England, Sweden are different teams than in Euro 2022 semi-final, says Leah Williamson

ZURICH – England’s run to the Women’s Euro 2022 title included a 4-0 semi-final victory over Sweden, but captain Leah Williamson said that thrashing at Bramall Lane was ancient history as the sides prepare to meet again on July 17.

England play their familiar foes in the European championship quarter-finals at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, and while they would love to sweep them aside again, the defender said the Lionesses have tremendous respect for their opponents.

“I think when you come up against a team, when you have had a previous fixture like that (2022 semi), then you’re always probably going to remember it,” Williamson said on July 15 at England’s base camp in Zurich.

“But I think so much has happened since. It’s different, two very different teams now compared to that night.”

Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson agreed, saying: “It didn’t go well for us because they scored four goals, but that is history. Now it is a new game if we are going to meet England. We are going to write a new history, a better history, a good history.”

Sweden dismantled highly fancied Germany 4-1 to top Group C and Williamson said they had not been getting the respect they deserved in Switzerland.

“I do think they deserve more recognition. The history of Sweden’s previous results in tournaments is incredible,” she added. “They’re relentless when it comes to tournament football.

“They’re just a very organised team. They work hard. Obviously some familiar faces. We know their characteristics, so it will be tough.”

Arsenal teammate and good friend Stina Blackstenius is one of those familiar faces. She scored the winner in Arsenal’s stunning Women’s Champions League final victory over Barcelona and continued her goalscoring run at the Euro, striking in Sweden’s wins over Poland and Germany.

“Stina is an incredibly powerful footballer and I think she’s very intelligent. She’s a hard player to play against. I was celebrating her success at Arsenal – not so much now,” Williamson said, laughing.

Swedish winger Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, meanwhile, warned: “You can see that in the squad there is something different this year and we always believe.

“We want to reach the final and, with that being said, we need to take every game for what it is. We can’t look too much ahead.”

The 28-year-old Williamson is in esteemed company having lifted a major championship trophy as England captain, and would be in a class of her own were she to lift a second.

Asked if she was driven by the chance to make more history, she said winning another major title definitely drove the team.

“To do it alongside the team in 2022 was special. I’ll be forever proud to have been part of that squad,” said Williamson, who admitted that the 2022 players still had an active WhatsApp chat group.

“But we don’t want it to be the only one. You always want to do more. And I’d like to say that on that day, I felt as happy as I’d ever felt, and that probably would have been enough for me.”

“But you start the next day, it creeps around, and everybody wants more all the time. We always say about how we work as hard as we can and we’ll do everything we can, and we keep our dreams sort of up there,” she added.

Also boasting their own WhatsApp group at Euro 2025 are England’s substitutes, who have become a tight-knit bunch with their own goal celebration, according to attacker Chloe Kelly – who came off the bench to score a 110th-minute winner in the Euro 2022 final.

Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones scored as substitutes in England’s 6-1 thrashing of Wales, and both made a beeline for the bench, snapping their fingers.

“A little group of us have a group chat, the finishers as you called it, and the positive ‘clicks’ we called it on the bench,” Kelly said at England’s training base in Zurich.

“You’ve probably seen we all click (our fingers), and everyone’s like, ‘What are they doing?’

“We said if one of us comes on and scores, let’s do that as our celebration.

“We work really hard on the training pitch and in the gym. Probably this sometimes goes unnoticed, but it’s about sticking together, being at our best for when called upon and training hard to get the best out of each other.”

Beever-Jones added: “I said to them, ‘If I score I’m going to come over and we’re going to do our little snap celebration’, which we did – and it basically means good vibes, good positivity. We’ve got each other’s backs.” REUTERS