Hannah Hampton holds firm as England secure Euro 2025 spot

They had to put in a lot of effort and show strong defense to secure the win, but they managed to do it just in time. At the moment, they are not too concerned about the details. The England team has secured their spot in the 2025 Women's European Championship in Switzerland to defend their title. They earned automatic qualification after a tense goalless draw in Sweden, demonstrating that they are not willing to give up their championship easily.

The defending champions faced a difficult challenge after losing to France and falling to third place in their tough qualifying group. However, they have managed to overcome this obstacle and secure a spot in the finals next summer without having to go through the playoffs. Sadly, Sweden, who won the Olympic silver medal, will now have to go through the lengthy playoff process.

Being aware of how crucial it is to avoid the playoffs, the England head coach, Sarina Wiegman, expressed her feelings of relief and happiness after successfully navigating through a challenging group. The group consisted of teams that had all reached the World Cup last summer, including three of the top six ranked sides in the world.

Millie Bright, the Chelsea defender, expressed her excitement at automatically qualifying as "incredible." She mentioned how challenging the qualifiers have been, pushing them in various ways, but they managed to reach their goal. Bright emphasized the need to defend vigorously to secure a clean sheet, highlighting their determination to accomplish their mission.

Before the game started, both teams had a clear objective: Sweden needed to win to qualify automatically, while England just needed to not lose. Wiegman had promised that her team would aim to win the game and potentially top the group ahead of France. However, towards the end of the second half, her team struggled and were defending for parts of the game. Despite this, they showed great resilience to secure the win against Sweden. For a large portion of the game, they were dominating and in control.

The Gamla Ullevi Stadium was completely full, and it's located less than a mile from the well-known Liseberg theme park in Gothenburg. Liseberg has two roller coasters that go as fast as 100km/h. However, this match did not start with a lot of energy, and the first half was not very exciting.

In the first half of the game, neither team was able to get a shot on goal. England had more control of the game and dominated play early on. The Lionesses had most of the possession but lacked a killer instinct. Georgia Stanway from Bayern Munich took a shot that just missed the goal, while Lauren Hemp and Leah Williamson were doing well with the ball but struggled with the final pass.

On the opposite side of the field, Wiegman's choice of players made it clear that Chelsea's Hannah Hampton is currently the top contender to be England's main goalkeeper for Euro 2025. The 23-year-old was selected to start for the third game in a row, and notably, she was chosen over Mary Earps for the second game in a row when both players were available.

Wiegman mentioned on Monday that this game was a bit early to consider it a significant changing of the goalkeeper position, especially since Earps has been the standout No 1 for almost three years. However, choosing Hampton for such an important game clearly shows the trust that Wiegman now has in her. Hampton, the former Aston Villa goalkeeper, didn't have much action until five minutes into the second half when she blocked a shot from Real Madrid's Filippa Angeldal. This was Sweden's first shot on target, but Hampton was kept busy in her penalty area after that. She seemed unsure during two shaky corner kicks, but later made an excellent one-handed save to stop Angeldal's swerving long-range shot.

After the game ended, England was not overly excited but rather felt satisfied with their victory. They are now heading to Switzerland, which was their main goal for the night. Ella Toone from Manchester United stated to the media, "Our objective was to advance to the next round. The group we were in was tough, so we are proud to have made it through."

At the end it was challenging. Sweden put up a strong fight, but we managed to withstand their pressure. We were satisfied with securing a draw and not allowing any goals.

Ireland's national team had lost the last six games in a row, but they managed to turn things around in an impressive way by beating France, who are ranked as the second-best team in the world, with a score of 3-1 in Cork. Even though Eileen Gleeson's team had already secured a spot in the playoffs, they ended their Group A2 matches with style. In the second half, Denise O'Sullivan and Julie-Ann Russell scored goals, and although the group winners scored a goal through Vicki Bècho with 11 minutes left, a header from Anna Patten in the 90th minute secured Ireland's first points in the qualifying round, even though they had less possession throughout the game.

Scotland and Wales have both advanced to the playoffs, along with Ireland. Kirsty Hanson scored the winning goal for Scotland against Serbia in Glasgow, leading them to the top of Group B2. Meanwhile, Jess Fishlock and Mary McAteer scored in Wales' 2-0 victory over Kosovo, propelling them to the top of Group B4. Guardian sport reported on these exciting developments.