The UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 is just under a month away, with Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane hosting four of the tournament’s fixtures.
England will be hoping that they can take their form from the recent inaugural Arnold Cup victory into this summer.
So, what are England’s chances of lifting the trophy?
England has had a massive boost by attaining the services of Dutch manager, Sarina Wiegman. The England manager has experience in major international trophies, coaching the current holders, Netherlands, in 2017 and getting them to the World Cup final in 2019. However, the Lionesses are still yet to lift a major trophy. The team’s closest effort came in 2009 when they were runners up in Helsinki, enduring a 6-2 loss to old rivals Germany.
England qualified as the host nation, and their recent form in the world cup qualifiers shows a perfect record so far.
The EUROs group stage will see some familiar opposition for the Lionesses. Both Northern Ireland and Austria appeared in their world cup qualifying groups (4-0 and 5-0 wins against N. Ireland and a 1-0 win against Austria).
England’s provisional squad for the EUROs features Leah Williamson, captaining the team in a major tournament for the first time and England mainstays Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright, Fran Kirby, Steph Houghton and Ellen White – a total of 397 caps between them.
Home advantage could spur England on throughout the tournament. All of England’s group games have sold out, including the opener against Austria at Old Trafford’s 73,000 seater as well as the final at Wembley Stadium.
With no men’s tournament this summer, the Lionesses will be hoping to thrill fans by going one better than their male counterparts did last summer. Every game will be shown on the BBC, so a large TV audience will also be expected for all football fans looking to fill their football craving.
England, however, face a potentially very tough road to the final with many potential banana skins on the way.
What about the other countries?
While Norway and Austria will likely provide the more challenging tests in the group stage, England’s main obstacle may come later.
Spain and Germany have both been drawn on the same side as England for the first knockout round, which may make progressing beyond the quarter-finals difficult.
Spain are the bookie’s favourite. Their squad features 11 players from Barcelona, who won the domestic treble and were finalists in the Champions League this year. The centre back pairing of Parades and Leon is arguably the best at the tournament, helped by playing week in week out with each other for the Catalan giants. Despite this, the question remains, can Jorge Vilda get the best out of the players in front of him.
On the other hand, Germany could turn out to be a bit of a disappointment. Whilst they still boast a vast range of talent, Germany are without two key midfield players – Lyon midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsán is out with an ACL injury, and Chelsea’s Melanie Leupolz is expecting her first child. They are also placed in the “group of death”, meaning the chances of falling at the first hurdle are much higher for this squad. Saying this, Germany have won the EUROs a record eight times, and it would be foolish to completely write them off. Denmark, runners up in 2017, and Finland make up the rest of the “group of death” and potential opponents for England in the quarter-finals.
France find themselves in a very favourable position on the easier side of the draw and are one of the favourites for the tournament. Despite a couple of noticeable absentees, exciting young forward, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, could grab some headlines, having already scored 24 goals in only 28 appearances for the French. They also have five of Lyon’s Champions League-winning starting XI at their disposal.
Sweden could be the potential dark horse for the tournament after finishing runners up at the Olympics last year and losing on penalties to Canada – their only loss since March 2020. They also find themselves on the favourable side of the draw, so finishing top of their group could be crucial for their chance of progressing into the latter stages of the competition. But with medals in their last two major competitions, it’s certainly not above them.
What games are taking place in Sheffield and South Yorkshire?
Bramall Lane plays host to three Group C games including Netherlands vs Sweden, Sweden vs Switzerland and Switzerland vs Netherlands. It will also be hosting the first semi-final match on 26 July.
Rotherham United’s New York Stadium will be hosting four games, three from Group D – France vs Italy, France vs Belgium and Iceland vs France as well as the last quarter final on 23 July.
Image Credits – Wikimedia, Google