Women’s Euro 2025 dwell: England ‘not good enough’ as Lionesses react to France defeat
Holders England suffered a chastening start to their Euro 2025 campaign as France won 2-1 in Zurich to take charge of Group D along with the Netherlands.
England could now find themselves out of the Euros on Wednesday if they lose to the Netherlands and France beat tournament debutants Wales, who lost 3-0 to the Dutch earlier in the day in the other match in Group D.
Captain Leah Williamson said the Lionesses need to take “responsibility” for their performance. “We lost the game with poor defending one-on-one,” Williamson said “Not good enough with the ball, we weren’t good enough.”
England manager Sarina Wiegman also said that her team created their own problems in the defeat. “Of course, I’m very disappointed,” said Wiegman. “I think we started well. After that we created chances (for France) by playing short passes all the time. We were a bit sloppy too.”
Switzerland banish ‘almost’ tag to claim Women’s Euro 2025 lift-off
This time the blaring sound of Seven Nation Army was for real. As Geraldine Reuteler wheeled away, Switzerland finally had lift off at Euro 2025 and the hosts could soar into celebration. Alayah Pilgrim’s stoppage time finish to seal a 2-0 victory in Bern eliminated opponents Iceland while boosting their own chances of reaching the quarter-finals, with a shoot-out against Finland in Geneva on Thursday set to decide who joins Norway in the knockout stages.
Caroline Graham Hansen rescues Norway to close in on Euro 2025 quarter-final place
A late solo strike by Norway forward Caroline Graham Hansen secured a 2-1 victory against Finland at Euro 2025, as the twice champions took a big step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Norway’s second Group A win in a row left them top of the table with six points. Finland, who beat Iceland in their opening game, remained on three points.
Sarina Wiegman’s first defeat at the Women’s Euros
Sarina Wiegman has lost her first match at the European Championship after leading both the Netherlands and England to titles in 2017 and 2022 respectively.
“Of course we’re frustrated, we had three very good weeks and we trained really well but that’s never a guarantee that you’ll win the game,” Wiegman said.
“And you also know that France is a proper team too, so you have to do things really well. We just didn’t get it right at those moments.”
Lauren Hemp says England know what is at stake after opening defeat
Forward Lauren Hemp insists England know what is at stake when they play the Netherlands on Wednesday as they bid to keep their European title defence alive.
The Lionesses’ backs are against the wall after suffering an tournament-opening 2-1 defeat to France to set up what is already being billed as a “must-win” meeting with 2017 champions the Netherlands.
Victory could alleviate some of the danger of England becoming the first defending champions to crash out in the group stage, but they need to spark some swagger back into the side ahead of the critical clash.
“This team, a lot of the time, we thrive under pressure,” said Manchester City forward Hemp. “Obviously it’s one of those situations. Every game we go into, we want to win.
“From how we acted in the last 10 minutes (against France), we know what’s at stake, and obviously we want to get as far as we can.
“We are reigning champions. It is important to remember that and gain confidence from that.
“I love playing in football matches where we need to win. Those are the games you want to be involved in. It’s important we take confidence from parts of yesterday.”
Leah Williamson blames ‘cheap, emotional’ defending for defeat
England captain Leah Williamson blamed emotions for her team’s uncharacteristic performance in their 2-1 loss to France in their opening game of Euro 2025, saying they failed to leave them in the dressing room before kickoff.
“I’m disappointed there was some cheap sort of emotional defending in the first half, when you take waves of attack like that you leave yourself open to those sorts of things,” Williamson said of their poor one-on-one defending.
“I’m just frustrated because I think the football that we played near the end, and the game plan, could’ve worked. We just didn’t execute it exceptionally well.
“We spoke (at half-time) as players, we take responsibility individually and as a team. We have a calm environment at the minute but there was an injection of get the emotion out, leave it in the changing room, and go out and just be pragmatic about it and try and insert a bit of ‘umph’ into the game.”
Vivianne Miedema emotional after scoring 100th Netherlands goal
England go into Wednesday’s game against the Netherlands knowing they’re up against another strong opponent. Vivianne Miedema scored her 100th Netherlands goal in the 3-0 victory over Wales and will be their biggest source of danger.
“It’s very special, this is something you don’t dare dream of as a little girl,” Miedema said after reaching the 100-mark. “It was very unreal when the milestone was getting closer, and it is extra special that it is achieved at the European Championship.
“There were definitely emotions released. Tears? Yes, when we walked on the pitch, at the goal, and after the game. That shows how much this affects me. I think we all know how tough the past two and a half years have been for me and how hard I’ve worked to get here.”
‘We’ve got to sort ourselves out, dust ourselves off’
England forward Beth Mead, speaking to ITV:
“Both teams had chances and it could have gone either way. It wasn’t our best performance and we are disappointed with that.
“I think we’ve had a good build-up, been good in training, but it doesn’t always come onto the pitch sometimes. It wasn’t our best ball-playing game today and against a team like France you have to be good on the ball.
“We seemed a bit reactive to each other. It was frustrating because we started well. We just couldn’t take the momentum into the rest of the game.
“We’ve got to sort ourselves out, dust ourselves off and focus on Wednesday.”
Ella Toone: ‘We need to stick together’
“Every game that we go into, we know it’s a big game and we have that belief in the squad that we’ll go on and give our all. There’s no doubt about that, that every time we step onto the pitch we give absolutely everything.
“We’re proud to represent England and to play for our country, so that will never change. I think every game is big. We prepare for every game the same, and we want to make sure that we get the win from that game just as we do every time we step out.
“There’s no added pressure within the group, but we just need to stick together.”
Women’s Euro 2025 TV schedule: How to watch every match today
England are on the back foot at Euro 2025 after an opening defeat to France left the holders in “must-win” territory going into the rest of the tournament.
The Lionesses head into Wednesday’s game against the Netherlands knowing that defeat could result in an early exit from their tournament after a 2-1 defeat to France in Zurich.
The action continues on Sunday and returns to Group A as hosts Switzerland take on Iceland looking for their first win of the tournament. The hosts were beaten 2-1 by Norway in their opening match, while Iceland lost 1-0 against Finland.
Spain started their bid to become European champions for the first time in impressive fashion as they thrashed Portugal 5-0 and on Monday could seal their place in the quarter-finals against Belgium.
Why ‘sloppy’ and ‘scared’ England need a rapid transformation
As England’s players fronted up in Zurich and vowed to take responsibility for their opening performance in the defeat to France, defender Jess Carter admitted to something that you wouldn’t expect to hear from a team who entered the tournament as champions.
“I think we played like we were a little bit scared today,” Carter said. “We maybe were worrying about their threats in behind and what they can do rather than doing what we can do.”
