Tournament hosts, England welcome Spain to the AMEX Stadium, Brighton, in the opening Quarter-Final of 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro.
Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses qualified as Group A winners without conceding in the Group Stage, whilst Spain scraped through as Group B runners-up ahead of 2017 finalists – Denmark who were eliminated.
Team News
Hannah Hampton is England’s only absentee after she was forced to self-isolate following a positive Coronavirus test.
Manager, Sarina Wiegman remains a doubt as she continues to self-isolate with requirement of two negative tests before returning to the dugout, after she missed the Lionesses’ 5-0 win over Northern Ireland last Friday following a positive test.
Spain have no fresh injury concerns to report but Irene Paredes and Leila Ouahabi are at risk of missing the semi-final if La Roja win and they pick up another booking in this match.
Stat Attack
- England are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against Spain in all competitions (W3, D1, L1).
- Spain have won just two of eight competitive meetings against England this century (W2, D3, L3).
- England have kept just two clean sheets in their last five meetings against Spain in all competitions, of which their most recent clash finished 0-0 in 2022 Arnold Clark Cup in February.
- Beth Mead has scored 19 goals for England since Wiegman took over as manager in September 2021.
- Spain have kept clean sheets in four of seven competitive matches in 2022 (W4, D2, L1), yet are still winless in knockout matches at major tournaments.
Prediction
Having topped Group A on home soil without conceding and netted 14 goals, England certainly know that they have the depth and quality needed to win this match but they will need to nail every aspect of their game from pressing to finishing and more to keep Spain at bay.
Beth Mead in particular will be a key player to watch if she is allowed to make aggressive forward runs in possession, which could be crucial creatively to causing issues for the Spanish defence.
Spain meanwhile seem rattled already by how they are deploying pre-match mind games verbally which isn’t surprising, given that they have lacked a cutting edge to their attack against Germany and Denmark which realistically can’t be replicated here if they’re to win this without penalties.
Alexia Putellas and Jennifer Hermoso’s absences also haven’t helped Spain much this tournament, particularly because they have lacked creativity in breaking opposition defences down with their winner against Denmark coming from a purely clinical header.
I however have a feeling that this is England’s to lose because they have found their groove and momentum already, whereas Spain will need to be at their best because if they play like they did in their last two matches without clinical finishing, the Lionesses will surely take their chance.
Prediction: England 2-1 Spain
Result: England 2-1 (AET) Spain