Netherlands win opening Euro 2025 match against Wales

Michael Pearlman
BBC Sport Wales
At
Allmend Stadion Luzern

Wales women's first major tournament match ended in defeat by the Netherlands as Vivianne Miedema's brilliant goal, her 100th for her country, helped them to a comfortable 3-0 win in Lucerne.

Miedema's superb effort on the stroke of half-time undid a solid 45 minutes of defending from Wales who never really looked like producing an upset against their more illustrious opponents.

Any hopes of a Wales comeback were dashed within moments of the restart as a long ball over their defence broke their offside trap and allowed Danielle van de Donk to find Victoria Pelova who finished calmly.

Esmee Brugts added a third before the hour mark as the Wales gameplan was undone and it became a case of damage limitation for the tournament debutants who could have easily lost by a greater margin.

Miedema scores 100th goal to give Dutch the lead

In a game of attack versus defence, Wales found out just how tough the competition is at a major finals.

Rhian Wilkinson's side might have fallen behind within five minutes, but Olivia Clark's fingertip save denied Manchester City's Jill Roord after she cut inside and bent a shot towards the top corner.

Roord looked the player most likely to make something happen against what was essentially a Welsh defensive seven, but they could only look on and hope as her ferocious 25-yard shot cannoned off the post and out to safety on 35 minutes, with Roord also hitting the crossbar in the second half.

Wales produced an excellent defensive display until seconds before the interval when Miedema twisted and turned to find space and curled the ball into the corner of the net from just outside the penalty area.

Pelova's goal was far more preventable as a straight ball over the top undid Wales' defence and Wilkinson's side wilted in the Swiss sunshine as Barcelona's Brugts found space at the back post to poke home a third goal before the hour mark.

A combination of the woodwork, several near misses - including a goal-line clearance from Lily Woodham - an offside flag and goalkeeper Clark – who saved brilliantly to deny substitute Lineth Beerensteyn – kept the score to 3-0, but it was a chastening opening to Euro 2025 for Wales.

Pelova doubles Netherlands lead against Wales

What were the main talking points?

For Wales, simply being in Switzerland is the main talking point for several generations of female footballers.

Wales did not have a team affiliated with the Football Association of Wales until 1993 and this was only their 243rd international match, meaning Netherlands midfielder Sherida Spitse has played more matches in her international career than Wales have in their history, having come on to make her 245th appearance.

Desperate to make an impression at Euro 2025, they frustrated the Dutch in a first half of attack versus defence for 47 minutes, before imploding after the restart.

Brugts makes it 3-0 for Netherlands against Wales

A dismal start to the tournament for Wales got even worse when key midfielder Ceri Holland left the field with what looked like a hamstring injury.

The Netherlands, the winners of this competition in 2017, have been dealing with much outside noise in recent days after their coach Andries Jonker was criticised by members of the Dutch media for talking about his impending departure on a podcast.

Beating Wales, the lowest-ranked side in the competition, would have been seen as essential and after a slow start, they certainly showed their credentials in Lucerne.

After a row with the Dutch media where Jonker was accused of "treating his players like puppets in a puppet show," the former European champions showed that they are very much on the same page in Switzerland.

What information do we collect from this quiz?

Which player stood out?

In a game where Wales were looking to frustrate the more established side, it was a moment of class from Miedema with seconds remaining in the first half that broke the deadlock.

Miedema's 100th international goal was fittingly brilliant for a player whose fitness will surely be essential to Dutch hopes of winning the competition.

Having suffered a hamstring injury in April she was a doubt to even feature in Switzerland, but Netherlands fans will hope she can stay fit and firing throughout the tournament.

Vivianne Miedema celebrates her goal against Wales with team-matesGetty Images

Vivianne Miedema has scored 100 international goals without scoring a single penalty

The standout stats

Wales are going to need to see more of the ball if they are to have any chance of making an impression in Switzerland.

They only managed just over 33% possession in Lucerne and ended with a xG of 0.17, having failed to register a shot on target.

What is next for these teams?

Group D action resumes on Wednesday, 9 July with Netherlands playing in the early match against England (17:00 BST) in Zurich.

Wales will now head to St Gallen for their remaining group games, with France their opponents on Wednesday (20:00 BST).

Player of the match

V. Miedema
6.94
2 L. Woodham
5.66
10 J. Fishlock
5.43
3 G. Evans
5.37
7 C. Holland
5.33
6 J. Green
5.26
18 E. Morgan
5.19
11 H. Cain
5.14
23 F. Morgan
5.14
20 C. Jones
5.10
19 E. Powell
5.10
5 R. Roberts
5.08
9 K. Barton
5.05
1 O. Clark
5.04
13 R. Rowe
4.90
14 H. Ladd
4.70
8 A. James-Turner
4.62
Back to team tabs

After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

Related topics