England vs Netherlands: The Lionesses Pull Off A Decisive Victory To Advance To The Women’s Euro 2025

The holders replied to the prospect of elimination with an incredible performance in Zurich, as England crushed the Netherlands to maintain their Euro 2025 campaign.

If the Lionesses had suffered another loss after their incredibly disappointing 2-1 loss to France, they might have become the first European champions to be eliminated from the Women’s Euros group stage.

However, Sarina Wiegman’s team seemed to flourish under the strain of a knockout match and recovered magnificently, as Lauren James’ two goals propelled England to a decisive victory over a formidable Dutch squad.

The two goals came from Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone in a much better team effort from England, which puts the reigning champions in a strong position to advance to the quarterfinals if they defeat Wales on Sunday.

Wales, who play France this evening, will probably still need to defeat England.

The defending champions won handily thanks to goals from Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone, but the Chelsea star stole the show with a brace.

There were many reasons to be critical of the Lionesses following their first game, as Les Bleues dominated and controlled the majority of the match, which was not reflected in their 2-1 victory. However, Sarina Wiegman’s team responded with an incredible performance under extreme pressure in their second game, preventing a loss that would have eliminated them from the tournament after just two games. 

Regarding Lauren James’ performance

That second goal appeared to be simple, but when opponents rushed in to put pressure on her, she simply found the corner with her left foot—basically, her weaker foot. Lauren is quite talented and finds excellent roles in their ten pockets. She has the half-yard to produce something exceptional, though, since she can move freely and float in that middle structure, just in front of the Dutch defense but not so near that they can come and take her. 

However, the first goal came from well back in the Lionesses’ own box, as Hannah Hampton teed up James to score with a strong hit after she threaded a lovely ball through for Russo in behind the Dutch defense. 

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