Lauren Hemp enjoying England status as ‘hard to beat’ European champions

Lauren Hemp feels England are thriving under the pressure of entering their Euro 2025 qualifiers as first-time defending champions.

The Lionesses could only muster a 1-1 draw with Sweden to open their qualifying campaign on Friday night at Wembley, with the Republic of Ireland to come on Tuesday, then France to conclude the competition’s first window.

Friday marked the first meeting between England and Sweden since their semi-final at Euro 2022, when England triumphed 4-0 en route to the Wembley final and their first major tournament trophy.

Evenings at Wembley We will keep pushing onwards and upwards from here pic.twitter.com/zDhskQ59zH

— Alessia Russo (@alessiarusso7) April 5, 2024

Asked if having a bigger target on the Lionesses’ backs is to their benefit, Hemp replied: “Yes. It’s great for us. We are European champions, and we want to keep that, so it’s important for us to win as many games as possible and get ourselves back in and among it.

“It’s good to have people come up and be like, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got England’, that’s what we want to be. We want to be a hard-working team, hard to beat. I think it’s great having that.”

Friday’s stalemate was certainly a much more even encounter between World Cup runners-up England and last summer’s bronze medallists, with Peter Gerhardsson’s side at times looking like the stronger opponent, particularly towards the closing stages of the first half.

Alessia Russo nodded home a fine Lauren James delivery to put her side in front inside 24 minutes, but the Arsenal forward’s maiden Wembley goal was cancelled out by Fridolina Rolfo after the break and the Lionesses could not find a winner in a late-stage rally.

It might have even been worse for England, who breathed a sigh of relief when Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius – fresh off scoring last Sunday’s League Cup winner – squandered a golden chance for Sweden to take the lead earlier in the half.

In a new-look format, the top two sides in each of the four top-tier groups will directly book places at next summer’s European finals in Switzerland, while the remainder will be entered into a play-off round with teams from lower divisions.

On paper, the Lionesses’ group might be the toughest they have ever encountered in qualifying, but Hemp added: “I think for me I find it quite exciting. I want to play in tough games. I think as a group we’re so confident at the moment that we’re ready to take on anyone. We saw the group and my first thought was, ‘bring it on’. I think we are all like that.”