Women's EURO 2025 analysis: England's key changes in Sweden comeback
Friday, July 18, 2025
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UEFA Technical Observer Ioan Lupescu analyses the tweaks that led to England's UEFA Women's EURO 2025 quarter-final comeback after a strong start from Sweden.
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Before Thursday's dramatic quarter-final at the Stadion Letzigrund, no team had ever come back from two goals behind to win a UEFA Women's EURO knockout tie.
England shredded that statistic with a fightback against Sweden that ended with victory on penalties, and in the following analysis UEFA's Technical Observer Group highlights the changes by coach Sarina Wiegman which provided a lifeline – particularly the impact of substitute Chloe Kelly with her exceptional crossing ability
Sweden's lightning start
The first aspect to focus on is Sweden's excellence during a first half in which they had the holders on the ropes. Their second-minute opening goal is worth reviewing not only for the precision of Kosovare Asllani's finish but for the clever pressing by the same player that led to England losing the ball in their defensive third.
Ioan Lupescu, UEFA Technical Observer, said: "As you see in this clip, England centre-back Jessica Carter is right-footed and Sweden left a little bit of space free so she could take the ball but then Asllani pressed her on that side, which caused difficulties with their build-up."
As a result, Carter played a pass under pressure which led to a turnover and within seconds England were behind. That was the platform for a forceful first-half performance by Sweden who pressed effectively and defended strongly.
As a reflection of the difficulties caused by Sweden's pressing, Wiegman switched Carter to the right centre-back position just after the midway point of the half, with Leah Williamson moving to the left. "The first part of the first half we were really, really struggling," admitted the England coach. "Later on, we played a lot better yet didn't create a lot of chances and they kept on being dangerous."
Substitutes provide spur
Sweden kept on forcing turnovers in England's half in the second period and, according to Lupescu, it took the introduction of Wiegman's substitutes to spark her side's revival. "Wiegman's changes made a big impact," he said. To illustrate the point, when forwards Beth Mead and Michelle Agyemang came on along with defender Esme Morgan after 70 minutes, England had an xG of just 0.34. By the final whistle of extra time, that figure had risen to 1.71.
"We couldn’t break their wall," reflected Wiegman. "They’re so good defensively that you have to go either far post or create space at the edge of the box and we were struggling with that. We just needed a couple of subs, other players with other attributes to bring into the game, and that changed the picture."
Kelly's crosses prove key
Ultimately, as the two goals in this video underline, it was the 77th-minute arrival of a fourth substitute, Kelly, that was pivotal to opening up a Sweden defence which, at that point, had conceded just one goal in over 350 minutes of EURO action. "The only way to get through was with crosses," said Lupescu. "England pushed the full-backs high on the left and right and when the ball came to Kelly she delivered more than one fantastic cross."
By the 81st minute, England had scored two quick goals, each time after good movement to create crossing positions on the left before Kelly crossed. First she supplied the far-post ball for Lucy Bronze's header, then she centred for an equaliser in which two other substitutes also featured, Mead providing the knockdown and Agyemang the finish.
On Kelly's instant impact, Wiegman added: "We needed that. We needed crosses. We'd had crosses but we didn't get [the ball] to the far post and we know with her right or left foot she can give very good crosses and that's exactly what she did."
Coaching considerations – making crossing count
UEFA Technical Observer Jayne Ludlow offers tips for coaches on how to train crossing.
"Effective crossing play demands the following attributes: speed and decision-making to exploit space; detail and variability of delivery – i.e. cutback, flat, lofted, driven; and good movement, with the right disguise and timing to attack the cross.
"Attacking players should have areas to target based on where the delivery comes from and from whom – be it a right or left-footed player – and there are other obvious components for a coach to bear in mind such as finishing, heading and blockers.
"On the training pitch, we'd focus on a range of aspects: getting into position to cross, which involves combination play, 1v1s, positioning; delivery; attacking the first phase and anticipating second phase.
"On this last point, we'd anticipate areas for delivery based on where the ball comes from. From the touchline, you'd expect a cutback, while if it's an early break behind the back line then you'd anticipate a flat or driven cross behind the retreating defence.
"And we'd predominantly focus on always creating a scenario with a far-post attacker due to defenders getting drawn to the front post when ball-watching. Another consideration would be the opposition's tendencies.
“As for the drills I'd use, I'd prefer to deliver small-sided games or phases with restrictions to create and repeat the scenarios for crossing, involving lots of decision-making and realism."
Further analysis
