Key events
England have been going through their final preparations ahead of facing Wales on Sunday. All 23 players trained and as Tom Garry reported earlier, the Lionesses have a clean bill of health,
Got any thoughts on the tournament so far? Feel free to drop me an email via the link above. After last night’s performance, can you see anyone apart from Spain winning it?
Elis James
It had to be her. Wales’s debut at a European Championship has meant a group stage full of new experiences, but it felt fitting that a 38-year‑old Jess Fishlock, double Champions League winner and icon of the women’s game, would register the first Wales goal in a major tournament against France on Wednesday night.
Three years ago, it felt cosmically appropriate that it should be Gareth Bale who scored the only Wales goal of the 2022 World Cup, a Welsh legend ticking off another career ambition before retirement. But unlike the postmortems and recrimination prompted by such a disappointing performance from the men’s team in Qatar, this time there is no judgment from the Welsh support out in Switzerland, only pride. Wales face England on Sunday having lost their first two games of Group D, and yet there is no doubt back home that Rhian Wilkinson’s team are history makers.
The women’s game in Wales is growing at a rapid rate, and the Red Wall, the thousands of drunken but good-natured cultural attaches who have followed the men’s team for years, have begun to support the women’s team with the same fervour. There were just under 4,000 in attendance at the first game against the Netherlands, outnumbering and outsinging the Dutch, a fact not lost on this Welsh squad, who remember away followings numbering in single digits.
Elis James on why the real legacy of this Wales team will be decided after the tournament is over:
England squad fully fit ahead of Wales clash
Tom Garry
England have a fully-fit squad of 23 players training here in Zurich under blue skies, in another pre-match boost for the defending champions. The expectation seems to be that Sarina Wiegman will be very likely to name an unchanged starting XI, barring any unwanted twists today. The mood appears relatively relaxed, business-like and confident.
“It’s exactly where I want to be. I feel comfortable enough to push for my place as well as getting pushed every day to become a better person and player. So I’m really, really enjoying it. Hopefully we can make our mark and keep going.”
Aggie Beever-Jones is relishing her first experience of a major tournament with England. The Chelsea striker came off the bench against the Netherlands for Alessia Russo in the 84th minute of England’s 4-0 defeat of the Netherlands, and hopes to play a part on Sunday against Wales. Russo made her name as a ‘finisher’ at the tournament in 2022, Beever-Jones is hoping to have a similar impact this time around and has been speaking to Suzanne Wrack in Zurich:
We have plenty of live action across the Guardian’s sports pages today.
Daniel Gallan has eyes on the the Lions latest warmup game against the AUNZ Invitational XV:
While Rob Smyth is on the first shift for today’s OBO of the third Test of England’s summer series against India:
If you’re in need of a little catchup on last night’s big game in Group B, I will point you in the direction of Louise Taylor’s report from the Wankdorf Stadium, where she saw a fabulous game between Spain and Italy:
If that preamble felt a bit harsh on Poland and Denmark, who will play out the deadest of rubbers at the Swissporarena in Lucerne at the same time as the other Group C fixture tonight, I apologise. The downside of a 16-team tournament is that it can be brutal for teams who lose their opening two games to have to stick around knowing they have nothing to play for. That is all I really have to say about that, there’s a reason this game will only be on ITVX.
Preamble
To lean on a tired cliché: sometimes it is better to be lucky, than good. No would accuse England of having been good against France but that defeat and the subsequent win over the Netherlands mean that barring an utter disaster against the Welsh on Sunday the Lionesses will come out of Group D in second. Why is this lucky? Well it would certainly be advantageous to be on the opposite side of the draw to Spain, the team who have looked a class apart so far during the tournament, if your goal is to reach the final. But can that luck stretch further?
Knockout qualification is not on the line for Sweden or Germany after both teams earned the maximum six points from their opening two fixtures, but the prize of finishing top of Group C is. The winners of Group C will play the second-place team in Group D in the quarter-final, do you see where I am going with this? While perfectly illustrating the wonderful simplicity that is a 16-team international tournament, tonight’s meeting at the Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich is a real pick your poision, with a defeat meaning you will face France and a win bringing on England.
For the Lionesses, they would say that they do not care who they face next. They beat both of these potential opponents en route to winning the trophy four years ago. Germany are ranked third in the world and have looked good for it so far in Switzerland, while Sweden, who are yet to concede a goal, are one place below England in sixth. Either way, the tournament is shaping up nicely. Wouldn’t it be great if Uefa saw the error of their ways and reduced the men’s Euros back down to 16 too? Wishful thinking, I know.
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