England v Wales live: Women’s Euro 2025 team news as rivals clash for quarter-final place – UK Times

Sarina Wiegman says England have to make sure their Euro 2025 derby against Wales does not become a “fighting game” and urged the Lionesses to focus on their own performance in order to reach the quarter-finals.

After beating the Netherlands 4-0 England can reach the quarter-finals with a win over rivals Wales, who are making their tournament debuts at the Euros and are the lowest-ranked side in the 16-team competition.

Wales are all-but out of the Euros and require a four-goal win in their final group game against England while also needing France to beat the Netherlands.

“I think off the back of that disappointing result, it was a bit more reinforced and sort of taking a step back and remembering why we’re here and how we all got here, the journeys that we’ve been on, we’ve touched on that a lot, coming into all the prep camps, we’ve all spoken about our journeys and what it feels like to be here.

“Sort of us going back and remembering all that, especially after that first game, that disappointment, it’s like, right, we’re here to win, we want to do that and I think that just shows the mentality of the group to be able to bounce back in the way that we did .

“This England want to show and I think it’s about like that fight in us.”

History-making Jess Fishlock will let her double achievement sink in after Wales’ Euro 2025 campaign comes to an end.

Wales are all-but eliminated from the tournament in Switzerland after a 4-1 defeat against France leaves them needing to beat England and manufacture a nine-goal swing in goal difference in their final Group D game on Sunday.

But it was a historic night for Fishlock as not only did she score her country’s first goal at a major tournament, she also became the oldest women to score at the European Championships at the age of 38 years and 176 days when she prodded home Ceri Holland’s improvised cross.

When informed of her age record, she said on ITV1: “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. But I couldn’t get these accolades without my entire team behind me.”

Wales have been all-but eliminated from Euro 2025 after a 4-1 defeat to France in Group D.

Rhian Wilkinson’s side were put to the sword by Les Bleus in St Gallen, despite Jess Fishlock scoring her country’s first-ever goal at a major tournament.

Clara Mateo, Kadidiatou Diani, Amel Majri and Grace Geyoro bagged for France to leave Wales needing to beat England and manufacture a nine-goal swing in goal difference in Sunday’s final match.

Even if they can achieve that unlikely feat, they also need France to beat the Netherlands.

Former Chelsea midfielder Sophie Ingle returned to the pitch off the bench in the defeat against France so could start following a year out due to a knee injury. Olivia Clark may return in goal and Hayley Ladd could also return to the starting line-up.

Possible Wales XI: Clark; Roberts, Evans, Green, Woodham; Ladd, Ingle, James, Holland; Fishlock, Hughes

England made some key changes for the Netherlands game and looked to have found a settled formula with Lauren James on the right wing, Ella Toone in midfield and Jess Carter at centre-back. Sarina Wiegman could name an unchanged team in order to build some momentum and consistency.

Possible England XI: Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Walsh, Stanway, Toone; James, Russo, Hemp

Chelsea forward Aggie Beever-Jones admits it can be difficult to ignore the “outside noise” as one of England’s buzziest new faces at the Women’s European Championship.

The 21-year old memorably netted a 30-minute hat-trick on her first senior start for the Lionesses at Wembley in late May, and she was a favourite of former Blues-turned-United States boss Emma Hayes, who predicted Beever-Jones would be “a legend not just for Chelsea but for England”.

England manager Sarina Wiegman handed Beever-Jones her major tournament debut in the 84th minute of the defending champions’ 4-0 group-stage triumph over the Netherlands on Wednesday, though many had hoped she would have been introduced a game sooner, in their 2-1 defeat to France.

England’s Lauren James is among the best players at Euro 2025 for creating “something special” and unlocking a game in a moment, team-mate Lucy Bronze has said.

James scored England’s opening goal in the 4-0 win over Netherlands with a powerful left-footed shot into the top corner and added a second after half-time as the Lionesses bounced back from their defeat to France.

The 23-year-old had been an injury doubt before the tournament due to a hamstring injury but was moved to the right wing against the Netherlands and sparked England’s big win with her opening goal.

If given the choice, who out of Sweden or Germany would England prefer to play should the holders make it past Wales and into the Euro 2025 quarter-finals on Sunday night?

After a frenetic opening 10 minutes in Zurich, where Germany were able to carve Sweden apart at will, the answer appeared obvious.

A little over 20 minutes later, as Sweden counter-attacked their way to triggering a capitulation in the Germany defence, that answer had completely flipped again.

In the aftermath of England’s opening defeat to France at Euro 2025, shell-shocked players were starting to realise the scale of the criticism that could come their way if they crashed out of the tournament after just two games. The criticism England received, and a lot of it came from within as well as from outside, meant there was nowhere to hide. “We finished the game against France and we got cameras and microphones shoved in our face telling us how bad we are,” said Lucy Bronze.

This is the new world the Lionesses have created, where their achievements in winning the Euros and reaching the World Cup final have rightly resulted in greater attention, but also greater scrutiny should they fall short of those standards. Even Sarina Wiegman admitted to feeling “tense” before facing the Netherlands, where defeat would have led to elimination.