Euro 2025: Day Four Analysis and Opinion

European champions England fell to defeat at the first hurdle as France continued thier impressive form, while Wales got a rough introduction to major tournament life against the Netherlands...

We’ve now seen all 16 teams at Euro 2025, just like that. Wales’ first ever game at a major tournament didn’t go to plan, falling to a tough 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands, while the defending champions England got off to a losing start against an impressive France side, despite threatening a late comeback.

Sarina Wiegman lost her first European Championship match at the 13th time of asking. Image: Paul Terry / Sportimage

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Wales have little to be ashamed of

It was always going to be a tough. A first ever major tournament game against a team who won the Euros eight years ago and followed it up with a World Cup final two years later. Yes, it could have been even more emphatic for the Netherlands than the 3-0 scoreline, but for 44 of the opening 45 minutes, Rhian Wilkinson’s side did a great job of restricting their opponents to just one shot on target.

Naturally sitting deep in a back five, but looking to spring transitions in particular down their right when Esmee Brugts pushed on down the same side, Wales actually looked threatening at times as well as solid at the back, that was until Vivianne Miedema took charge of matters with a fine strike from the edge of the box.

That, sadly, is the drawback of a system which sees a team sit so deep. While Wales were able to crowd the Netherlands out of their box, it did offer opportunities from range, and when you have players like Miedema, it’s a risky approach to take, and they’d been given warning signs 10 minutes earlier when Jill Roord struck the post from almost the same spot.

This group gets no easier for Wales with both France and England to come, where they are is merely the reality of a squad mixed of top-end players and some who spent last season in the second division of the English domestic game.