‘That's our DNA': Russo praises ‘proper English' performance against Netherlands
England were under pressure having been beaten by France in their opening Group D fixture at Euro 2025, knowing a defeat in this match could knock them out, but the defending champions had spoken in the buildup about wanting a 'proper England' performance and Russo believed they found one. The Lionesses will be guaranteed a place in the quarter‑finals if they defeat Wales in St Gallen on Sunday.
'I think 'proper English' to us means: 'We'll work hard, we'll work until we can't run any more. We'll stick together,'' Russo said, after being named as Uefa's player of the match. 'And we know we're very dominant on the ball as well. Returning to that, that's our standard, and that's our DNA as a team, and we definitely saw that today, from the first minute right until the end. Everyone was working so hard.
'We were really dominant on first and second balls, and clinical with our chances. We probably could have scored even more as well. It was definitely something that we wanted, to return to our roots, and we know we're capable of performances like that.' When England hit such standards, she said, 'the sky's the limit'.
Sarina Wiegman said the 'proper England' phrase had been coined by her players since they responded to a disappointing draw with Portugal in February by beating the world champions Spain at Wembley in their next game. After her team again demonstrated their ability to bounce back strongly, the head coach said: 'The players use that [phrase] a lot now. [It's about] togetherness and the fight. But at the same time, when you're in possession, for me it's important that the passes we play are with purpose, and today you really saw the purpose in every pass we played, and for me that's also 'proper English'.'
The England right-back Lucy Bronze praised her fellow defenders Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood for epitomising the idea, saying: 'Alex [Greenwood] was front-footed, she was aggressive. Jess Carter was completely covering her every single minute of the game as well. You put in the hard work to make sure you're doing a job for the team and that your teammate has got your back. Those two really embodied that and gave a lot of the rest of the team confidence.'
The Netherlands head coach, Andries Jonker, admitted England's performance took his side by surprise. 'It is a heavy defeat and we didn't see it coming, we thought we would be able to compete with England,' he said. 'It was a surprise. I bear the responsibility. We were convinced this game plan would work out but unfortunately it didn't.'
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Ella Toone, the scorer of England's fourth goal, told the BBC: 'We needed that. We should be proud of ourselves. We knew we had it in us. It should be a performance that we should be really proud of. There are always doubters – we don't listen to it. We know we have the talent, but it is just about getting it out on the pitch.'
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