Qualification the most important thing for England says Wiegman after victory over Wales | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman said that qualification for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 quarter-finals was the most important factor after her side’s 6-1 defeat of Wales in St. Gallen last night.

Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones all got their names on the scoresheet as the Lionesses secured second place in their group and qualification for the quarter-finals.

When speaking to the media after the match, England boss Wiegman said that qualification was the most important factor at the end of the group stage.

“It was really good, six goals,” Wiegman said. “What we wanted to do was dictate the game and that’s what we did, so that’s really good to see.

“The most important thing is that we are through and that we are out of this very hard group. We can now move forward to Sweden.”

England were defeated by France on Matchday 1 but they have reacted by netting 10 goals in their final two group stage matches, picking up maximum points in the process. Wiegman has been pleased with how her side have bounced back.

She said “I think we are in a good place [going into the quarter-finals]. Everyone came out fit, so that’s very important too.

“Of course, we didn’t have a good start against France but that gave us the urgency to do things better as a team on the pitch, get those connections better. Of course, with that loss, the urgency came and I think the team responded really well on that. Hopefully, the team can show that again against Sweden.”

As group runners-up, England have set up a quarter-final tie against Sweden and they have avoided the side of the draw that includes heavyweights Spain, France and Germany. Wiegman says that she couldn’t put much thought into England’s potential path in the knockouts.

She said “No, not really [on my mind]. In tournaments, that’s really tricky to think about the permutations. If you start thinking like that, it’s very tricky. You try to win every game and see where you finish in the group then you will play whoever is against you, that’s what it is.

“If you want to be successful in the tournament, you should be able to win every single game, so that’s how we approach it.”

England’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 quarter-final tie against Sweden kicks-off at 8pm on Thursday evening.