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Four standing but who is primed to reach the Women's Euro 2022 final?

Updated / Tuesday, 26 Jul 2022 10:35
Keira Walsh and England were pushed to the brink by Spain
Keira Walsh and England were pushed to the brink by Spain

When it comes to this week's Women's Euro 2022 semi-finals, the top end of the FIFA world rankings is well represented.

The second highest placed team on the planet, Sweden, take on hosts England (eighth) on Tuesday while France (3rd) and Germany (5th) go head-to-head the following night for the other spot in Sunday's decider.

Both semis and the final will be live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and speaking on Saturday night's coverage after the last-four line-up was confirmed, coach and analyst Lisa Fallon shared her perspective on which two teams have the edge, tipping England and Germany to reach the decider.

On this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast, ex-UCD, Shamrock Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Paul Corry previewed both semis.

England vs Sweden

The host nation breezed through the group stage, including an astonishing 8-0 win over a star-studded Norway. But the Three Lionesses struggled against a Spain side which played on the front foot in the quarter-final before a late turnaround saw Sarina Wiegman's side progress after extra-time.

"The game against Spain, they were incredibly lucky to get out of it," said Corry.

"To be fair to England, their resilience really stood to them within that game and they rung the changes as the game went on and it seemed to work and you always felt once Ella Toone got that (equalising) goal that they were going to go on and win from there.

"But the way that Spain set up, they didn't allow England to play out from the back and that's probably the main question mark I would have around that England side is their ability once they play out from the back.

"If a team presses them high, I'm not sure they've got enough in their locker to actually go through the thirds and then start to feed the likes of Beth Mead and Lauren Hemp in those wide positions."

However, Corry doubts a Sweden side which has played quite narrow in attack will be able to take advantage. They topped their group ahead of 2017 champions Netherlands but have been "underwhelming" as Fallon stated, with a late goal against a Belgium side who sat deep helping them squeeze through to the last-four.

But could the Swedes be more suited to a reactive game-plan?

"If you were probably advising them based on what we saw (of England) against Spain, you would say press from the front and ask questions of the English because they didn't have the answers the last time out," said Corry.

"There's probably more of a free hit for Sweden than there is for England. The English have so much expectation on this squad and if you're the Swedes you're hoping that you can just stay in the game, create a chance and we've seen it ourselves when we've played them in qualifying campaigns, they're ruthless in front of goal."

Germany vs France

Both teams have impressed on route to their semi-final showdown, pressing from the front and creating chances with aplomb.

"The Germans and semi-finals is something you come to expect in any competition that they play in," said Corry.

"They've 11 goals scored and are yet to concede and the word you hear the panel and commentators talking about is 'efficiency' and it is something that is very much part of this German squad and they've done incredibly well to get to this stage of the competition.

"The one thing you would say with Germany that you wouldn't say with most of the other sides, is that they can hurt you in a number of different ways.

"They're very good at playing out from the back and have got serious, serious power in the final third and look really dangerous whether or not they sit in like they did against Spain when they soaked up the pressure and hit them on the counter-attack, or if they want to go and dominate the ball in possession like they did against Austria, so they're a really, really formidable side."

But Corry believes a France powered by the Champions League's most successful club could well reach their first major final.

"You look at the contingent that they have from Lyon and how successful they've been in European competitions, they know how to get over the line at this stage," he said.

"They've got used to winning in European competition and some of the performances that they've had in this competition, they've looked extremely strong as well.

"I wasn't sure if they'd come through against the Dutch but they did. They scraped through and that's a big one from a confidence and morale point of view. But it's going to be a huge game against Germany.

"I tipped France from the beginning wholly on the basis of that contingent from Lyon and having that know-how, so I think it's going to be an England-France final."

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Watch the Euro 2022 semi-finals, England v Sweden on Tuesday and Germany v France on Wednesday, with RTÉ Sport. Live television and streaming on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with news and a live blog on RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport.

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