Euro 2025 roundup: Sweden stays solid, a lack of draws and a team of standouts

New York Times

10-07-2025

After a cautious opening round of matches, Euro 2025 burst into life in the second round of group matches, with some big wins, late drama and early exits.
The Athletic's Michael Cox watched every match to bring you the moments you may have missed. Here are some early patterns and a best XI from the last four days.
The most striking aspect of the first 16 matches in this competition is the lack of draws. Only one match has finished level: a 1-1 finish between Portugal and Italy in Group B.
There's no particular reason why this has happened. Granted, there is a large difference in ability between the favourites and some of the outsiders in the competition, but there have been seven victories by a single goal, some of which could easily have been draws.
But the lack of draws has meant big gaps in the groups. No fewer than five sides — Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and Wales — have been mathematically, though not all officially, eliminated before the final round of matches, having lost twice in a row.
By comparison, this was only the case for two sides in each of the previous 16-team European Championships.
It's often considered in negative terms, but one of the obvious features of the women's game is that the goalkeepers aren't as adept at covering the goal as men's goalkeepers. That's only natural, with smaller players guarding a goal of the same size. And therefore, a particularly promising way of scoring goals in women's football is aiming for the top corner. It's never a bad idea at any level of the game, of course, but in women's football it's particularly valuable.
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The good news is that bending the ball towards the top corner produces amongst football's best goals. And this tournament has seen several similar strikes: delicate efforts from inside-left positions into the top-right corner.
Finland's Katariina Kosola got the tournament up and running in style with this type of effort to win the opening game against Iceland. Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema continued the trend after a couple of chop-backs to escape the attention of two Wales defenders. Claudia Pina of Spain provided the most spectacular example with a long-ranger against Belgium, while Italy captain Cristiana Girelli used a decoy overlapping run to cut inside and bend home the opener against Portugal, whose goalkeeper Patricia Morais could get absolutely nowhere near the effort.
The temperature dropped, and the intensity rose.
Without wishing to make this column a regular Switzerland weather update, the improvement in the quality of matches in the second round of group games owed much to the cooler temperatures.
The opening couple of days made it very difficult to play at a high intensity. Norway's 2-1 win over Switzerland was 30 degrees at kick-off, while it was 29 degrees for Italy's 1-0 win over Belgium and 28 degrees for the Netherlands' 3-0 win over Wales. And all of these figures involve the temperature in the shade, of course. In direct sunlight for the 6 pm kickoffs, things have been even more difficult. By and large, those matches were flat.
It was as chilly as 14 degrees on Monday, probably the best day of matches so far, featuring Spain's thrilling 6-2 win over Belgium, and Portugal and Italy's exciting 1-1 draw. The next day, Sweden enjoyed playing in milder weather, attacking with speed and purpose in their 3-0 win over Poland after a sluggish opening 1-0 win over Denmark.
Temperatures are set to rise again for the final group games, although with all matches starting at 9 pm, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Going into a tournament, we look at teams' potential starting XIs and primarily get excited by their attacking flair. But defences rather than attacks often win tournaments. It's fair to say that France, England, Spain and Germany have all looked better going forward than at shutting opponents out.
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Therefore, it's worth considering that, after two matches, Sweden are the only side yet to concede a goal. This has been achieved despite the absence of Magdalena Eriksson, for a long time their most dependable centre-back, and despite manager Peter Gerhardsson making two changes to the left side of his defence between the 1-0 win over Denmark and the thumping 3-0 victory over Poland.
In Nathalie Bjorn, Sweden might have the competition's most in-form defender, considering she's fresh from a double-winning campaign with Chelsea when her team-mates voted her player of the year. With the unheralded Julia Zigiotti Olme protecting the back four, and Jennifer Falk looking calm in her first tournament as her country's No 1 goalkeeper, Sweden are probably the most solid team in the competition.
Tougher tests await, but Sweden always manage to battle their way through to the semi-finals — often because of their defence.
Anna Koivunen, Finland. Great goalkeeping performances often come in defeat. Koivunen made a string of fantastic saves against Norway and is clearly adept at passing the ball well with both feet. She could do little about the two concessions in a 2-1 loss: a clumsy own goal and a cross that bounced in off the far post.
Iman Beney, Switzerland. At only 18, she already appears a real all-rounder. From wing-back she's shown she's capable of dribbling past opponents, arriving at the back post for headed efforts, and in the 2-0 win over Iceland produced an extraordinary long-range half-volley that flew into the sidenetting. It's little wonder Manchester City have snapped her up already.
Nathalie Bjorn, Sweden. In a rotated defence, Bjorn was excellent against Poland, keeping Ewa Pajor quiet and pushing up to press and win the ball high. Only Sweden have yet to concede a goal at Euro 2025.
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Noelle Maritz, Switzerland. Defensive-minded full-backs are often perfectly suited to playing on the outside of a back three. Maritz has been aggressive in challenges and positive with pushing forward into attack.
Sarai Linder, Germany. The left-back played an interesting role in attack in the second half, pushing infield to become an inside-left. But she also showed her defensive ability in the first half, covering behind her centre-backs to stop Pernille Harder when the Danish captain was seemingly through on goal.
Patri Guijarro, Spain. She had another commanding holding midfield performance in the 6-2 win over Belgium, tirelessly working to find angles to receive forward passes and pushing up aggressively to win possession high up the pitch.
Geraldine Reuteler, Switzerland. Coming off a fine season with Eintracht Frankfurt, Reuteler has been the hosts' best player so far, scoring in both games. In the opener, she started as a support striker, while in the crucial 2-0 win over Iceland, she drove forward from midfield, opening the scoring with a fine finish on the run.
Alexia Putellas, Spain. After missing Euro 2022 and not being fully fit for World Cup 2023, Putellas looks back to her best. She scored two cleverly-struck goals in the 6-2 thrashing of Belgium and was involved in many of her side's best moves.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Sweden. Absolutely electric in the 3-0 win over Poland, Rytting Kaneryd provided some wonderful balls into the box, promising the move for Sweden's opener and recording the assist for the second.
Lauren James, England. In the absence of a starring centre-forward performance, James gets the nod here. OK, she played from the right flank for England's 4-0 victory over the Netherlands, but she still had the license to move inside to score twice, including a wonderful opener.
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Claudia Pina, Spain. She played from the left, then played from the right, but usually popped up in central positions. Pina took fantastic corners that Belgium simply couldn't deal with and then curled in a beautiful long-range goal towards the end.