Wales captain Angharad James said the motivation to beat England and knock the holders out of Euro 2025 is “in our blood and DNA” as the rivals prepare to meet in the final round of the group stage.
Wales are the lowest-ranked nation at Euro 2025 and landed in the group of death at their major tournament debut, being drawn alongside the last two champions in England and the Netherlands as well as France.
Wales are all-but eliminated after a 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands was followed by a 4-1 defeat to France but James said her team-mates are focused on delivering a performance to be proud of.
“First and foremost we concentrate on ourselves and delivering the gameplan and getting the performance right,” she said. “If we do then the result will hopefully come with that.
“As a Welsh woman, do you want to knock England out? Of course you do. It’s in our blood, it’s in our DNA, the rivalry has always been and always will be there.
“[But] you have to come back to the occasion and it’s just another game. Hopefully we can perform in a better way than we did against France and keep improving our performances and hopefully the result will come with that.”
England can reach the quarter-finals with a win in St Gallen and Sarina Wiegman said her message to her players was not being dragged into a “fighting game” – suggesting that the Lionesses are braced for a physical approach from their opponents.
“As soon as this group was announced we knew we would have three very tough games but three games that you want to play in,” James said. “This group has come very far in the last few games and we’re looking to step it up again against England.
“I do think the rivalry, the history behind Wales-England, whether it’s football, rugby, whatever it may be, there’s always a rivalry there, I think we’re ready for the fight tomorrow and we will be preparing to bring all of that.”
Head coach Rhian Wilkinson said Wales are out to “spoil the party”.
“These women have fought for so long, many of them their whole careers, to have this opportunity and I will not allow us to feel like we’re just here to just participate. So we will continue to celebrate,” Wilkinson said.
“England, of course there’s a storyline. Why wouldn’t we go towards a rivalry? This will only benefit the women’s game. We’re going to give them as much as possible, push them to the very end.
“And it is the very end. We’re in an incredibly close group. England will be forced to play a strong line-up because it is such a close group and there’s also a goal differential. So for my women, we get to show up and spoil the party and that’s a wonderful job.”
Wiegman’s team embraced the spirit of “proper England” to bounce back from their opening defeat against the Netherlands and the Dutch coach insisted her players are passionate about the Wales fixture as well.
“For them it is a big game but for us it is too. We want to win and get through the group stage. There is passion but we have passion too. We want to be really focused and good on the ball. We have to be patient.”
