England W - Netherlands W 09-07-2025

The Women's European Championship is well underway, and Norway are already pool winners and ready for the playoffs. One team that is not ready is the Lionesses from England.

Reigning champions England have been drawn in a strong group. They lost their opening match against France and are really close in this match.

The Netherlands got off to a decent start against championship debutants Wales. The premise is set, and England will most likely not tolerate anything other than victory in this match. We expect all three top teams in the pool to win their match against Wales. Which makes it necessary for England to win this one.

England – Quality in every way.

Let's say it right away. This team is one of the teams that should be good enough to win the tournament. They also showed that at the last championship on home soil, when they charmed an entire country, and they finally got the song from 1996 right, football is coming home.

But they have put themselves in a difficult position by losing their tough opening match against France. This means that they will most likely have to win both of their last matches, and not least this match. A loss here means an early return home, but also most likely a draw. If you take the first match as a starting point, the team failed primarily on the pitch, and experts have said that they were simply too cowardly.

We will probably see an England that will try to create a little more in this match, and they will probably fill up more with people in the box than they did in the last match. We also saw that the full-backs were more sitting than we are used to from their side. This has already been addressed, and we will probably see more attacks on the sides. That was one of the big problems in their first match. They were unable to break down a solid defense from France. There were also many passing errors, which created many transition opportunities for the opponent. Definitely something they need to be careful of in this match.

We will probably see a sharp England that will control the game well, and we think that possession will be a clear advantage for England. We have seen Georgia Stanway and Kiera Walsh's ability to control games for a long time. Lauren Hemp and Beth Mead will probably be key players in this match. We need to see an England that comes around the edges more. So these players will have to roll up their sleeves. Who will be at the top is not clear. But we think that experienced Alessia Russo will have to give way to an up-and-coming Aggie Beever-Jones who will get the opportunity. It shouldn't really matter that much. What about the Netherlands? Let's take a look.

Netherlands – Toxic on counterattacks.

The Netherlands opened well and, as expected, won the opening match against Wales. There were a number of questions we got answers to that might be worth mentioning here.

Super striker Vivianne Miedema seems to have found her way back to the form she was hoping for. After a long injury absence, there was a lot of excitement about whether she could deliver as she has done for a long time on this team. The Netherlands have long depended on this player, and she delivered right from the starting blocks. She is the all-time top scorer in the Netherlands, and has scored over 100 goals in her national team career. Crazy numbers. She also opened this championship with a great goal, and an assist. So the form seems to be there.

The Netherlands understand what is at stake, and a result here will be to their advantage anyway. They will therefore probably sell themselves dearly, and we will not be surprised if they settle well back in the field to try and counterattack an eager England. They have enough quality at the top to punish England if they get the right breaks. They will certainly have suffered all the losses to England in the opening match, and will probably be hoping for some similar opportunities.

They have been a bit uncertain about their form heading into the championship. They suffered a nasty loss to Germany (4-0), and a weak result against Scotland (1-1) before the European Championship. But they beat Finland 2-1 in a friendly match just before the championship. Before they opened with a 3-0 win in the opening match. We are not that impressed with the latest results, and will probably have to step up a lot if they want to stand against a desperate England in this match.

Conclusion – Desperate England should be the best.

Before England lost their opening match against France, there was no doubt that England were huge favourites against the Netherlands. But with the loss there, a pressure has opened up that is hard to ignore.

We think England will rise to the occasion and be a better team than the Netherlands in a must-win match. The opening match has given us some odds to bet on in this one, and we will try the following bets.

European Championship – Women at 18:00: England W – Netherlands W: England to win (1.78)