Soccer-England itching to get back on pitch at Euro 2025, Stanway says
ZURICH (Reuters) -England midfielder Georgia Stanway said the time for talking was over and their game against the Netherlands on Wednesday could not come soon enough for the defending European champions.
England face the Dutch in a must-win game at the Women's Euros after their shock 2-1 loss to France on Saturday, and the 26-year-old said she and her teammates were itching to get back on the pitch to put things right.
"We want to stop talking. Hence why I didn't want to do the press conference today, because I'm fed up with talking now, it's time that we focus and we want to put things on the grass," Stanway said at a press conference at England's base camp on Monday.
"We want to make sure that we put things right on the pitch, we want to create action from what happened on Saturday, and the only way to do that is in the game on Wednesday. And yeah, I think we're all just dying for the game to come around as fast as possible."
If England lose on Wednesday, their only chance of reaching the knockout round is if France lose to Wales.
One thing they have taken from all the talking since Saturday is that they need to get back to being "proper England".
"We want to go back to what we're good at, traditional style of football in terms of total tackles, getting back down to the roots and remembering why we're here, remembering playing for the little girl that wanted to be here," Stanway said.
England's midfield was one of their weaknesses against France, and the Bayern Munich midfielder was particularly disappointed with her own performance on Saturday. A friend put it in perspective.
"I had a message from somebody, and it was: 'It's just like a bad night out, and you want to forget it as much as possible,'" she said, to laughter from journalists.
Stanway had knee surgery in January and there were questions about whether she would be fit for the Euros, but she sees the enforced break from playing as a blessing in disguise.
"It was the first time I'd missed games for 10 years, it's my first injury in 10 years," she said. "I've done many rehab sessions, many sessions to get fitter, faster, stronger.
"That's the time when you're able to work on things in the gym that you haven't had time to work on before. I've got test results now that I've not seen in the last two years, because they've never been that good before."
Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood and Lauren James also recently returned to the squad after lengthy injury layoffs.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing in Zurich; editing by Clare Fallon)
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