European explorers Wales determined to keep place on map at Euro 2025

The Guardian

09-07-2025

Tourists visiting St Gallen's famous medieval abbey library are sometimes startled to discover that one of its star attractions is a well-preserved Egyptian mummy.
Shep-en-Isis has lain in a glass coffin there for more than 200 years after being removed from her tomb on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor and, eventually, gifted to the north-eastern Swiss city. Just lately, though, there has been quite an argument about whether she should leave her adopted monastic home and be returned to Egypt.
Some people believe she is in the wrong place and – in a very different, considerably less heated context – a similarly polarised debate surrounds Wales's presence in Switzerland.
After losing their opening game 3-0 against the Netherlands in Lucerne, Rhian Wilkinson and her players are in St Gallen on a mission to prove they belong on the same pitches as Europe's elite. Their key midfielder Jess Fishlock and her teammates are determined to confound critics who believe Euro 2025's lowest-ranked team are out of their depth.
Fortune frowned on the Welsh when they were placed in the toughest group and a defeat by France could, depending on England's result against the Netherlands, ensure they will be flying back to Cardiff before the knockout stage begins.
The buildup on Tuesday was hardly ideal after most of the squad and staff were involved in a road traffic accident en route to a training session at St Gallen's stadium. Although everyone on the team bus was unharmed, the driver of the other vehicle involved sustained minor injuries and was taken to hospital by ambulance.
The incident left everyone shocked and shaken and Wilkinson, who had been travelling to the stadium in a separate vehicle with her captain, Angharad James, and the team press officer, immediately cancelled the scheduled stadium workout, replacing it with a light training session at the team hotel.
'The Netherlands match was a real introduction to the Euros against a quality side,' said Wilkinson, who has led Wales into their first major tournament. 'But we're looking forward to a second crack at it against France. We need to improve but it's a fantastic opportunity for us against another very good team. We have to set up in a way that can nullify them but also give ourselves a chance of scoring.'
The former Canada defender, who also coached Portland Thorns to the 2022 NWSL title in the United States, hopes her players can demonstrate that their presence here is down to significant recent improvement rather than some sort of fluke. She could, though, have done without facing a France side buoyed by beating England 2-1 last Saturday.
Wilkinson, who is half-Welsh, is fluent in French, having grown up in Quebec, and had planned before the bus crash to help Wales stage a trilingual press conference, with James answering queries from Welsh-speaking journalists.
The crash ensured that briefing proved understandably truncated but, earlier, Fishlock had urged her teammates to demonstrate comparable on-field fluency by throwing the Netherlands defeat 'in the bin'.
The 38-year-old Seattle Reign midfielder, deployed as a false 9 in that game, said: 'My favourite saying is: 'Take what you need and throw the rest in the bin.' If it's not going to help you, it's going to hurt you. France are very good but we can be very good, too. We're fast learners.'
Back in the Abbey library Shep-en-Isis's mummy lies in the shadow of another of St Gallen's most cherished treasures, a famous 16th-century globe. Heavily Europe-centric, it depicts sea monsters, exotic animals and cannibals adorning far-flung parts of the world and there are gaps where Australia and New Zealand should be.
In the 1500s the Australasian landmasses were yet to be discovered by European explorers and visiting Welsh fans sightseeing in St Gallen can spot parallels with the present day. Until this summer, Wales was barely noticeable on European, let alone, international football atlases when it came to women's football.
Now, though, signage intended to greet fans in central St Gallen informs them that the stadium – situated in a retail park, next to a branch of Ikea – is 5.2km in one direction and Cardiff 1,012km in the other.
No matter that the latter distance is disputed by some Welsh visitors, their country is finally marked prominently on Uefa's mainstream map.
An upset against Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Sandy Baltimore and the rest of Laurent Bonadei's dangerously ambitious France squad would ensure it remains there.