Carli Lloyd Knows Big Games. Here’s Why She Thinks Spain Has The Edge Over England In Euro Final

Laken Litman

College Football & Soccer Analyst

When it comes to playing in high-stakes tournaments and finals, few can match Carli Lloyd.

I spoke with the U.S. women’s national team legend and FOX Sports analyst about the UEFA 2025 Women’s Euro. Who has stood out? Why have penalties been such a hot topic. And, who’ll win Sunday’s blockbuster final?

Which players have stood out or impressed you the most?

Carli Lloyd: The big ones are easy to talk about, but I would probably have to say Patri Guijarro from Spain is No. 1. She’s been the engine and she’s been brilliant in the middle. I think all of the attacking players usually get all the praise and the hype and whatnot, but she’s been absolutely crucial to the Spanish side’s attack with her link play and ability to read the game. Not just keeping possession for the sake of keeping possession, but forward progressive passes that she makes. So it’s been really, really cool to see. And obviously she’s been having a really good year [for Barcelona].

Patri Guijarro has been a key link in Spain’s quest for a Euro title. (Photo by Pascal Kesselmark/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Then with the likes of Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas, who are having great tournaments, some other Spanish players fly a bit more under the radar. I think [Barcelona forward] Claudia Pina has been having an outstanding season, which has carried over into this tournament for Spain. She was the only real bright attacking threat against Switzerland and scored an unbelievable goal. Her ability to attack players on the dribble and unleash her signature shot has made her into a deadly attacker.

And I would have to highlight [England’s 19-year-old forward] Michelle Agyemang. I think people are calling for her to be starting, or this and that. I don’t think she should be starting [yet]. I think she’s still young, and she has a bright future and I think that with young players, you often have to be a bit delicate to the situation of when to kind of give them that freedom. And I think she’s come on and she’s been absolutely crucial, scoring big-time goals and just her ability to get in behind and embrace the moment. The moments don’t seem too big for her and she’s a bright spot that has been really enjoyable to watch.

Penalty kicks have been a hot topic. What has stood out to you?

CL: What I found interesting was [France manager Laurent Bonadei and Sweden manager Peter Gerhardssen] said they weren’t too focused on penalties [due to the unpredictability of knowing which teams would be at the tournament].

I don’t think that a lot of us have witnessed a worse penalty shootout [than the one between England and Sweden in the quarterfinal]. It’s happened on the men’s side. And look, it happens to the best of us, missing penalties. But for me, reading what the Swedish coach had said, it didn’t seem like there was much preparation that was going into it. And I was pretty shocked because I felt if it were going into penalties, I thought Sweden was going to have the upper hand in experience because they’ve been there and done that. Going back to 2023 World Cup [in the round of 16 shootout against the U.S.], they were sharp and they got it done. So I was a bit surprised by that.

How did you approach penalties during your career?

CL: I just look at our team over the years and how much prep went into penalties. I mean, time and time again, we had crazy crowd noise in the stadium that we were [piping in], and we had competitions against one another, and we’d have scrimmages and we would do penalties after every time we scrimmaged the boys or scrimmaged ourselves. So there was just a lot of preparation that went into it.

You have to kind of wonder when multiple players are missing what that does to the psyche of one’s mind. You start to get in your head a little bit more, so I think that probably played a bit of a role. But [England right-back] Lucy Bronze at the end there and that particular penalty was just stone-cold. She knew where she was going, and she just put it away. I think some of the other players, maybe the run-ups are a little off. I think people are probably tweaking their penalties from time to time, but that’s what I took away from it.

Lucy Bronze had the decisive penalty in England’s epic win over Sweden. (Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images)

What were the biggest penalties that you ever made and missed?

CL: We all made ours [in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal shootout vs. Brazil] and then we had to prepare for another [shootout] in the final against Japan. And I think all of us weren’t sure if we should keep our same spot or change our spot, and was the Japanese goalkeeper going to know where we were all going? So there were mind games going on within our heads.

[In the final] Shannon Boxx missed hers, and then I step up and I miss mine. And then Tobin [Heath] missed hers [and we lost]. From that instance on, I knew that I had to do more preparation and I had to practice PKs more. I had to be comfortable going any spot.

Then I would have to say the 2015 World Cup semifinal vs. Germany and having to make that [was the biggest]. (Lloyd converted a penalty in the 69th minute to score the USWNT’s first goal in a 2-0 win.)

What are you looking forward to most about Spain vs. England?

CL: It’s interesting. England really haven’t played well. I don’t like to use the word luck, but I do feel like they’ve had some things fall in the right direction for them in order to get it done. But they’ve also shown such tremendous resiliency and perseverance that I feel like I haven’t seen as much from them [in the past]. It almost reminds me of the U.S. over the years. We weren’t necessarily the best team or playing the best, but we were somehow finding ways to win and sometimes that’s all you need.

And then I look at the Spanish side where I feel like they’ve been playing beautiful football. Yes, Switzerland made it difficult for them in the way that they defended and put them under pressure, and Germany did as well. But I still think those moments of brilliance and individual brilliance – I believe there’s a bit of a gap as far as the way Spain play. So it’s just going to be really tactically interesting to see what England are going to do. If they’re going to take the blueprint from Switzerland and Germany and make things compact and make things difficult for Spain to play. We saw Spain having to play a bit more direct vs. Germany.

The way Spain have evolved from 2019 to now is they can beat you in a variety of ways. They can possess the ball, they can play direct, they can hunt you down. I’m just a fan of this final, so I hope that it’s a really good game, that it’s entertaining, and there are a lot of amazing stars that are going to be on the field playing.

BERN, SWITZERLAND – JULY 03: Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas are the focal point of Spain’s potent attack. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

What’s your Euros final prediction?

CL: I find this one really difficult. I think Spain are the clear front-runner and they have been, and I’ve said that from the beginning [of this tournament]. But as we’ve seen, on any given day – I mean look at Germany playing down a man for some 100 minutes [in the quarterfinal vs. France] and their performance. I was not high on Germany for the entire tournament up until that point and then what they displayed will be talked about for decades to come.

So I am going to go with Spain just given the history and what they’ve been doing this tournament. I think they have weathered adversity and still found ways to win. I think England look a bit tired and they’re all a bit banged up. So I think Spain have the extra edge there.

Spain and England are experienced success at recent tournaments. (Getty Images)

Are Spain and England the two strongest teams in the world? How would a full-strength USWNT team stack up?

CL: I do think overall from this tournament that the two best teams are in the final. Doesn’t mean that it’s the two best teams that have been playing the best football, but when you look at everything and you look at manager Sarina Wiegman, the subs coming off the bench, the way England have been able to pull off some off these wins, that ultimately is what makes teams the best.

And Spain, there’s no question. If you just look at the way that they play, I think they’re above everyone by a pretty decent margin.

Yes, the U.S. won the last Olympics and Emma Hayes has done a phenomenal job with this group. I think that they’re definitely heading in the right direction. I still think they really haven’t been up against the European giants, which would be really interesting to see. [Right now] they may be third or fourth [best team in the world], hovering around there behind Spain and England.

But time will tell in that regard.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.