England skipper Williamson attributes team’s lacklustre performance in EURO 2025 defeat to emotional turmoil

England’s captain, Leah Williamson, attributed her team’s unexpected performance in their 2-1 defeat to France in their opening match of Women’s Euro 2025 to heightened emotions, indicating that they failed to leave those feelings behind in the dressing room prior to kick-off.

France took an early lead with goals from Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore in the first half, leaving England’s travelling supporters in stunned silence. Although Keira Walsh managed to score in the 87th minute and the Lionesses came close to equalising in the dying moments, it proved too little, too late for the defending champions.

“I’m disappointed with the cheap emotional defending we displayed in the first half. When you concede wave after wave of attacks, you inevitably leave yourself vulnerable,” Williamson lamented, reflecting on the team’s poor individual defending.

“I’m just frustrated because the football we played towards the end and our game plan had the potential to work. We simply didn’t implement it as effectively as we needed to.”

“We had a chat at halftime as players, and we acknowledged our individual and collective responsibilities. Although the atmosphere was calm, we decided it was vital to let go of the emotions, leave them in the changing room, and approach the second half with a pragmatic mindset, injecting some energy into the game.”

This defeat marked the first time manager Sarina Wiegman has lost in a European Championship, having previously guided both the Netherlands (2017) and England (2022) to victory.

“Naturally, we’re frustrated. We had three excellent weeks of training, but that doesn’t guarantee a win,” Wiegman explained. “We also understand that France is a formidable side, and we needed to perform exceptionally well. We simply didn’t get it right at crucial moments.”

England almost found the net first, but Alessia Russo’s effort was disallowed after VAR determined that Beth Mead was offside in the lead-up.

Wiegman also believed that Russo was fouled before France’s second goal, but VAR did not agree.

“I’m not the referee, but I am disappointed,” she expressed.

Historically, England has had slow starts in major tournaments, narrowly defeating Austria 1-0 to commence Euro 2022 and edging past Haiti 1-0 in the 2023 World Cup, both leading to their first final appearance.

“I can’t really compare the opening games of various tournaments,” Wiegman added. “However, facing France is a completely different scenario than any other tournament opener, as they are a world-class team, and we’re a very good team ourselves.”

England now faces a daunting challenge on Wednesday against the Netherlands, who triumphed 3-0 over Wales in the other Group D fixture on Saturday.