rewrite this title England 6-1 Wales (14 Jul, 2025) Game Analysis – ESPN (IN)

Reigning European champions England thrashed neighbours Wales 6-1 to reach the Women’s Euro 2025 quarterfinals on Sunday, securing second spot in Group D and cruising into the knockouts on a high note.

Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones were all on target for England, who finished runners-up to France after their 5-2 victory over the Netherlands.

Next up for Sarina Wiegman’s team are Sweden — who won all three of their games to top Group C — in the quarterfinal on Thursday.

“It is going to be a difficult game. We watched [Sweden] the other night and they were really good. We need to be on our best game,” Toone said. “I think they should be scared.”

The second-place finish, however, could be a bonus as provided they get past Sweden, England would avoid world champions Spain in the semifinals.

Stanway struck from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after a foul in the box, calmly sweeping her shot into the far-left corner past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Olivia Clark to open the floodgates.

Toone then found the back of the net with a scrappy goal eight minutes later as England capitalised on a sloppy clearance by Rhiannon Roberts — with the ball falling to Russo who nudged it into the path of Toone who fired home on the second attempt.

Hemp nodded in a third inside 30 minutes after a clever pass from Lauren James to Toone on the byline. Toone found Hemp at the far post with a pinpoint cross for an easy header.

Russo bagged her first goal of the tournament just before halftime when Toone made another dart to the byline before cutting the ball back for the Arsenal forward, who took one touch to control it before firing home. Mead cut inside a Welsh defender before a cute finish secured England’s fifth in the 72nd minute.

Hannah Cain pulled one back in the 76th minute, much to the delight of the Wales fans, but England’s Beever-Jones replied in the 89th with her first goal in a major tournament, finishing off a Mead cross. 

“This is the beginning of a journey for us,” Wales midfielder Jess Fishlock said. “We’ve played three of the best teams in the world at this tournament and we’ve found out how big that jump is.”

Much was made about the traditional rivalry between England and Wales, with Wales wanting nothing better than to spoil England’s party. Thousands of Welsh fans in the Red Wall didn’t lose their voice throughout Sunday’s match, despite the scoreline.

But Wiegman’s team — World Cup finalists in 2023 and European champions the year before — showed their vast experience against a Wales side making their major tournament debut.

“We scored six goals and a big part of the game we dominated, a very good game,” head coach Wiegman said. “Playing well is the most important, who scores is not that important.”

England have won 10 of the 11 meetings between the two teams, with Wales’ best result being a 0-0 draw in 2018.

“We were really good. It is always hard to play against a team that sits in a low block,” Toone said. “It was nice we got an early goal in the first half and we enjoyed the game.”