European Football Championship: Defending champions get off to a bad start: France beats England

France's women's football team proved defending champions England's limits at the European Championship in Switzerland. In a clash of the two favorites, the strong 2022 semi-finalists prevailed 2-1 (2-0) against coach Sarina Wiegmann's team.

In front of 22,542 spectators at Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium, Marie-Antoinette Katoto (36th minute) and Sandy Baltimore (39th minute) scored for France, with Keira Walsh (87th minute) adding a late goal. England or France could be the German women's quarterfinal opponents.

The English women, with Georgia Stanway of FC Bayern Munich in midfield, initially played more purposefully forward. France's ball-wielding players often got lost in the minutiae, but then seized the initiative. Before the tournament, three of the 2022 European Championship winners retired from the Lionesses' national team: goalkeeper Mary Earps, Fran Kirby, and Millie Bright. Dutch coach Wiegman, however, was not particularly impressed. The 55-year-old had led her respective teams, first the Dutch team and then England, to the World Cup and European Championship finals since 2017.

The English increasingly lost control in the first half. Stanway made a fateful loss of possession: The ball went through the strong Élisa de Almeida on the right wing and then Delphine Cascarino, and landed at Katoto, who slotted it home to make it 1-0. Shortly afterward, Baltimore beat three opponents and doubled their lead. For France, long-time captain and defensive leader Wendie Renard, much to her frustration, was not selected for Switzerland by coach Laurent Bonadei. Record international player Eugénie Le Sommer (200 caps) was also missing.

However, after a successful start to the tournament, the dream of their first international title is still alive. Even after the break, the English found few openings. The only exception was Walsh, who fired a precise shot into the right corner from a corner, leaving France trembling once again.

The Netherlands had previously defeated newcomers Wales 3-0 (1-0) in a tough Group D. Captain Vivianne Miedema scored her 100th international goal, as did Victoria Pelova and Esmee Brugts for the 2017 European champions in Lucerne.