How England saved themselves at Euro 2025: Blood, sweat, notes and… holding in a wee in the shootout

New York Times

5 days ago

Sloppy play, strapping, bloody noses, notes, cramp, needing a wee mid-penalty, hitting the woodwork, chest pumps, roars, super subs, shocking spotkicks, a never say die attitude and a shed load of luck.
England, the defending champions, beat Sweden 3-2 on penalties to progress to the Euro 2025 semi-finals.
Advertisement
Such a simple sentence. There is structure, order, whole numbers, a complete contrast to the kaleidoscopic whirl of chaos that unfolded inside Stadion Letzigrund on Thursday night. Or had the minutes ticked into Friday morning in Switzerland? Any concept of time had disappeared.
'Very hyper,' said the usually serene England manager Sarina Wiegman, adrenaline coursing through her body. 'Still very emotional… a crazy game… I can't remember anything like this. At least three times I thought we were out.'
Once, inside two minutes when Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani punished England's poor passing, twice when Stina Blackstenius hammered home in the 25th minute to make it 2-0. Nearly a third had it not been for Hannah Hampton denying Fridolina Rolfo later on in the first half.
Not that the England No 1 recalls the save, every action a blur.
At half-time, 2-0 down, there was calm inside the England dressing room. The coaching staff made tactical tweaks and reinforced key messages: play to your strengths, get the forward players on the ball, exploit the back post from crosses and believe. The players said, 'We don't want to go home' to each other.
A quartet of substitutes eventually came on, three in the 70th minute: Beth Mead for Ella Toone, Michelle Agyemang for Georgia Stanway and Esme Morgan for Jess Carter while Chloe Kelly replaced Lauren Hemp eight minutes later.
Morgan, who showed maturity on her tournament debut, carried a note. She didn't read it. She was just told to give it to Lucy Bronze and captain Leah Williamson, who tucked it into her sock.
Wiegman rolled the dice and England changed their shape it seemed with two strikers (Russo and Agyemang), two wingers (Mead and Kelly) and James, who like many battled and ran, in a floating midfield role.
'I was playing as a No 6, No 10, as a winger…' said Mead. 'Weirdly, it didn't feel chaotic. If Sarina asks you to do it, you do it and as a player, you back yourself. Sarina knows what she's doing, there is method in the madness.'
The closest player to Wiegman passes on the information at any break in play. 'You get a few seconds, a minute or two, she changes it quickly…' said Mead.
Morgan's instructions were to stay patient, build attacks, let the forwards create and stop Blackstenius and Sweden's counter-attacks.
The message to Kelly — who wore shin pads with pictures of her wedding day and her dogs — was to inject energy into the game. A minute later the supersub duly delivered with a sumptuous cross for Bronze to head home. She did the same 102 seconds later. This time 19-year-old Agyemang tapped in to level the score at 2-2, chest bumping Bronze in celebration.
Kelly was constantly in Agyemang's ear. 'Come alive now Miche,' her Arsenal team-mate whispered.
In the 100th minute Williamson rolled her ankle after jumping for a header. Kelly ushered the physios onto the pitch. She told her captain to wait a little longer so a team-mate could warm up. The centre-back was not moving fluidly. Neither was Keira Walsh who, struggling with cramp, could not make it until half-time of extra time.
Advertisement
Wiegman spoke to the players in a huddle. Williamson was animated and gave a rousing speech.
'Just keep going, 15 minutes, give it absolutely everything, leave everything out there,' she said, knowing she could not continue. 'She was trying to keep us motivated,' explained Mead who felt Williamson's 'raw emotion'.
Minutes later, however, England looked like the walking wounded after defending a Sweden corner. Blood trickled from Hampton's nostril while Alex Greenwood clutched her shoulder. As England doctor Ritan Mehta stuffed cotton up Hampton's nose, Bronze took matters into her own hands. Her right thigh was tight so she strapped it before chucking the excess white tape off the pitch.
'I thought, I just need to get through to make sure I can keep going,' she said. Hardly ideal preparation for a penalty shootout.
England came together in a tight huddle before the shootout. Assistant Arjan Veurink clearly told the players their order. They knew their system but their execution was poor. Despite bursting for a wee, with a hop, a skip and a cheeky grin, Kelly kept their hopes alive.
Morgan was, in her words, 'weirdly calm' but Toone felt sick watching from the bench.
'It was horrible, honestly, awful,' she said. 'I've never felt like it in my life. It's so hard when you're playing and then you come off and you can't help the team. You've got to find a different way to encourage, give them that extra push. It's just so hard sitting there and not being able to do anything. I was sat next to Stanway, she didn't help, then Keira didn't help, a lot of us were shutting our eyes.'
Teenager Agyemang was asking Kelly to keep count of the score. Then up stepped Bronze, the captain's rainbow armband wrapped round her right wrist. She whipped off her strapping on her leg.
'I didn't expect it to go to the sixth penalty,' said the right-back whose belief never wavered. 'I thought: 'I need to take this off. I'm going to actually smack it'.'
Bronze hit a 102km/h rocket into the roof of the net, let out a roar and slammed the ball onto the grass. 'Lucy was chaotic,' said Mead. 'She became a physio, a striker, she nailed the best penalty of the day. She did it all.'
Absolute euphoria! 😮
Lucy Bronze buries her penalty and Smilla Holmberg cannot hit the target – sending England through to the semi-finals! #BBCFootball #WEuro2025 pic.twitter.com/zXqD6IhIMz
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 17, 2025
When Smilla Holmberg fired over the bar, the England players bundled on Hampton, who had made two crucial saves.
'I'm better with one nostril!' the player of the match joked. Goalkeeping coach Darren Ward hugged and lifted the petite Wiegman off the ground, Williamson jumped into the arms of a tearful coaching staff member. Gala's Freed From Desire blasted out of the dressing room as the players danced.
Relief, happiness and frustration poured out of Mead, who was one of nine players from both sides to miss a penalty.
'I think I cried like a baby,' she said. 'It's a lot of emotion. You've been in these positions before and we've fallen short. We worked so hard to get back into the game, to not have got it over the line was a scary thought.'
Williamson was proud of her team. 'I love that we never give up,' she told the BBC. 'We're never done.'
'It's our never say die attitude,' said Toone. 'A bit of a mad one, a whirlwind, it is hard to put into words, but we got there in the end.'