Upsetting Starts from England and Wales

England and Wales started the Euro 2025 in Switzerland with a loss. Wales had lost their first-ever match at the European tournament, losing 3-0 to the Netherlands. Additionally, England lost to France 2-1.

It was Wales’ first time coming to the Women’s Euros, since it was their first time at Wimbledon. And their first match was against the Netherlands, European Champions in 2017 and runner-up for the World Cup. Wales was up against a strong opponent. At the start, the Netherlands was on offense, with Wales able to provide good defense. But that didn’t last long. Just after half-time, striker Vivianne Miedema scored her 100th goal for the country. And after the break, Victoria Pelova and Esmee Brugts gained two more points for the Netherlands, ending the game in a 3-0 win for the Netherlands and a loss for Wales.

“Every game is a tough game. We give it our all. It wasn’t quite good enough, we know that and we’ll learn from that,” Angharad James, captain of the Wales team, said after the match.

“But I couldn’t be prouder of this group. They mean everything to me, they always wear their hearts on their sleeves, and they’ll do it again in the next game,” she continued.

For England, they faced a similar loss. England had made the perfect start by taking the lead with a point by Alessia Russo after just 16 minutes. However, her goal was soon ruled out by VAR because Beth Med was in an offside position in the build-up. And just three minutes later, France scored another point, with Salti Baltimore kicking a goal just before halftime to secure France’s lead. And although England managed to gain at least one point with Keira Walsh kicking an awesome goal, France still won 2-1.

After the match, England defender Alex Greenwood said, “It was a disappointing, disappointing result. I think we finished the game strong, but we don’t want to be in situations like that where we’re finishing games like that. Of course not, the ideal start, but no tournament is won or lost after the first game. We have two massive games now that we must win.”

Although these two teams started with a hiccup, they still have two more games to redeem themselves.