England star Ella Toone grabbed a goal and two assists as England put six past Wales in their final group game to set up a Euros quarter-final against Sweden on Thursday
Ella Toone has warned Sweden to “be scared” after helping England set up a blockbuster quarter-final at Euro 2025. Toone grabbed a goal and two assists in the first half as the Lionesses ran out 6-1 winners against Wales, but their next task is a Swedish side with three wins from three so far.
“It is going to be a difficult game,” Toone said. “We watched them the other night and they were really good. We need to be on our best game. I think they should be scared!”
Midfielder Keira Walsh recognised the threat posed by Sweden, who have scored eight times in their three group games, but believes England’s best approach is to take the game to the opposition. “[Sweden’s attacking threat] is something to think about, but if you look at this England team we’re better when we’re on the front foot, we’re better when we’re going after the opposition and trying to get goals,” Walsh said.
“That’s when we’re at our strongest so I’m pretty sure we’ll try to carry on doing that throughout this tournament,” she added. Walsh also gave credit to Toone, who has scored in back-to-back games after starting the defeat against France from the bench.
“I think massive credit to Ella Toone,” Walsh. “She’s come in and done an incredible job. People speak about her offensively, but the defensive work she does for me and Georgia when she’s in there is incredible.
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“She covers a lot of spaces that we can’t. That’s probably been the main thing that’s stopped other teams from playing as well. Obviously with LJ (Lauren James) on the wing, we’ve managed to get both of them on the pitch at the same time and they are two world-class players.”
The Lionesses needed a win against Wales to make sure of their progress into the quarter-finals, and were out of sight before the half-time whistle. Georgia Stanway’s early penalty set them on their way, with Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo adding further goals before the break.
Any fear of an upset was quickly extinguished, allowing the holders to cruise through and give some of their stars a rest in the second half. And two of their substitutes combined for England’s fifth, with Aggie Beever-Jones feeding Beth Mead to drill low into the corner.
Wales kept attacking even as the result drifted away from them, though, and were rewarded with a goal of their own through substitute Hannah Cain, but Beever-Jones’ late header restored England’s five-goal advantage. England striker Russo finally has her first goal of the tournament after seeing two efforts chalked off for offside in the first two games, and Toone was delighted for her team-mate.
“I was buzzing. So happy for her,” Toone said. “She deserves it. Even though she has not scored as much as she wants, she has been creating loads of chances.”
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