Latest news with #StadionLetzigrund
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
LIVE: Germany vs Spain – Women's Euro 2025 semifinal
Germany face Spain in the second semifinal at the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 competition. The match at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, kicks off at 9pm (19:00 GMT).
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
England's Lionesses are odds-on favourites in tough women's Euro 2025 quarter-final clash against red-hot Sweden
England's reward for failing to top their European Championship group is a clash with red-hot Sweden in Zurich on Thursday night. The Scandinavian nation regularly boast some of the best players on the continent but have struggled to put it together in recent tournaments. Their dominant group stage - which consisted of three wins, eight goals scored and only one conceded - has raised hope that they could topple the defending champions. Yet, Sky Bet still make the Lionesses, who empathically bounced back from their opening game defeat by France, favourites for the quarter-final clash. Odds on Sarina Wiegman's team win at full time are 1/1, while a Sweden victory is priced at 9/4 and odds on the draw at 21/10. A 2-1 defeat by France at the start of the competition left England in a precarious position but they responded with a 4-0 win over the Netherlands and a 6-1 demolition of Wales. It means that England and Sweden are among the competition's highest scorers, with the chances of a goal-fest at the Stadion Letzigrund likely. In light of this, Sky Bet have priced both teams to score in the match at 8/11, while the rare scenario of both teams scoring in both halves priced at 12/1. Sky Bet odds Sweden vs England: Sweden 9/4 England 1/1 Draw 21/10 Sky Bet odds Sweden vs England Both Teams to Score: Yes: 8/11 No: 1/1
Reuters
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Hot weather, cool tempers as Germans and Swedes meet at Women's Euros
ZURICH, July 12 (Reuters) - Cold beer flowed from taps on a hot afternoon while German and Swedish fans sang tribal songs ahead of their final Women's Euros group game in Zurich on Saturday, but there was no sign of the kind of alcohol-fuelled violence that has besmirched so many major men's championships. At the fan zone on the city's Europaplatz, Swedish fans outside one bar burst into song, roaring "Stand up, we are gold and blue!" while their white-clad German counterparts stood and raised their glasses in salute. The two sides meet to decide the top two places in Group C on Saturday at the city's Stadion Letzigrund, and before the game they mingled freely, with only a discreet police presence keeping an eye on the two sets of fans. "I think there's a lot more hospitality in women's football," Swedish fan Oscar Berg said in a packed downtown beer garden where he was sitting with German fan Karin Schoch, who had travelled to Zurich from her home near Stuttgart earlier in the day. "I think we both enjoy the game, and even though we're only meeting each other today, I think we can both agree on our love for football, and we can discuss it in a fun way," Berg said. "The atmosphere is not like this (at men's football in Germany), it's different - it's okay, but it's great here, this is better," Schoch said. Alongside the Swedish and German colours, there were shirts from Switzerland, Finland, Iceland and Brazil in evidence, as well as a host of international clubs. German fans at the tournament have produced special commemorative badges for each game that they are selling for charity. The fan culture of women's football has long been different from the men's game, and though there are worries that the increasing popularity of the women's game might begin to attract more aggressive elements, German fan Natalie Galvowsky said the only difference she noticed so far was in numbers. "I've been following the German team since 2019, the amount of supporters is a lot different. When we look back to 2019, I think there were 10,000 people in the stadium in Germany, and today we can fill really, really big stadiums, like 44,000 people," she told Reuters. "On the men's side, you can't do it like this," she said, indicating the fans mingling behind her. "Here, Sweden and Germany are together, celebrating together, sitting next to each other, and I think when you're going to the men's matches, you don't have this atmosphere." A few metres away, Sweden's "Soft Hooligans" fan group was preparing for its march to the stadium, with adults and children having their faces painted and drummers adjusting their equipment for a long night of musical support ahead. "I think that's the first time at the Euros where the other team had the majority here at the fan zone. In St. Gallen and Basel there were more Germans than the others," Galvowsky said. "It's really peaceful, and I think it's good to see how we are sitting together ... we talked with them, so yeah, really friendly." Even though spirits were higher than the soaring temperature as kick-off approached, the day passed off without incident. "No arrests, and everyone was in a good mood and looking forward to the match," the Zurich city police told Reuters.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
England left exposed in midfield as Sarina Wiegman struggles to strike a balance
It was a long walk for Georgia Stanway, head down, as she trudged around the edge of the Stadion Letzigrund pitch in front of a sell-out crowd. England trailed 2-0 and she had been replaced by Grace Clinton in the 77th minute. The Bayern Munich midfielder has had a long road to recovery, too — 70 to 80 rehab sessions — since undergoing knee surgery on January 30. Her rustiness showed as, alongside Keira Walsh, the duo struggled to get a grip in the midfield area and were overrun. Advertisement Before starting England's opening game against France on Saturday, Stanway had only played 135 minutes of football since her injury. Given her importance in midfield, and England's lack of depth in that area, she seemed a must-starter against a front-footed, technically proficient and physical France midfield. The bigger surprise was seeing Lauren James start. Up until last Sunday, she had not played a game for three months because of a hamstring injury and only played 30 minutes against Jamaica last weekend. The gamble seemed to have paid off, though, when in the opening minute James, playing in the advanced midfield role, found herself with a great goalscoring opportunity but failed to hit the target, then delivered a promising deep cross which her team-mates could not reach. The Chelsea forward instigated an England goal on the quarter-hour mark which was eventually disallowed. She cut inside and ran at the French defenders before switching the ball to Beth Mead who was in space. Pauline Peyraud-Magnin palmed Hemp's shot away and Alessia Russo was quickest to react, but VAR found Mead to be a millimetre offside. Advertisement England struggled to recover from that disappointment and, from then on in, were architects of their own downfall. They were sloppy in possession, particularly in midfield which looked exposed. Sarina Wiegman put that down to losing the ball early in the build-up play. Her team created their own problems by playing short passes which allowed France to press aggressively. Wiegman wanted her side to skip players and play balls in behind, but they were not tight enough on the ball nor quick enough to play out of the press. Stanway and Walsh failed to get into any kind of rhythm and looked off the pace. They were not the only ones. France's technical midfield trio of Oriane Jean-Francois, Grace Geyoro and captain Sakina Karchaoui stayed compact, were intense but tidy, hoovered up second balls and ruled the middle of the pitch. Advertisement As shown below, they released the ball quickly out wide to release wingers Sandy Baltimore and Delphine Cascarino and wreaked havoc, terrorising England full-backs Jess Carter and Lucy Bronze. 'It felt like they could go wherever they wanted,' said Carter, who thought England were a 'little bit scared' and not 'aggressive enough'. 'We all have days where we're just having a bit of a 'mare on the ball and, unfortunately, today there was more than one player doing that.' This was not a game where England could afford to let standards drop. 'France is a proper team,' said Wiegman. 'You have to do things right.' Captain Leah Williamson described the one-v-one defending as 'cheap' and disagreed that the defence was disjointed, instead pointing to her team being too 'expansive' and failing to keep the ball. Advertisement By contrast, as shown by the pass map below, England's midfield was left exposed with a big hole in the middle of the pitch. For all of James' offensive talents, her freer role leaves the midfield vulnerable. Mead tucked in more centrally to compensate but it was not effective. James has more often played on the wing for the Lionesses and only in the No 10 role when England have played a 3-5-2 with more bodies in midfield. Should Wiegman have started her on the wing or even kept it tighter for an hour and then brought James off the bench? Ella Toone or Grace Clinton do not offer the same attacking threat as James and may have been too safe against such a hard-hitting opponent. Equally, looking to the bench, England do not have any depth behind Walsh and Stanway that could have elevated their levels. Advertisement Wiegman did not have any regrets about her starting XI and did not think starting James was a mistake. 'We'd be having a different conversation,' she pointed out, had James scored in the first minute or a team-mate had got a head to her cross. Indeed, if Russo's goal had stood, would we have been questioning Wiegman's decisions? You need a lot of quality and a bit of luck in major tournaments. England had neither. They were unlucky to have their goal ruled out and that France's second goal stood following another VAR check on Maelle Lakrar's challenge on Russo in the build-up, but the reality is they were still outclassed. Walsh's well-hit strike in the 87th minute reignited the England machine but it was too little, too late. Advertisement England could not afford to start this tournament slowly and must improve against the Netherlands on Wednesday to stand any chance of making the knockout stages. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. England, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
Times
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
England vs France: live updates from Euro 2025
Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich has a superb Euro 2025 line-up (Kit Shepard writes). As well as tonight's crunch game, it hosts England vs Netherlands on Wednesday, and Sweden vs Germany next Saturday. It will also host a mouth-watering quarter-final involving a team from each of the two strongest groups (Group C and Group D) and then a semi-final which should involve Spain. However, the venue is not perfectly suited to football. The athletics track means fans are a long way from the pitch, while the capacity of 22,700 feels small for some of the tournament's biggest games. The ground is home to Zurich's two big football clubs, Grasshoppers and FC Zurich. Of course, athletics is held here too. It was at this stadium in 1960 that Armin Hary, the German sprinter, became the first human to run the 100m in ten seconds flat. The judges were so shocked that they decided Hary's time must have been down to a false start. He was allowed a repeat run 35 minutes later and finished in ten seconds again. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. While Zurich does not quite feel awash with football fans yet, it is tough to avoid the Euros around the city (Kit Shepard writes). Adverts promoting the tournament can be seen on billboards, at tram stops and in supermarkets. They often involve the Switzerland players, who have thrown themselves into promoting the tournament. Lia Wälti, the Switzerland captain and Arsenal midfielder, has even set up an Instagram page to showcase the country and (presumably) prove it offers more than merely fondue and eye-watering prices. One Pepsi advert features David Beckham and Nadine Riesen, the Switzerland defender who looks like Alessia Russo's long lost twin. Now that would be unprecedented sibling-based drama even for Russo, whose brother is currently on Love Island. Good evening and welcome to The Times' live coverage of England vs France as Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses side begin their quest for glory at Euro 2025. With the Lionesses set to kick off the defence of their Euros title with their Group D opener in Zurich, stay tuned for live updates and analysis from Kit Shepard at the Stadion Letzigrund throughout the evening.
