England pulled scored late goals against Sweden and Italy
Midfielder Ella Toone joked England Women “nearly killed” Sarina Wiegman en route to the Euro 2025 final.
In reaching the final, against Spain, Wiegman reached an unprecedented fifth straight major tournament final.
No head coach in the men’s or women’s game has ever achieved that feat before the 55-year-old Dutchwoman.
She could now secure a hat-trick of European championship trophies after winning with the Netherlands in 2017, then England in 2022.
The Lionesses’ title defence thus far could hardly be described as smooth, requiring two consecutive stunning comebacks in the knockouts, but they have somehow still found themselves a win against the World Cup holders away from the second major trophy in their history.
“I think we’ve nearly killed her twice this tournament,” said Toone. “She’s said we’ve definitely aged her, but five consecutive tournaments for Sarina being in the final and that’s just unbelievable.
“We know we’re in good hands, we know she’s a manager who can take teams right to the final, and she’s done a few good speeches to be fair, this camp, I’ll give it to her.
“She’s a great manager, she’s someone who we all have a lot of belief in, and we know we’re in good hands.
“We know when we go out onto the pitch we fight for each other, but we fight for her and the staff too, and all the fans watching as well, but I mean, unbelievable achievement for Sarina and for the team, too.”
Right-back Lucy Bronze, the oldest member of Wiegman’s squad at 33, is also poised to make history on Sunday – which would be her 36th major-tournament appearance – to surpass Jill Scott on England’s all-time list.
“She’s a legend. She’s an absolute beast,” said Toone. “She just played back-to-back 120 minutes. That shows something, and that’s something that us younger players and people in the team can really look up to.”
Spain beat England 1-0 to secure the World Cup trophy two summers ago and might be the favourites, but Toone is certain the Lionesses have all the tools to claim their first trophy away from home.
She added: “We’ve spoken about it quite a lot this camp, a proper English performance. I think we have it in us all, individually and as a team, that we want to fight.
“We want to not stop running. You’ve seen that in games where sometimes you might feel like we’re down and out, and it’s 90-odd minutes, and then someone comes on and we have one moment, and we take that moment, and that’s what it’s all about.
“It’s the squad depth, it’s players having that belief that they can come on and really change the game, but I think it’s all in us individually that we’re competitive and we want to win, and we know what it takes to win tournaments.
“That’s what we managed to do, and that’s what’s got us to a third consecutive final.”
Category: General Sports
