LONDON — England’s qualification journey for Euro 2025 began with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against a disciplined Sweden side at Wembley on Friday.

Alessia Russo’s goal in the first half was cancelled out by Fridolina Rolfö midway through the second half on a night where fluidity and flair were in short supply.

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The draw is a further reminder for the defending champions of the scale of the task ahead of them in their attempts to make it out of a qualification group that along with Sweden, also features France and the Republic of Ireland.

This group is really tough,” England boss Sarina Wiegman said after in a news conference. “Of course, I’m disappointed because I always want to win. But at the end of the game, we were very close to scoring a goal.

“Overall, if we look at the game, it was pretty even. We had more possession of the ball but if you see also how they produced the counterattacks, this reflects how the game was.”

At Euro 2022, England had brushed Sweden aside in the semifinal with a 4-0 win but on Friday, they struggled to find any momentum up front.

Wiegman, who in her news conference ahead of the game had called for a “reset,” fielded a young side that included Grace Clinton and Lotte Wubben-Moy, who between them have 14 England caps. The fact that the two were England’s best performers on the night will both worry and encourage Wiegman.

Despite her return to the England squad for the first time in a year, England captain Leah Williamson was an unused substitute. Afterwards Wiegman confirmed the Arsenal defender was fit and available.

“She’s not injured otherwise she would not have been in the squad and I would’ve told you she would’ve been injured,” Wiegman said.

The hosts had a bruising start to the game, with Russo on the receiving end of a lusty challenge that left her wincing on the pitch with a bloodied shin.

Both sides struggled to find any rhythm after the stoppage in play, with possession proving a scarce commodity.

The first chance of the game fell to Rolfö in the 18th minute, after she found the ball played into her on the left when Keira Walsh’s pass was intercepted in the middle of the pitch. The Barcelona forward strode into the box before unleashing a shot that flashed past the far-post.

Sweden’s press and physicality unsettled England and it took an in-game tweak from Wiegman for them to click into gear. England’s attacking thrust until then had come through Lauren Hemp, who regularly found herself in space on the right. But the Manchester City winger’s tendency to always cut back on her left hindered attacks.

Wiegman un-inverted the wingers by swapping Hemp for Lauren James and within moments England were ahead after an inviting cross from James was headed home clinically from a few yards out by Russo.

The goal imbued Sweden with greater dynamism but they were kept at arm’s length by England and failed to muster a single shot on target in the half.

The visitors’ first shot on goal found the back of the net in the 64th minute. Substitute Rosa Kafaji’s cross to the far post, after neat work in the box, was headed in by Rolfö after slack marking by Lucy Bronze.

Sweden almost went ahead four minutes later after a simple ball over the top saw Stina Blackstenius through on goal with only Earps ahead of her. But the Arsenal forward dragged her shot wide to hand England a lifeline.

Wiegman introduced Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly in the final half hour in search of a winner, but England found themselves continually hamstrung by their inability to keep possession.

A late surge saw Mead and Hemp go close to scoring in the dying stages of the game but ultimately a draw felt like a fair result for both sides.

“I think in the first half we had many good transition chances to get to better chance, but the last pass sometimes went wrong,” Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson said.

“We defended a little bit lower than we [are] used to. We tried to take away Keira Walsh from the game and the transition was good. If you look at the game once more, 1-1 is OK. If Stina had put it 2-1, it could have gone our way. England [also] had some big chances in the last four or five minutes, it was a bit scary.”