Key takeaways as England get Euros title defence back on track
Here are the key takeaways from a far better day at the office…
There is a reason Lauren James starts
After England's opening-round defeat to France, much scrutiny had been placed on Sarina Wiegman's decision to hand Lauren James a first start since April.
It seemed there was nothing to worry about, with James a key instigator in the opening stages of the Lionesses' loss, and now it has been proved completely ill-judged.
As Alessia Russo raced onto Hannah Hampton's pinged ball forward on 22 minutes there was no one you would rather see underlapping to her left.
The Chelsea star received the ball on the edge of the box before turning on the pace to move clear of two defenders and whipping a shot at goal that put England ahead.
It was the customary moment of magic that Lionesses fans have come to expect of James and it is exactly why Wiegman has chosen her to start despite a lack of minutes.
If any further vindication was needed, James provided it in abundance during the near 70 minutes she spent on the pitch.
She popped up again perfectly-placed in the 60th minute to turn home a rebound from Ella Toone.
Wiegman finds her formula
Against France, England's midfield looked unbalanced and exposed as Les Bleues sat tight to the likes of Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway.
While the Netherlands gave the Lionesses a far easier time in Zurich, Wiegman's switch to play Ella Toone in the No.10 role and move James out to the right in place of Beth Mead proved revelatory.
Toone played the role to perfection, instigating a high press well and providing needed protection to the pairing of Stanway and Walsh behind.
James was still afforded the freedom to roam across the midfield but operated predominantly off the right.
And if Wiegman needed any more confirmation than a truly dominant display at the Stadion Letzigrund, then James and Toone bagging three of England's four goals on the night will certainly have provided just that.
Russo deserves a goal
Alessia Russo had been unlucky not to open the scoring against France on Saturday after Beth Mead was deemed offside by the barest of margins in the build-up to her first-half goal.
It meant what appeared to be an important opener was overturned by VAR and England's momentum stuttered to an abrupt stop.
Russo had the opportunity to open the scoring once more against the Dutch but sent a glancing header just wide while uncontested in the air.
For the nervous England fans, it looked like a golden opportunity missed but Russo went on to put in a brilliant performance, despite not getting on the scoresheet.
Her hold up play was smart and England's tactic to use her a target for searching balls forward worked to perfection. She first received the ball over the top and set up James' opener, before chasing down another and set up Toone to score.
It looked as if she had finally got her goal when she nodded home in the second half, but once more an offside in the build-up saw it ruled out by VAR.
A hat-trick of assists will have proven just reward in this match, but no doubt she will be chasing that first tournament goal against Wales despite already putting the ball in the net twice.
No signs of missing Earps
Hannah Hampton was a pivotal influence, with her ability on the ball crucial in England's attacking efforts.
Though tested little defensively, her distribution worked to brilliant effect as she earned a pre-assist by pinging the ball out to Alessia Russo, who in turn supplied Lauren James' for the opener.
It is a clear strength of the Chelsea goalkeeper, who Wiegman announced was ahead of Mary Earps in the pecking order earlier in the year.
In the first half, Hampton often positioned herself high between the two centre-backs as if to create a back five and help keep position.
After her display today, it is abundantly clear exactly how Wiegman wants to use the ball-playing attributes of her goalkeeper and why Hampton was the first-choice pick.
Women's football continues to grow
While the tournament is not on our doorsteps in the same way it was in 2022, the Netherlands-England match provided yet another milestone for women's football.
With a full round of group games still to go, the 22,600 here helped set new record for the highest combined attendance across a Women's EURO group stage.
That attendance stands at 287,438 with Switzerland opting to host all their group stage matches at major grounds.
It is another reminder, if at all needed, that women's football is continuing its rapid rise with audiences across Europe and beyond continuing to flock to games in their numbers.
With it being impossible to walk more than 100m without seeing an advert relating to Euro 2025 in Zurich, in Switzerland there is no doubt that everyone watches women's sport.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Wales's pioneers are making dizzying progress but Euro 2025 must be a launchpad
It had to be her. Wales's debut at a European Championship has meant a group stage full of new experiences, but it felt fitting that a 38-year‑old Jess Fishlock, double Champions League winner and icon of the women's game, would register the first Wales goal in a major tournament against France on Wednesday night. Three years ago, it felt cosmically appropriate that it should be Gareth Bale who scored the only Wales goal of the 2022 World Cup, a Welsh legend ticking off another career ambition before retirement. But unlike the postmortems and recrimination prompted by such a disappointing performance from the men's team in Qatar, this time there is no judgment from the Welsh support out in Switzerland, only pride. Wales face England on Sunday having lost their first two games of Group D, and yet there is no doubt back home that Rhian Wilkinson's team are history makers. The women's game in Wales is growing at a rapid rate, and the Red Wall, the thousands of drunken but good-natured cultural attaches who have followed the men's team for years, have begun to support the women's team with the same fervour. There were just under 4,000 in attendance at the first game against the Netherlands, outnumbering and outsinging the Dutch, a fact not lost on this Welsh squad, who remember away followings numbering in single digits. A team of ultra-competitive, professional footballers competing at a major tournament will not want to hear that the event had more meaning than a 3-0 defeat, but as thousands of Welsh and Dutch supporters participated in the fan walk to the Allmend Stadion in Lucerne, it felt like a day pulsing with significance. Some of the details surrounding the match could bewilder the uninitiated. The Netherlands captain, Sherida Spitse, has more caps than the Wales team has played games since they were officially sanctioned by the Football Association of Wales in 1993. Two years before the Netherlands won Euro 2017, the Welsh winger Rachel Rowe was still combining football with her work as a prison officer at HMP Swansea. I stared at the giant Wales shirt that was projected high above the concourse to Swiss commuters at Zurich train station, and remembered that in the 1990s the women's side played in hand‑me‑down kits from the men's team and were still made to wear men's fit training gear in the age of the smartphone. If the progress being made by women's football in Wales feels dizzying, that's because it is. Wales are not mathematically eliminated from the Euros yet, although they need to beat an England team who are now purring into gear by four clear goals and hope France beat the Netherlands to progress. But the real legacy of this team will be decided after the tournament is over. On Wednesday, ITV viewers were treated to the analytical brain of Jayne Ludlow, one of the people most qualified to talk about where Welsh women's football has come from as well as the huge task faced by this current group of players. As a treble winner with Arsenal she drove standards with Wales, and twice came unbearably close to qualifying during her own tenure as Wales manager. Like Fishlock and Wales's other high-profile female footballers, Ludlow reached the highest level of the game despite and not because of the system, and the challenge for the FAW is now to capitalise on the increased interest in women's football and ensure the conveyor belt of talent doesn't end with this generation of players. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion At the heart of this project is Laura McAllister, a former Wales captain and now a vice-president of Uefa. The Cymru Football Foundation has invested millions in more inclusive facilities for women and girls across Wales to drive participation. On the back of Euro 2025 qualification, the CFF launched Environments For Her, a £1m fund for clubs solely dedicated to female-friendly off-pitch facilities, a first of its kind. But as McAllister, an international footballer whose career was conducted in near anonymity, puts it: 'What this glorious team has given us are the heroes and role models that make girls and boys want to run out on the pitch themselves. They've created a massive surge in demand that we simply have to find a way to meet.' Although England seemed ominously impressive against the Netherlands on Wednesday night, there were reasons to be positive after Wales's performance against France in St Gallen. The team played with an intensity that was missing against the Dutch in Lucerne, energy levels in the opening game perhaps hindered by the game being played in sunlight bright enough to melt a cannonball and a heat so stifling it made queueing for a hotdog feel like we were watching Wales play Venus (away). I now understand why Steve Staunton sang the Irish national anthem at USA 94 in a baseball cap. I attended the opening game against the Netherlands with my 10-year-old daughter, for whom stories of girls cutting their hair short and pretending to be boys in order to play seem as divorced from reality as when I talk about how her great-grandfather was a coalminer or that I didn't try black pepper until I was at university. Her first away game might have ended in defeat, but at passport control in Zurich airport she was given a piece of advice by an away veteran from Machynlleth, whose first experience travelling abroad to watch Wales had been to watch the men lose 7-1 against the Dutch in Eindhoven in 1996. 'If this is your first Wales away I'd stop now,' he said, 'because it's addictive.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
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Beever-Jones relishing chance to put herself in the picture with Lionesses
Aggie Beever-Jones doesn't have much tournament experience. The England striker missed out on the 2020 under-17 Euros owing to Covid cancellations and featured at only the under-19s Euros in 2022, where she scored twice in the group stage against Norway, before arriving at Euro 2025. By the time a player breaks into the senior side they usually have several tournaments under their belt but Covid means Beever-Jones is a part of the generation of young players coming through that lost out. 'I was unfortunate in that sense when I was growing up,' she says. 'I've never really experienced tournament football and being away from family. It was a crazy time in the world; I think everyone was a bit unsure what was going on. We were lucky enough that football was able to carry on. 'That's why I think it makes it a bit more special this time round. It is my first proper tournament and at the highest level. It's exactly where I want to be. I feel comfortable enough to push for my place as well as getting pushed every day to become a better person and player. So I'm really, really enjoying it. Hopefully we can make our mark and keep going.' The 21-year-old made her senior tournament debut on Wednesday night, coming on in place of Alessia Russo in the 84th minute of England's 4-0 defeat of the Netherlands, and hopes to play a part on Sunday against Wales. The Chelsea forward's former manager Emma Hayes spoke of the impact Beever-Jones could have on the international stage at the end of her tenure at the club, saying: 'Aggie Beever-Jones. Don't forget that name. She's going to be a legend not just for Chelsea but for England.' Beever-Jones says she feels 'extremely lucky' to have achieved her goal of getting to these Euros and reflects on Hayes' assessment by saying: 'For Emma to say those words about me, that probably is one of the best compliments I've ever had, and from such an incredible person. I'm just looking to help where I can and enjoy it. I've always said I play my best football when I'm enjoying it.' Making sure you enjoy it off the pitch matters too at a tournament. Taking photos is one of Beever-Jones's means of distraction. 'There's a few of us,' she says. 'I know Alex [Greenwood] bought a camera recently. It's just nice to find some hobbies outside of football sometimes. The prints are in my journal – got a few Polaroids stuck in there … it's finding the beauty in the little things and just being able to explore a beautiful city and enjoy it.' Stepping out of the team bubble to hang out with family and friends also helps. 'It's refreshing to come out of that bubble sometimes and take a step back to spend time with your family and not talk about football,' says Beever-Jones. 'My sister's not a football-head at all so I just talk to her about everything but football. She's a midwife; I talk a lot to her about her work. She has her boyfriend here who's equally one of my best friends and it's just nice to have that relationship. And equally with my mum and dad as well, just spending time and having a general family catchup. It's a great balance of: you come here, you switch on, we have the bubble, and, equally, you can go out and have a coffee and enjoy time with your family and switch off from football.' Beever-Jones waits for the chance to make her mark on this tournament and announce herself on the world stage like Alessia Russo and Ella Toone did as England's super subs in 2022. 'That would be the dream,' she says. 'For me, it's about trusting Sarina [Wiegman] and trusting the process. We have a squad full of incredible players. I just have to take my opportunity when it comes. I was grateful to come on the other day and show a little bit of what I can do. Hopefully I get some more opportunities to do that.' Was it disheartening not to feature in the opening defeat by France, with Michelle Agyemang the player who came on? 'Me and Sarina had a conversation and ultimately I have to respect her decision,' she says. 'She did say it was a tough game and she looked elsewhere to bring other people on and I just have to respect that. I know my strengths and I have done it for two years coming off the bench for Chelsea and hopefully making an impact. 'Sarina is well aware of that and I respected that decision. She knows I'll be ready no matter what, whenever the time comes. I'm just delighted we were able to turn it around the other night. It doesn't mean anything if we don't go and beat Wales.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
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Line judges: So much of Wimbledon's magic has been lost by ditching us
The switch to electronic line calling (ELC) has 'changed the atmosphere' at Wimbledon, according to two experienced line judges who attended the tournament this week. The officials, who preferred to use assumed names in order to preserve relationships, pointed out that much has been lost with the switch to automation, including natural variation in the volume of line calls. 'We were always taught to sell the call to the players,' said Susan. 'When the ball was a long way out and nobody was following it, we would make a quieter, more subdued call. When it was landing close to the line, especially on a big point, we would shout much louder. 'There is an element of drama that the human line judges provided which has been lost. The system now is always the same volume, and it's not very loud either, so that there's plenty of cases where the spectators haven't heard the call and aren't sure whether the ball was in or out. 'There was an example in the match I was just watching where people thought one player had hit a fabulous winner and gave them a big ovation. Then the scoreboard showed that the point had gone the other way, so they felt the need to give polite applause to the other player instead.' The various teething troubles of the past week – which included the system being accidentally switched off during Sunday's Centre Court match involving Great Britain's Sonay Kartal – have instilled a widespread sense of doubt around Hawk-Eye's performance. 'Once it gets into the players' heads that the calls can't be trusted, that becomes contagious,' said Graham. 'We've had electronic line calling around the tour for some time now, but almost everyone I've spoken to thinks that it works best on hard courts. Put it on clay or grass, where the granules or the grass blades move, and it doesn't seem as trustworthy. You're seeing players shaking their heads a lot, and even spectators are becoming sceptical. 'But it's not just about the calls. There are so many intangibles that the line judges provide. Take the situation where a player is swearing at the back of the court, loudly enough for fans and TV microphones to pick it up but not for the chair umpire to hear. There's no one there to report it to the umpire.' Both line judges also raised the oft-stated question of where their successors will come from. This concern was at the heart of the French Tennis Federation's (FFT) decision to keep human officials at Roland Garros this year, thus making the French Open the only hold-out in a world of robots. When asked why the FFT had not switched to ELC, president Gilles Moretton said, 'We are a federation of clubs and licensed players, with competitions every weekend and umpires working daily. And I say this with all modesty – we are the best country when it comes to supplying umpires on the circuit.' Great Britain also has a long tradition of officiating, with James Keothavong, Alison Hughes and Richard Haigh among the circuit's more familiar faces. There must be a question mark, though, over where the next generation will come from. 'You still need line judges at Ilkley or Nottingham,' said Susan. 'But I know plenty of young tennis enthusiasts who want to be on court with Coco Gauff or Carlos Alcaraz. That's not going to happen at those smaller events. 'It will take a few years to see how this all shakes out, but my suspicion is that we will end up asking more overseas officials to come over to the UK during grass-court season, because there won't be enough British staff available. 'Yes, there are 80 match assistants at Wimbledon, but they are performing quite menial duties: checking the height of the net and escorting players to the bathroom, that sort of thing.' Several tennis insiders have expressed surprise at the clunkiness of Wimbledon's first crack at ELC, given the AELTC's reputation for meticulous preparation. 'I would have expected them to run a shadow operation for at least one tournament before going live with it,' said another seasoned official. 'You have to test these things in a competitive matchplay situation for the weak points to show up.' As for Nick Kyrgios, the agent provocateur of the locker room, he told the Whistleblowers podcast that the introduction of ELC had been 'an absolute s--- show', adding: 'I feel like Wimbledon just dropped it in and it's been a disaster... Maybe Wimbledon should just be one of the tournaments where its traditions never change. You have line umpires, and you have challenges.' One experienced tennis administrator told Telegraph Sport that a video-review facility – which is present at the three other majors – would help avoid situations like the Kartal incident, where chair umpire Nico Helwerth felt unable to make a very obvious 'out' call because Hawk-Eye had stopped working. But Graham suggested that this doubling up of technology could create problems as well as resolve them. 'Imagine a situation where Hawk-Eye had called the ball out but a video review showed chalk dust flying. As a tournament, your credibility would take a long time to recover.'
