A look at the big talking points ahead of England's Euro 2025 opener vs France
Here, the PA news agency looks at the big talking points ahead of the Lionesses' tournament opener.
Staying cool
Can the Lionesses stay cool, both literally and figuratively?
This is the first time England have entered a major tournament as the defending champions after securing the European title on home soil. Sarina Wiegman's much-changed side enter this tournament in Switzerland with huge expectations to bring the trophy home again.
The worst of the heat wave in Zurich – where it hit 34 degrees on Wednesday – has subsided, but the mercury is still set to hover around 26 degrees even at the 9pm local (8pm UK) kick-off.
Lauren James watch
Chelsea forward Lauren James marked her return from three months out of action with an assist in England's 7-0 send-off victory over Jamaica in Leicester after coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute.
Lauren James is BACK! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/wojRYHUzKz
— (C)helsea FC Women 🏆🏆🏆 (@ChelseaFCW) June 29, 2025
When she is fit, the 23-year-old, who scored three goals and added the same number of assists at the 2023 World Cup, is one of the most potent weapons in Wiegman's arsenal, and successfully managing her return – as well as how best to employ her – could be key to England's success.
No room for error
Group D is arguably the tournament's Group of Death, with 10th-ranked side France and 2017 champions the Netherlands one place below them, as well as newcomers Wales keen to prove they will not be satisfied with a participation ribbon.
Our #WEURO2025 campaign begins TOMORROW 🤩 pic.twitter.com/XpWza23R4j
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 4, 2025
Unlike the World Cup, when England got off to an uneven start in a group comprised of much lower-ranked opposition in China and Haiti, there will be little margin for error here, if any.
Who will score England's first goal?
Arsenal forward Beth Mead started every game of England's 2022 triumph, and was that Championship's Golden Boot winner as well as the player of the tournament.
But much has changed since, including the ascendance of her Arsenal team-mate and this season's Women's Super League Golden Boot winner Alessia Russo, who will be itching to assert herself early at Euro 2025.
Where's Wendie?
Former France captain Wendie Renard's omission from Laurent Bonadei's side came as a shock to many – including former Lyon team-mate and England defender Lucy Bronze – and it now remains to be seen whether or not that decision was correct.
Centre-back Renard, 34, has played 168 times for France, scoring 39 goals, and was left out alongside France's top goalscorer Eugenie le Sommer, 36. While both have had tremendous success with Lyon, France's best result at the Euros was in 2022, when they reached the semi-finals.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
Five million watch Sabalenka beat Raducanu
A peak TV audience of five million people watched Aryna Sabalenka beat Emma Raducanu in straight sets in the third round of Wimbledon. Raducanu's latest Centre Court appearance attracted the third-highest peak for a non-final match in four years behind only her own fourth-round clash with Lulu Sun last year and Andy Murray's match with John Isner in were also over 1.2 million requests on BBC iPlayer, making it the most-streamed match of the Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, said: "Wimbledon has the ability to mesmerise the nation and the Sabalenka v Raducanu match was one of those special moments that brought audiences to BBC Sport in their millions." He added: "We're proud to make these iconic and unforgettable sporting moments available to everyone free-to-air across TV, radio and online - and there's still plenty of drama to come in week two."BBC Sport has recorded 31.6 million online requests for Wimbledon 2025, with 7.3 million of those coming on the opening 31.6 million online requests is a 50% increase year-on-year and the highest-ever digital engagement for the tournament's opening continues across BBC Sport on TV, radio, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website/app and social platforms.
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
Philipsen wins stage one to claim first yellow jersey
Jasper Philipsen will wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his career as he won stage one of the 2025 Tour de France.A sprint finish was expected after a flat stage beginning and ending in Lille, and Alpecin-Deceuninck's lead-out train delivered the 27-year-old in the perfect position to claim the stage Belgian rider ended up beating Biniam Girmay by a comfortable margin to claim his 10th stage win on the Tour."It's really amazing," said Philipsen. "My 10th victory is something I will never forget."The team performance was incredible. I think we were there all day. It was very nervous but we knew it could be our day and we have to be at the front and we were there in the split."The team did amazing and in the end we could just use our strength and finish it off."Philipsen claimed four stage wins in 2023 and finished that edition of the Tour with the green jersey as the points classification leader."I have dreamt about [the yellow jersey]," he added. "Already I had the green jersey from two years ago but to have the yellow jersey hanging somewhere in my house is amazing."More to follow.
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Lewis Hamilton reacts after missing out on British GP pole: ‘We're making progress'
Lewis Hamilton insists his Ferrari team are 'making progress' despite missing out on pole position at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton, who was in the running for pole in his first Silverstone weekend as a Ferrari driver, made an error in the final corner of his final lap in qualifying and ultimately finished fifth-fastest. Max Verstappen took a surprise pole for Red Bull, beating the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to top spot. Yet Hamilton, who has not qualified in the top three all season, was upbeat in the media pen afterwards. 'I'm really pleased with the progress and with the direction,' he said. 'My engineer and I have been really gelling a lot better in terms of how we set the car up, and I'm much happier in the car. 'The lap was really nice right up until the last corner, I had a little bit of understeer. I don't know if it was the kerb, but I just lost it. It cost me just over a tenth so that would definitely have put me on the front row. "We are making progress. There's still more to make but we had the upgrade in the last race and we are improving our process, the way we go about our weekends. I definitely feel like we're pushing to have better results.' Hamilton is a nine-time winner at Silverstone and won last year's entertaining grand prix, which included a period of rain. Wet weather is on the forecast for Sunday. "I just want to be in the fight,' he added. 'I don't know which one is best [hot track or rain]. "I'm not even going to bother thinking about it. I'll get some good rest tonight and I'll come and attack as best as I can tomorrow. Little bit far behind where we want to be. "It's been amazing, to be in the red car here and to see Brits shift from the outfits that I had previously and now to red with the Ferrari badge has been pretty amazing. The support has been incredible.
