England rout neighbours Wales to cruise into Euro 2025 quarter-finals

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ST. GALLEN, Switzerland - Reigning champions England thrashed neighbours Wales 6-1 to reach the Womens Euro 2025 quarter-finals on Sunday, securing second spot in Group D and cruising into the knockouts, where they will face Sweden, on a high note.

Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones were all on target for England, who finished runners-up to France after their 5-2 victory over the Netherlands.

Sarina Wiegmans team will next face a Sweden side, who won all three of their games to top Group C, in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

It is going to be a difficult game. We watched (Sweden) the other night and they were really good. We need to be on our best game, Toone said. But were feeling confident, I think they should be scared.

The second-place finish, however, could be a bonus as provided they get past the Swedes, England would potentially avoid world champions Spain in the semi-finals.

Stanway struck from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after a foul in the box, calmly sweeping her shot into the far-left corner past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Olivia Clark to open the floodgates.

Toone found the back of the net with a scrappy goal eight minutes later. England capitalised on a sloppy clearance by Rhiannon Roberts, with the ball falling to Russo who nudged it into the path of Toone who fired home at the second attempt.

Hemp nodded a third inside 30 minutes after a clever pass from Lauren James to Toone near the byline. Toone found Hemp at the far post with a deep cross for an easy header.

Russo bagged her first goal