By Alyce Collett (21/07/2025)
Above: Michelle Agyemang against Sweden. Photo: Nick Potts / PA.
Defending Euros champions England are through to another semi-final after a dramatic quarter-final win over Sweden. Whilst goalkeeper Hannah Hampton has been praised for her penalty-saving heroics and Chloe Kelly has been highlighted for her two assists, another gamechanger has been dubbed the Lionesses’ ‘Agent of Chaos’ for her ability to disrupt opponents.
Young Lioness Michelle Agyemang was introduced in the 70th minute and played the remaining 20 minutes plus the full 30 minutes of extra time. She made her presence felt and was a crucial part in helping England turn around their fortunes, forcing the match into a penalty shoot-out that England ultimately won. Scoring the goal that equalised the scoreline, a pattern is emerging: scoring important goals to get England back into games.
This is especially impressive given that the young forward was still playing with the Under-19s three months ago. When first-choice number nine Alessia Russo was injured ahead of the Lionesses’ Nations League clash with Belgium in April, it left the squad light in the front line. The senior squad had watched the U19s play against Austria at St. George’s Park the day before, and Agymang impressed, scoring for the Young Lionesses in the 5-1 win. She was given an immediate callup to the senior squad as an emergency replacement for Russo, and given her first senior minutes two days later.
These minutes came late into the game, when England were 3-1 down. A mere 41 seconds into her debut, Agyemang latched onto a pass from Leah Williamson, exhibiting impressive control of the ball to slam it into the back of the net. Although England did not complete the comeback, the goal gave the team a lifeline and the fans something to celebrate on an otherwise disappointing evening.
Speaking to England football, the striker said: “It’s a great ball from Leah, and I just thought as soon as I touched it, just hit it and I am really grateful that it went in the goal and proud to score my first goal for England.”
Agyemang is only 19 years old and has only played for the senior Lionesses three times now, all substitutions. She made her tournament debut in England’s opening game defeat against France, exhibiting an unpredictability and physicality that disrupted the French back line and gave England the momentum in the final stages of the game. In the quarter-final, England were 2-1 down with less than 15 minutes of normal time remaining when Agyemang caught a classically impressive cross from Chloe Kelly and scored the equaliser.
Speaking after the quarter-final win, Wiegman praised the young forward:
“This is basically why we selected her,” Wiegman said. “We know Michelle hasn’t been in our environment for a long period of time but the moment she came in she did well and she brings something different. She has shown that in training, she has shown that against Belgium, she has shown that against France. She is so strong and she scores goals.”
The details: Michelle Ageymang stats vs Sweden
Minutes: 51
Goals: 1
Shots: 3 (1 on target)
Shot Creating Actions: 2
Touches: 18
Passes: 5 completed, 7 attempted, 1 progressive pass
Carries: 9, 1 progressive carry
Tackles: 1
For much of the match things were looking disastrous for the Lionesses. Even with only 20 minutes left in regular time, Sweden were 2-0 up and were looking comfortable and on the verge of progressing through.
Then at about the 70th minute mark, England manager Sarina Wiegman made a trio of changes, bringing on Agyemang, Esme Morgan and Beth Mead, for Georgia Stanway, Jess Carter and Ella Toone respectively.
This meant that after a few reshuffles, Agyemang found herself out on the left wing, playing in front of Lauren James and alongside fellow Arsenal team mates Alessia Russo and Mead in the front three.
Unlike a traditional winger though, Agyemang did not always play a really wide line, moving centrally to allow the likes of James the room to run and play her natural game.
Once Chloe Kelly replaced Lauren Hemp in the 78th minute, Agyemang stayed more central, giving support to Russo.
Agyemang and Russo go about their football very differently, with Russo tending to prefer to use pace to come at the defenders while Agyemang prefers to use height and physical presence. The interesting thing about this is that Russo is actually about 6cm taller than Agyemang.
With this in mind, having Agyemang in a more central role really gave the Lionesses an imposing figure to aim for in the penalty area, which made things easier for the likes of Kelly and Lucy Bronze who could cross the ball in and have that target there able to really contest with the very imposing Swedish defenders.
It only took Agyemang about 10 minutes of pitch time to make the ultimate of impacts, pouncing on a well placed Mead header from a contest to drill the ball into the back of the Swedish net.
What does this all mean for the semi-final?
The way that the Lionesses were able to turn things around in the Quarter Final does bring up some interesting factors to think about for Wiegman and her coaching staff to think about.
The thing about the Italian defence is that the formation is very flexible. Andrea Soncin has shown this tournament that he is willing to change his formation from match to match, having used a back three, a back four and a back five across his teams’ four matches thus far.
It is pretty safe to assume Soncin will deploy a back four or back five because England has a pretty long list of player who could potentially score. If that does happen, it may be smarter to keep Agyemang in that super sub role because for forwards like her whose biggest strength is their physical presence, it is easier to beat defenders later in the game when they are tired. However, Wiegman may choose to reward Agyemang’s goal with her first senior start – although this is unlikely.
What is likely is that England’s ‘agent of chaos’ will be introduced at some point if England are chasing a goal. The trick to using Agyemang seems to be using her in small bursts – no team has managed to get the measure of her yet, and it may be that Wiegman and her staff want to keep it that way. With competition from Chelsea starlet Aggie Beever-Jones for that super-sub position, it is also likely that Agyemang will need to be patient and keep taking these opportunities as they come.
England play Italy on Tuesday 22nd July in the first WEURO2025 semi-final, at 20:00 BST.
Follow Impetus on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball TikTok: @impetusfootball
Instagram: @impetusfootball
impetusfootball.org 