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6 hours ago
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Saturday’s results put France and the Netherlands in charge in Group D. Les Bleues pulled off their statement win against England without their injured captain Griedge Mbock. Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore were on the scoresheet in an especially impressive first-half display but their manager, Laurent Bonadei, is keeping their feet on the ground:
We can do better every time. We have to improve in each department of the team, in defence, in midfield and offensively
The comfortable result against Wales will come to the relief of the Dutch manager, Andries Jonker, who got in a bit of a pickle before the tournament got under way. After it was announced that his contract would not be renewed after Euro 2025 in January, Jonker said last week that he had considered quitting anyway. Journalists accused him of creating a ‘puppet show’ in the buildup to their opening game. He was not impressed:
These women have given everything in 2025. Everything. And we have done that together. You people are all here today and this is thanks to us. To these women. The royal family will be there. And you have the guts to call it puppetry. If you think it’s a puppet show, than you’re entitled to your opinion. You are insulting the players. I have never seen you at training sessions and you’re asking the players if they will believe the puppet show
Saturday also saw Wales make history by taking to the field for the first time at a major tournament. Goals from Vivianne Miedema, Victoria Pelova and Esmee Brugts made it a tough afternoon for the Euro debutants but their manager, Rhian Wilkinson, remained proud of her team:
We’ve got two more games and we’ve got to show up. We’ve got to cut out the defensive lapses and create more but my players have put in a massive shift, they’ve run their socks off
First to England, who got off to a rocky start on Saturday night with their 2-1 defeat by France in Zurich. Sarina Wiegman’s squad remain bullish about their chances of progressing through what is surely the group of death. Their next group match against the Netherlands on Wednesday is now a must-win. Suzanne Wrack is in Zurich and has been hearing from Lauren Hemp:
I love playing in football matches where we need to win – they’re the games you want to be involved in
Preamble
Hello and welcome to day six of Euro 2025. We’ll be building up to the second round of fixtures in Group B later today, while also taking a look back at an emotional night for hosts Switzerland after their exploits against Iceland. We’ll also keep track of goings-on in the England camp before Wednesday’s crunch game against the Netherlands.
Many people’s tournament favourites, Spain, are in action at 5pm (BST) today against Belgium in Thun. Montse Tomé’s world champions got off to a flyer against Portugal in their curtain-raiser and, well, you don’t envy Belgium, who were thrashed 5-1 by today’s opponents in the Nations League at the end of May.
Portugal, on the end of the opening 5-0 trouncing by Spain, look to make amends when they face Italy at 8pm (BST) in Geneva. The two sides haven’t played each other in a competitive setting since a World Cup qualifier in 2018 that Italy won 3-0.
Do feel free to get in touch with your predictions for today’s matches, as well as your thoughts on the drama that unfurled in Group A on Sunday – did Caroline Graham Hansen mean that?
