THE nation waits as England face Sweden this evening for a place in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley five days later.
Our Lionesses reached the last four after Georgia Stanway scored with a wonderful extra-time strike to earn them a 2-1 win over Spain last Wednesday in the quarter-finals.
Sarina Wiegman's side are seeking a first ever major trophy, and their first appearance in a final since Euro 2009.
But first they must go up against an impressive Sweden side lying second, six places above them, in the world rankings.
The Swedes were runners-up at last summer's Tokyo Olympics runners-up, and two years earlier beat England 2-1 to finish third at the World Cup.
SunSport's chief sports writer DAVE KIDD reveals how vital tonight's game has become.
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THE column you’re about to read is massively unfair on the England women’s football team.
They are playing bloody well, thrilling the nation, blazing a trail and, like most elite sports people, will doubtless be their own harshest critics, piling ample pressure onto themselves.
So Sarina Wiegman’s players definitely don’t deserve this.
But here goes – no England team has ever faced such high stakes as the Lionesses will in Tuesday’s Euros semi-final against Sweden at Bramall Lane.
What time does England vs Sweden kick off?
- England go toe-to-toe with Sweden on Tuesday, July 26.
- England vs Sweden will be broadcasted LIVE on BBC One in the UK.
- Bramall Lane, the home of Sheffield United will be the allocated venue for this semi-final and it can host around 32,000 fans.
- Viewers also have the option to stream the entire action via the BBC iPlayer app or BBC Sport website.
Because while the men’s team may carry the weight from decades of hurt into every major tournament, when they fail, they remain multi-millionaires playing in front of packed houses in vast stadiums every week.
So, no potential England success could ever provide such significant benefits as those on offer in Sheffield – and no England failure could bring such a crushing sense of missed opportunity.
England are tournament hosts, the wider sporting calendar is remarkably clear, and a huge prime-time TV audience will be watching.
Should England defeat the highest-ranked European nation on Tuesday, then go on to defeat France or Germany at Wembley in Sunday’s final, the women’s game in this country will take a quantum leap into the sporting mainstream.
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Lose and it will slip back towards the margins, where Women’s Premier League matches attract average crowds of around 1,500 and many top-flight players struggle to earn minimum wage.
Of course, this shouldn’t be on Wiegman’s team.
They certainly aren’t to blame for the century of bad history which has led to such a vast disparity in profile and finances between the men’s and women’s games.
Women’s football was banned in England between 1921 and 1971 and remained neglected well into the 21st century.
When you hear Sid The Sexist and his mates in the pub deriding the women’s game, they will be blissfully ignorant of the fact that 51 per cent of the population were banned from playing our national sport competitively for half a century.
Those now in charge of the FA – the organisation which imposed the ban – have done much to make up for the shameful act of their forefathers by backing women’s football to the hilt over the past decade.
Likewise, the BBC, Sky Sports and many national newspapers – including this one – have given the women’s game far more airtime and column inches than those domestic attendance figures warrant.
And that is only right. Positive discrimination is never universally popular but it is often absolutely necessary – especially when generations of wrongs need to be righted.
Not that we need to patronise women’s football. Nobody who tuned into England’s quarter-final victory over Spain – as nine million of us did – could deny that it was a proper game of football, competitive, edgy and with a familiar narrative.
Spain played most of the football, as the Spanish often do. England went direct to grab an equaliser late in normal time, as the English often do.
Then Georgia Stanway scored a banger and the Lionesses progressed to a fourth successive major tournament semi-final.
Yes, the Spanish keeper should have saved Stanway’s shot.
And, yes, after three straight semi-final defeats – two of which included a decisive own-goal and a late penalty miss – England’s women need a victory if they are to avoid being labelled as serial chokers.
That would be only right. The women’s game will never progress as it should, while players are patted on the head, showered with sympathy and told ‘never mind, darlin’, it’s the taking part that counts’.
But reaching a major final after three near-misses is only a small part of what is at stake tonight.
For decades, female sports stars in this country have only been allowed anything like parity in tennis, athletics, or in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
There has been a marked shift in helping to change all that – but women’s football in England now needs a breakthrough result, or two, if its growth is to gather pace.
The FA have set an ambitious target of average WSL attendances growing by around 400 per cent to 6,000 in the next two years.
And, of course, with attendance growth, comes wage growth, wider commercial growth and increased media coverage.
The best way to achieve such a game-changing leap is for England to be crowned European champions at Wembley on Sunday night.
That isn’t fair on this talented and committed bunch of England players but it is undoubtedly true.
So good luck, then, and no pressure….
PROBABLY LINE-UPS
ENGLAND: Earps; Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly; Stanway, Walsh, Kirby; Hemp, White, Mead
SWEDEN: Indahl; Glas, Ilestedt, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldal, Asllani, Bjorn; Rytting Kaneryd, Rolfo, Blackstenius
RIGHT GARD
THERE’S been a weird backlash against Jesse Lingard’s decision to sign a one-year contract with Nottingham Forest rather than move to West Ham.
Apparently, because Lingard spent a successful four months on loan with the Hammers the season before last, he owes them some kind of loyalty.
And then we’re told that joining two-time European champions Forest, a newly-promoted club showing great ambition in their transfer dealings, somehow suggests a lack of sporting motivation in Lingard.
Yet if all players were beholden to such logic, it would be extremely difficult for any club to come up and establish themselves in the Premier League.
Having been held to his contract at Manchester United, despite a severe lack of game time over the past couple of seasons, Lingard is more entitled than most to go wherever the hell he likes.
Or perhaps some people simply want to bash Lingard because he’s often on social media looking as though he’s enjoying his life?
GEORDIE SURE
IT seems strange that, despite having all the blood money in Saudi Arabia at their disposal, Newcastle have only added keeper Nick Pope and defender Sven Botman to Eddie Howe’s squad this summer.
Don’t they understand that a club in their situation is not supposed to be so cautious and sensible?
They’re supposed to be acting like Manchester City did soon after their Abu Dhabi takeover – dashing around with their pockets on fire, signing undesirable mavericks for over-the-top fees and accusing Ballon D’Or winners of being ‘bottlers’ for refusing to join them.
BRUTALLY FRENK
FRENKIE DE JONG is doing Manchester United a favour by making it glaringly obvious that he does not want to join them, even though his current club Barcelona are threatening to humiliate him with a huge pay cut.
Because it is only when United realise just how far they have fallen, that they can start on the long, painful road to recovery.
FRIENDLY FIRE
LAST week we reminded you that it is unacceptable for grown men to panic solely on the basis of their football team’s results in pre-season friendlies.
But every rule has exceptions. And one exception is Minnesota United 4 Everton 0.
COMMONLY-ASKED QUESTIONS
THE Commonwealth Games begin in Birmingham on Friday, with many asking: ‘What’s the point?’
Well the event does give gold medalists from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the chance to stand on the podium without having to listen to that dreadful dirge, God Save The Queen.
And then there’s the bit, once every four years, where everyone says ‘netball is actually brilliant, why can’t blokes play it?’
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