England left with it all to do after shocking start to Euro 2025 title defence

No team wants to lose the opening match at an international tournament. Obviously. But you especially don’t want to lose your opening match if you are in a Group of Death. And you certainly don’t want to lose it if there have been concerns about how convincing you are as a team coming into the tournament. And you definitely don’t want to do it in a manner that exposes all your weaknesses and leaves you feeling relieved the scoreline isn’t any higher.

England lost 2-1 to France in Zürich in a game that brought to an end Sarina Wiegman’s unbeaten run as a manager in European Championships. It was a rude awakening for the holders who will have hoped that a hard fought match against another top 10 side would have demonstrated their ability to go deep in the tournament. In truth, it was hardly competitive, despite Keira Walsh sparking a late flurry of pressure by pulling a goal back in the 87th minute.

England have started their two previous international tournaments in a slow fashion. Against Austria at Old Trafford in 2022, they ground out a 1-0 win and against Haiti in Brisbane in 2023, they needed Georgia Stanway to retake a penalty in order to win the match. It looked like they were going to buck the trend against France when Alessia Russo finished off a rebounded Lauren Hemp shot after only 14 minutes. England had begun confidently, bolstered by Lauren James starting, and looked dangerous. But with VAR showing that Beth Mead was a millimetre offside in the build-up, England lost their lead and then their composure.

The momentum shifted on that moment. France grew into the game and England began to panic, speeding the game up when there was no need. Despite the quality of their opponents, this was not a knockout match.

The longer the first half went on, the more perplexed England looked by what was happening. Oriane Jean-Francois, making her first start in an international tournament, was nonplussed at having to hold off both Lauren James and Alessia Russo.

Delphine Cascarino danced past Jess Carter with glee while Sandy Baltimore looked like she had spent the whole season training against Lucy Bronze at Chelsea just to enjoy torturing her on the international stage. Leah Williamson appeared to have forgotten that the aim of football is to pass to your team-mates. When Marie-Antoinette Katoto tapped in France’s first goal unmarked in the 36th minute, it was an embarrassingly simple one to concede, and one that summed up most of England’s problems. A loose pass turned the ball over to France, with Elise de Almeida playing Cascarino in behind Carter who couldn’t keep up. Williamson had no clue where Katoto was.

Only three minutes later, another loose pass left Bronze up the pitch so when Baltimore ended up with the ball at her feet, she could only haphazardly storm back to try to remedy the situation. Baltimore negotiated her attempts like she was playing an uncomplicated level of a video game before finishing brilliantly beyond Hampton. In the time it takes to listen to Three Lions, England had conceded as many goals as they did in their victorious Euros campaign.

The situation was fairly characteristic of this England side over the past year. Too often they have allowed opponents to play matches on their terms, whether it was the counterattacking style of Belgium or the stifling possession of Spain. The staleness of their own play has meant they end up being dictated to, and short of ideas to turn games around.

For France, this was an early example of their own credentials. They had come into the tournament with some similar squad drama to England but because it is the French, that is just fairly standard warm-up fare for them. Long-term captain Wendie Renard was dropped as was veteran forward Eugenie Le Sommer. Their new captain Griedge Mbock picked up an injury that ruled her out of the opening game too.

But new manager Laurent Bonadei has got them winning and in the past at tournaments that has been a problem for France. This early victory over England could be the exact proof of concept that helps them believe they can be contenders for the tournament as a whole.

England will be back at Stadion Letzigrund on Wednesday to face the Netherlands. It is a tie rich in narrative given that Sarina Wiegman used to manage them and England’s assistant Arjan Veurink will take over after the tournament. The current Netherlands coach Andries Jonker has made clear his displeasure at not having his contract renewed.

If they lose, they will be on a very early flight home from Switzerland.

Photograph by Martin Meissner/AP