England v Netherlands
Group D, UEFA Women's EURO 2025
5pm BST, Wednesday 9 July 2025
Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland

Sarina Wiegman and Alessia Russo spoke to the press ahead of England’s Group D match-up against the Netherlands.

Here is what they had to say.

Wiegman on where England are looking to improve:

We’ve had conversations with the team, we watched some clips and what we spoke about is that we actually started really well that game and we finished really well but in between, we didn’t do good enough. We want to execute better, we want to be less sloppy and we want to make better decisions. But then you move on to the next game, so we talked about our gameplan, we trained it a bit and tomorrow, we’ll go.

On the pressure on England going into the Netherlands game:

It's going to be an intense game and we knew this was going to be a hard group. What we are focusing on is our gameplan and just executing that and doing your task and having conversations with players, sticking together, talking to each other and that’s what we want to do in the game too. What we are occupied with is playing football, executing a task, sticking together and getting the right connections, working really hard and doing everything to win the game.

On the difficulty of Group D:

Before this tournament, we knew with the group that we’re in that it was going to be a very tough group and it was going to be a different opening game because you’re also playing against a top country. You want to win but we didn’t but now we have another game. The approach is the same because we go out there and we want to win that game.

We're LIVE with Sarina Wiegman and Alessia Russo as they preview tomorrow’s #WEURO2025 match against the Netherlands. 💪 https://t.co/veHacLg2y1

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 8, 2025

Russo on the France performance:

It's tournament football and I think you go through lots of highs and lows to get where you want to be in tournaments. Ultimately, we were disappointed after that game, more so within ourselves as well. We came up against a great French but we know that we can be better and we have really high standards as a team. We’ve had a good few days to switch off, reflect and now we’re ready to go again.

On the importance of playing without fear:

That’s some of the conversations that we’ve had within the team. We have so many great players and we want everyone to be as free as possible out on that pitch tomorrow night and going forward. It’s a big part of what we are as a team. We have players that can create something out of nothing. I think making sure everyone is in a good headspace going into that game tomorrow is important.

On the desire to right the wrongs of the opening game:

I was saying before, when you have a disappointing result in football, all you want to do is get back out on the pitch and play again. Luckily with tournaments, it comes around a bit quicker than normal, so four days is plenty for us to want to be back out on that pitch. We’ve had a few great days of training and getting back to it as a team, so I think everyone’s ready and looking forward to tomorrow night.

On what England can take from the France game:

Every tournament makes me learn something different and brings out different parts of my game and mentality and things like that. You have to adapt and you learn a lot from these kinds of experiences. We’ve also got players like Lucy and Alex who have been to lots of major tournaments and have a wealth of experience. We can lean on them in times as well. It’s a different scenario but one that we as a team are ready for and looking forward to. We’ve played in high pressure moments before and ultimately, we know this is one of them too.

Netherlands in profile

Nickname: Oranje
Coach: Andries Jonker
Captain: Sherida Spitse
Last encounter: England 3-2 Netherlands, 3 December 2023
FIFA Women's World Cup best performance: Runners-up in 2019
UEFA Women's EURO best performance: Winners in 2017

Match Stats

 

● England will face the Netherlands for the third time in the UEFA Women’s EURO, beating the Dutch 2-1 in the 2009 semi-finals before losing 3-0 to Sarina Wiegman’s then side in the 2017 semi-finals.

● Netherlands won just one of their first ten competitive fixtures against England (D3 L6), but have since won two of the last three (L1). They did however lose the most recent meeting, despite leading 2-0 at half time.

● After losing 2-1 to France in their Group D opener, England will be looking to avoid losing successive UEFA Women’s EURO group stage matches for the first time since a three-match losing streak between June 2005 and August 2009.

● With their 3-0 win over Wales in their opener, Netherlands have now won nine of their last eleven UEFA Women’s EURO games (D1 L1), a run which has seen them keep five clean sheets in the process and average 2.2 goals per game.

● England have lost three of their last five games in all competitions (W2), as many as in their previous 19 matches (W12 D4 L3), while they could lose successive games for the first time since April 2021 under Hege Riise.

● Netherlands have scored 3+ goals in five of their last seven UEFA Women’s EURO games, a run which started with a 3-0 victory over England at EURO 2017.

● This will be Sarina Wiegman’s 14th game in the competition, with only Christina Theune-Meyer and Hope Powell (both 15) managing more games at the EUROs in its history. Indeed, her next win will be her 13th there, the joint-most along with Theune-Meyer.

● Despite coming on in the 86th minute against France, Michelle Agyemang recorded the joint-most touches in the opposition’s box of any England player on MD1 (5), recording nine touches in the opponent’s box across her 14 minutes of international football so far (1 goal, 3 shots, 0.3 xG).

● England’s Lauren Hemp has been directly involved in four goals in her three appearances against the Netherlands in all competitions (two goals, two assists).

● With her two assists against Wales on MD1, Daniëlle Van de Donk became the first Netherlands player to assist two goals at the UEFA Women’s EURO on record (from 2013). Overall, she’s recorded four assists in her last three games for the national team.

England Squad News

 

Ticket Information for England women v Netherlands at EURO 2025

 

Tickets for games at EURO 2025 are being sold via UEFA. Click here for more details. 

 

Where to watch or stream England women v Netherlands?

 

This game will be broadcast in the UK on ITV Sport.

Sarina Wiegman has named her team to take on the Netherlands in England’s second Group D match-up.

There is one change to the side that faced France, with Ella Toone replacing Beth Mead in the line-up.

England: 1 Hannah Hampton, 2 Lucy Bronze, 4 Keira Walsh, 5 Alex Greenwood, 6 Leah Williamson (C), 7 Lauren James, 8 Georgia Stanway, 10 Ella Toone, 11 Lauren Hemp, 16 Jess Carter, 23 Alessia Russo

Substitutes: 3 Niamh Charles, 9 Beth Mead, 12 Maya Le Tissier, 13 Anna Moorhouse, 14 Grace Clinton, 15 Esme Morgan, 17 Michelle Agyemang, 18 Chloe Kelly, 19 Aggie Beever-Jones, 20 Jess Park, 21 Khiara Keating, 22 Lotte Wubben-Moy

Lauren James’ brace helped England reignite their hopes of a title defence at EURO 2025, as they triumphed 4-0 against the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich.

The Lionesses got off to a strong start and made it count in the first half as James fired home the opener before Stanway doubled the lead with a brilliant low shot from range.

While Alessia Russo saw a goal ruled out for offside in the build-up just after the break, James soon gave England their third with a cool finish in the box before Toone added the glitz with a fourth.

England started on the front foot once more in Zurich, but it was the Netherlands with the pick of the early chances.

Chasity Grant broke free down the right to cut back from the byline for Vivianne Miedema but a heavy touch saw the ball just evade the Dutch striker with Hannah Hampton able to claim.

The Lionesses responded well with Lauren Hemp attacking with pace after nine minutes, to cross for Russo who glanced an uncontested header just wide of the far post.

But Russo would make amends as she latched onto a pin-point pass forward from Hampton on 22 minutes, before cutting back the ball back inside to an underlapping James.

From there, it was clear James had only one ambition as she surged forward into the centre of the box before firing home with aplomb.

The momentum remained with England as Keira Walsh curled a brilliant ball into the box that Hemp couldn't quite make sufficient contact with, before Russo sent Daphne van Domselaar scrambling to deal with her header.

And on the stroke of half-time the Lionesses capitalised on the pressure to double their lead. As the Netherlands struggled to clear their lines from a deep free-kick, the ball fell to Stanway on the edge of the box who drilled a low shot in at the near-post from range.

After the break, the Lionesses looked to have made it three almost instantly as Russo nodded home from Greenwood’s cross.

But just as the striker had seen her goal cancelled out against France, once more the goal was ruled out by VAR with Leah Williamson offside in the build-up.

Despite a short spell of Dutch pressure, it did not take long until the Lionesses did have their third as Hemp put the burners on to race to the right byline.

Losing her defender, she cut back for Russo whose contact scuffed the ball to Toone. While she saw her shot blocked, James was in place once more to slot home the rebound.

And it was four shortly after, as Russo raced onto another ball over the top before holding the ball up to cut back to Toone at the edge of the box who finished beyond the reach of van Domselaar into the bottom right corner.

Russo nearly added a fifth on 82 minutes after a brilliantly worked move by England but turned her first-time shot straight at Van Domselaar.

England: 1 Hannah Hampton (Chelsea); 2 Lucy Bronze (Chelsea), 6 Leah Williamson (Arsenal), 16 Jess Carter (Gotham FC), 5 Alex Greenwood (Manchester City); 10 Ella Toone (Manchester United), 4 Keira Walsh (Chelsea), 8 Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich); 7 Lauren James (Chelsea), 23 Alessia Russo (Arsenal), 11 Lauren Hemp (Manchester City)

Substitutes: 18 Chloe Kelly (Arsenal) for James 69, 9 Beth Mead (Arsenal) for Hemp 75, 14 Grace Clinton (Manchester United) for Toone 75, 19 Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea) for Russo 84, 3 Niamh Charles (Chelsea) for Bronze 84

Subs not used: 13 Anna Moorhouse (Orlando Pride), 21 Khiara Keating (Manchester City), 12 Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United), 15 Esme Morgan (Washington Spirit), 17 Michelle Agyemang (Arsenal), 20 Jess Park (Manchester City), 22 Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal)

Goals: James 22, 60, Stanway 45+2, Toone 67

Netherlands: 1 Daphne van Domselaar; 18 Kerstin Casparij, 20 Dominique Janssen, 4 Veerle Buurman, 11 Esme Brugts; 19 Wieke Kaptein, 14 Jackie Groenen, 17 Victoria Pelova; 17 Chasity Grant, 9 Vivianne Miedema, 6 Jill Roord

Subs: 8 Sheridan Spitse for Buurman 45, 7 Lineth Beerensteyn for Roord 45, 3 Caitlin Dijkstra for Brugts 45, 10 Danielle van de Donk for Miedema 66, 21 Damaris Egurrola for Groenen 86

Subs not used: 16 Lize Kop, 23 Danielle de Jong, 2 Lynn Wilms, 5 Romee Leuchter, 13 Renate Jansen, 15 Katja Snoeijs, 22 Ilse van der Zanden