. We always talk about Spain\u2019s quality in possession but their quality out of possession is the best in the world. They\u2019re the best counter-pressers. Oh my God, they\u2019re unbelievable. And because they have a system and shape that puts bodies in such close proximity, it means if you can\u2019t break out of the sides of their press, they just swarm you again and again and again. They don\u2019t get the credit they deserve for the amount of defensive effort they put in. Their total team game is exceptional. And I\u2019ve studied them, trust me.<\/p>\n

There has been up and down in England\u2019s results over the past 18 months but Sarina is a smart woman, a world-class manager who\u2019s been there before. The team\u2019s resilience is key. They were 90 seconds from going out against Italy and it looked as if the luck had run out, but it hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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I coached a Chelsea team that always had resilience so I\u2019ve been in those situations thinking: \u201cHow did we do that, how did we keep on winning?\u201d You have to talk about the mentality of all the players, to be able to keep finding a way even when they haven\u2019t been at their best. In my last year when we shouldn\u2019t have won the title because Manchester City should have, you can sit there and say: \u201cOh, is that because Man City blew it?\u201d Well, we still had to go and win it<\/a>. If you score one more goal than your opponent, you\u2019re the winner. This isn\u2019t a game of fairness and England simply scored more goals<\/a> than Italy.<\/p>\n

Sarina is a smart women, a world-class manage who\u2019s been there before. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino\/AP<\/p>\n

Spain are prolific but I expect a close game. There may be moments for England and then complete Spanish dominance, but that doesn\u2019t mean Spain will win. Just because you\u2019re not the most dominant team doesn\u2019t mean you cannot win. England must use all their experience.<\/p>\n

Overall, this has been a tournament about goalkeepers and the rise of so many good ones. Berger, Italy\u2019s Laura Giuliani and England\u2019s Hannah Hampton<\/a> have stood out. This has also been a tournament about the strength of teams\u2019 benches, because there has been much more quality from substitutes for so many teams. Now it is going to be a great final in Basel and a great showcase for the sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England-Spain is the final everyone predicted before the tournament and it is a great match-up. An England victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-291359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114915504568831536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}