England v Wales dwell: Women’s Euro 2025 crew information as underdogs vow to ‘spoil the party’

The business end of the Euro 2025 group stage has quickly rolled around with many teams already at the risk of elimination and others close to booking their place in the quarter-finals.

Holders England were one of those teams facing early jeopardy after the Lionesses fell to a 2-1 defeat to France in Group D and their clash against Netherlands on Wednesday was described as “must-win”.

The Lionesses could have become the first European champions to be eliminated from the group stage of the Women’s Euro but they instead thrashed the Netherlands to keep their title defence alive.

Lauren Hemp promised “fight” and “character” from England and said the Lionesses are aware of how much this upcoming match means for Wales as they prepare for what is likely to be their final match at the Euros.

“It’s gonna be a really tough match, obviously we’ve got so much respect for Wales,” Hemp said. “They’ve done really well in the competition so far, but we’re very desperate to win and we know what it’s going take to win. You never know what you’re going to get from this team, but what you will get is a lot of fight and a lot of character.

“Wales have done so well to get here and we have got so much respect for them as an England team. We know the rivalry is huge, so we want to win as much as possible.

“It’s important that we all want to improve the women’s game as far as we can. It’s a great rivalry and these are the games you want to be involved in. We’re all very excited about it and we don’t need to explain the rivalry. It’s a derby, we want to win, end of.”

Lauren Hemp has vowed England won’t be complacent against Wales and said the Lionesses are treating the Euro 2025 clash as a “derby” as the holders look to advance to the quarter-finals.

“We definitely won’t go into the game complacent,” Hemp said. “Wales have done well this tournament, they deserve to be here and we’ve got so much respect for them. They’ve got a lot of great players who I have experienced playing week in week out in the WSL, so they’ve got a good team.”

England thrashed the Netherlands to keep their Euro 2025 campaign alive as the holders responded to the threat of elimination with a superb performance.

The Lionesses could have become the first European champions to be eliminated from the group stage had they followed their 2-1 loss to France with another defeat

But Sarina Wiegman’s side thrived under the pressure of a knockout game, with two goals from Lauren James firing England to a huge win over a strong Dutch team.

Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone scored the other goals, which puts England in a great position to reach the quarter-finals if they beat Wales on Sunday.

Here’s how England bounced back from defeat to stay alive at Euro 2025.

If there was any question about how England would prepare for Sunday’s “derby” against Wales, Sarina Wiegman actually revealed it the moment the build-up started. The coach had been asked whether goal difference had been a consideration in the minutes after the 4-0 win over the Netherlands.

“No,” Wiegman responded. “We discussed how to play at our best.”

As classically simple as that sounds, and as different as this game is to the Dutch, it does illustrate the mentality running through the squad now.

Wales captain Angharad James: “First and foremost we concentrate on ourselves and delivering the gameplan and getting the performance right. If we do then the result will hopefully come with that. As a Welsh woman, do you want to knock England out? Of course you do. It’s in our blood, it’s in our DNA, the rivalry has always been and always will be there.”

Sarina Wiegman: “I hope we will see a game where we have a lot of the ball and we play very good in possession, so we don’t let it become into a fighting game. For them it is a big game but for us it is too. We want to win and get through the group stage. There is passion but we have passion too. We want to be really focused and good on the ball. We have to be patient.”

England will reach the quarter-finals if they beat Wales on Sunday. If England draw, they can still go through as long as the Netherlands don’t beat France.

Where things could have started to get complicated is if England beat Wales and the Netherlands defeat France, leaving those three teams on six points and breaking the head-to-head record tiebreak.

However, by winning 4-1 against Netherlands and only losing 2-1 to France, the Lionesses would have the advantage on goal difference as long as they beat Wales and would be guaranteed to go through.

Wales are not out just yet – but they need to beat England 4-0 and hope the Netherlands lose to France. Wales’ goal difference after losing 3-0 and 4-1 means progress is very unlikely, however.

Former Chelsea midfielder Sophie Ingle returned to the pitch off the bench in the defeat against France so could start following a year out due to a knee injury. Olivia Clark may return in goal and Hayley Ladd could also return to the starting line-up.

Possible Wales XI: Clark; Roberts, Evans, Green, Woodham; Ladd, Ingle, James, Holland; Fishlock, Hughes

England made some key changes for the Netherlands game and looked to have found a settled formula with Lauren James on the right wing, Ella Toone in midfield and Jess Carter at centre-back. Sarina Wiegman, who confirmed that everyone is fit and ready to play 90 minutes, could name an unchanged team in order to build some momentum and consistency.

Possible England XI: Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Walsh, Stanway, Toone; James, Russo, Hemp