England pin loss on 'emotional defending'

England captain Leah Williamson blamed emotions for her team's uncharacteristic performance in their 2-1 loss to France in their opening game of Women's Euro 2025 on July 5, saying they failed to leave the dressing room before kick-off.

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Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore struck in the first half for France to leave England's travelling fans in stunned silence at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich. While Keira Walsh pulled one back in the 87th minute and the Lionesses had some near-misses towards the end, it was too little too late for the reigning champions.

“I’m disappointed there was some cheap sort of emotional defending in the first half, when you take waves of attack like that you leave yourself open to those sorts of things,” Williamson said of their poor one-on-one defending.

“I’m just frustrated because I think the football that we played near the end, and the game plan, could’ve worked. We just didn’t execute it exceptionally well.