{"id":260376,"date":"2025-07-13T01:34:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T01:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260376\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T01:34:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T01:34:25","slug":"england-women-vs-wales-women-just-another-game-the-message-from-the-lionesses-but-this-is-a-rare-tournament-grudge-match-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260376\/","title":{"rendered":"England Women vs Wales Women: ‘Just another game’ the message from the Lionesses – but this is a rare tournament grudge match | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It’s just another game” is the message being reiterated in the England camp ahead of their match against Wales.<\/p>\n

In fact, those were the exact words used by England defender Alex Greenwood in her pre-match press conference in the stadium at St Gallen, where Sunday night’s showdown will be played.<\/p>\n

“For me, it’s another game,” she said, alongside England manager Sarina Wiegman. “It’s now the most important game we’re going to play and that’s how I treat it.<\/p>\n

“For the fans and everybody around it, the rivalry is brilliant. The atmosphere tomorrow is going to be great and it’s something we should all look forward to.”<\/p>\n

But the Lionesses also know they’re fighting something intangible in their final group game.<\/p>\n

This is a grudge match, one that doesn’t occur in international football very often.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Greenwood:<\/p>\n

England’s Alex Greenwood says the Lionesses’ match against Wales is now their most important game as they look to progress into the knockout rounds of the Euros<\/p>\n

It’s simple to prepare for a team given the coverage and resources in the sport these days, but we’ve all seen in derbies over the years how passion, tenacity and a bloody-mindedness to beat your neighbour can create upsets.<\/p>\n

Anything other than a win could dump the champions out of the tournament, and nothing is being taken for granted.<\/p>\n

England are preparing to have a lot of possession against their old foes but they’ve also been working on physicality, set pieces and pulling stout defences apart.<\/p>\n

Simply giving the ball to the ever-dangerous Lauren James and Lauren Hemp may not be enough to bludgeon through a Wales team with ambitions to leave a mark on this competition.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"ANTON<\/p>\n

Following a difficult start to the campaign, how can we expect Sarina Wiegman to pick the team against Wales?<\/p>\n

Creativity will be key for Sarina Wiegman, which is something England have lacked at times since their Euros win three years ago.<\/p>\n

Getting the most out of Lucy Bronze from full-back and Ella Toone from the middle could be key if England don’t want things to get uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

Wiegman offered a small insight into how the Lionesses are planning on taking on their neighbours, saying: “I hope we will see a game where we have a lot of the ball and we play very well in possession so we don’t let it come into a fighting game.<\/p>\n

“I’m not worried but Wales as a team are very compact, they can fight, they’re really together. When they have the ball, they can play direct and they want to play too.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Anton<\/p>\n

Anton Toloui and Tara Anson-Walsh discussed England’s comprehensive 4-0 victory over the Netherlands at Euro 2025<\/p>\n

“We just try to prevent that and the best way to do that is to be good on the ball yourself, move quickly and try to exploit the spaces.<\/p>\n

“There’s always pressure on England and that’s through expectations. We expect from ourselves that we’re going to play a good game\u2026 hopefully we have the ball a lot and we can exploit spaces.”<\/p>\n

Wales fans have come to Switzerland in their thousands and St Gallen won’t be an exception.<\/p>\n

The Lionesses will have to break down a Red Wall on the pitch and in the stands if they’re to be successful and keep qualification for the knockouts in their own hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“It’s just another game” is the message being reiterated in the England camp ahead of their match against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-260376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114843357858190625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}