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Meanwhile, Georgia Stanway wants the Lionesses to go back to their roots and be “proper England” as they prepare to face the Netherlands at Euro 2025. Here’s what the midfielder said:
We know as a team that we underperformed [against France]. We know as individuals that we underperformed. I didn’t want to do the press conference today because I’m fed up of talking now. It’s time that we focus on putting things right on the grass.
We’re all just dying for the game to come round as fast as possible because we want to make sure that we’re stepping on that pitch knowing what we’ve experienced but also wanting to make a change.
We’ve spoken about wanting to be ‘proper England’; we want to go back to what we’re good at, we want to go back to a traditional style of football in terms of tough tackles, getting back to our roots and remembering why we’re here, remembering that we’re playing for the little girl that wanted to be here.
It’s make or break for the Lionesses tomorrow. Sarina Wiegman must topple her native Netherlands to keep England in the tournament, after defeat in their opening match left them in a precarious position in Group D.
What should Wiegman do with Lauren James? As Suzy Wrack writes, the gifted playmaker presents her manager with a conundrum. Do they harness her unpredictability or prioritise midfield structure?
Alexia Putellas said she found a flow state in Spain’s 6-2 win over Belgium that made things come easy to her.
Finding herself in the zone on a wet, blustery evening, Putellas picked up her second straight player of the game award and scored a brace as Spain put the Belgians to the sword.
She said: “I think there are plenty of moments in a game, the team had an excellent performance, and even if we almost always have things we can improve, I believe that team is fine. We feel comfortable, if there’s something that doesn’t work we can change and adapt.”
Putellas opened the scoring with a typical Spanish goal midway through the first half, punctuating an intricate passing move with a powerful strike, and she netted her team’s sixth goal late on to cap a fine individual display.
Asked whether her flow came from her own performance or that of the team, Putellas said it was a little bit of both. “They go hand in hand; as an individual you think about the group and when you feel we are all together, you flow, it makes me feel good of course,” she explained.
“I have this role of creating options, sometimes I finish them, sometimes others do, (but) I’m feeling great.” Reuters
Preamble
Good morning all and welcome to another day of our Euro 2025 news blog. Well, world champions Spain have thumped 11 goals past Portugal and Belgium in their opening two games and will take some beating if they’re to be denied another tournament success. Diana Gomes helped the Portuguese nick a draw with Italy in the other Group B game last night, as things roll on to Group C this evening (how good are 16-team tournaments, by the way?)
If we thought before things kicked off in Switzerland that perhaps England would struggle to defend their title and the likes of Germany and Sweden would not be as strong as in previous years, we could well be proven right. At the moment it looks like Spain … and then the rest.
Germany and Sweden are both in action tonight, as it goes, against Denmark and Poland respectively. They did each win their opening games. Let’s see what today brings. Please stick with us for all the buildup and breaking news.
