Tranmerekat on Tour: More Or Lessi

England Women host Sweden Women in the Euro 2025 Qualifier at Wembley Stadium

The Lionesses are back at Prenton Park South for the first competetive game of the year and the first on home soil since the win over Netherlands in December. They have been knocked out of the Olympics since then in a tense last minute disappoitment on goal difference after beating Scotland away in Glasgow. The last time these teams met was in the Euro's Semi-Final where England humiliated Sweden by beating them 4-0 and inventing the 'Russo' with her backheeled double nutmeg ⚽. There are a few Lionesses missing with Millie still out with a knee injury, Khaira Keating left camp with an injury and Leah, although back in the squad and on the bench, was injured in the Conti Cup Final last weekend. It's Mary Queen of Stops in goal, Alex and Lotte in the middle with Niamh left and Lucy right. It's the usual Kiera and Georgia midfield with a new face in the 10 as Grace Clinton starts ahead of Fran and Tooney. LJ is on the right and LH on the left although we know they will swap around and LJ will drift around all over the place anyway. Up front is Russo. The Yellows have a few familiar faces with Stina up front, Magdalena Erikson in defence and Zigiotti in midfield. Not going to be an easy night then. Not forgetting Chelsea's Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Barcelona's Fridolina Rolfö on the left wing, Kosovare Asllan up front with Stina. The Blues Zecira Musovic and the Seagulls Emma Kullberg are on the bench thankfully. There are wheelie bins of fire, Dancing Lions, big flags and National Anthems and then it's suddenly time for the pomp to stop and the competition to get serious.

We're off and Sweden are threatening from the first minute. JRK is causing problems with her pace driving forward with the ball. It's tense for a while but we keep them out until England start to get a grip. Five minutes in and we're looking more comfortable. Magdalena flattens Russo and she is down for a couple of minutes then moves off the pitch for some more treatment. No card for Magda though. Sweden get a good chance on 20 but Rolfö hits it wide. Russo recovers well from her injury and puts us in front as she dips low to head home from a fantastic LJ cross on 24⚽. The Lionesses are in front. The crowd go wild. Need another now. It's doesn't come before the break as the DJ is wheeled back out to entertain us.

The first decisive action of the second half is to replace Grace Clinton with Ella Toone on 57. Gives us a chance to make some noise with chants of Tooooooooneyyyy. Zigiotti is having an impact in the middle. She is fouling all over to try to stop us pressing forward. The Swedes make some changes on 62 and we are relieved to see Asllani leave the pitch. The Yellows gets a corner that is doubtful and disputed. It goes out for a Yellow throw, we win the ball back then fail to clear it and it goes out for another Yellow throw. The Whites switch off and allow a throw straight into the box, it's chipped to the far post where for Rolfö to head it home. Lucy shold have been marking better there but the whole team had switched off. Poor goal to concede. Meeeeeeadooo comes on for LJ and the volume of the welcome she gets shows how many Gooners there are in the crowd. Loads. At 80 minutes Serena makes some more changes with Jess on for Niamh and Chloe on for Lessi. Chloe goes on the right with LJ moving to the left and Hempo going up front. The change triggers a period of pressure from the Lionesses who dominate and camp out in the Swedish half. They keep pushing but can't get the ball in the net. The risk is pressing is reduced and we all breathe a sigh of relief when Stina is subbed off on 84. Phew!. The goal doesn't come and after just 3 minutes of injury time it's all over. A 1-1 draw and we make a sharp exit for the trains via wembley way and a bit of ABBA dancing Queen. Should have requested Buck Fizz.

Not the best of games but the Lionesses haven't recaptured their Euro's form. The last 10 minutes were all England and how they didn't get a winner we'll never know. They suddenly found the energy that they needed to have started with but it was too little too late. It was pretty lack lustre for the first 80 minutes. Are they tired as we are nearly at the end of a long season or just unsettled as there have been a lot of changes to the line up since their famous Euros stability. The result is not the one we wanted but we (the lionesses, not us personally) go on to the next game away in Dublin needing to up their game. We did miss parts of the game as the crowd in front were constantly on the move either in or out of their seats. They must have small bladders in North London. The attendance was surprisingly low at 63248. maybe the train strike in some parts of the country didn't help but the ticket prices have increased and it didn't sell out for the first time in a while.

The Scranometer was very pleased that the Pick'N'Mix 🍬had only gone up 50p since the FA Cup Final last year and very nice it was too.

Ref did well for most of the game. Shame about Lino awarding the corner to Sweden in the build up to goal that should have been a goal kick. See Alex Greenwood for details as she kicked the ball to Mary for said goal kick before decision for a corner was made.

See you somewhere back in Sussex soon.

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