STADION LETZIGRUND — In the delirium of the Swiss heat, through the gust of the maniacally waving tricolore, at least it was easy to stifle the sighs. It was not supposed to go like this, England beginning their European Championship title defence with a disastrous – and painfully self-inflicted – defeat to France.
In three first-half minutes, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Balitmore ripped through two floundering full-backs in Jess Carter and Lucy Bronze. All the warning signs, everything they feared could possibly go wrong, did. The passes were sloppy, the possession ceded needlessly.
A torrid night for England’s full-backs (Photo: AP)Granted, there will be few greater tests at Euro 2025 than France, the perennial semi-finalists who could yet win the whole thing. A few trumpets at one end of the pitch tried to proclaim football was coming home until smarting reality, and its old friend VAR, started to pinch.
But it all started before that when Lauren Hemp lost Elise De Almeida. Carter will be having nightmares about the pace of Delphine Cascarino and the horde of gold bibs that subsequently exploded onto the pitch from the French bench.
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Sarina Wiegman desperately tried to both shore things up on the left and inject some momentum. On the hour mark she whipped off Carter, Mead and James and threw on Niamh Charles, and the two goalscorers from the 2022 final in Chloe Kelly and Ella Toone.
It set up a frantic finish, yet too little, too late.
Now England must have everything crossed they can do the same. Wednesday’s second group match against the Netherlands, who eased past Wales earlier in the day, is now all or nothing.
One side rose to that challenge – the other did not.
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