The Euros are underway! Switzerland impress in defeat and Finland get a vital win | Euro 2025 #1

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3:02Such a lovely ball over the top here. Everybody's been high for him. This is by two. What a chip. What a goal. What a goal. Humbly. Rose. And the line is it. There's Valaria Macario on the axe. Oh, what a gesture! What a gesture exceptional! Of Katarina Macario! The Gréon who puts the ball at the top of the goal! Claudia Pina at the goal to celebrate! Indra in the ball, Minima Yablaristi! The goal can destroy the team! And he scores for England! England have won A major, trophy for the first time ever.

3:47welcome to up front i'm chloe morgan and i'm rachel o'sullivan the euros is here the hosts got their tournament underway in the boiling heat against norway switzerland played well but a bit of luck and a bit of quality for norway meant they emerged the winners and rage was there we'll hear all about how it all went down in basel elsewhere finland got a win against iceland in the first game of the tournament. We'll talk about that game and also look ahead to Spain's first match against Portugal and Belgium's game against Italy.

4:26What a flying start to the Euros it has been. Rach, let's immediately come to you, mate. You're obviously in and amongst the action. You're in Switzerland. You're effectively in a kind of Swiss oven at the moment. Can you talk us through the weather conditions and also how are things going out there? How was the first day for you, mate? Yes, it's very warm. I'm being assured that it's meant to cool down as the week goes on, but it feels a bit like England where no one has really bothered to invest in any air conditioning on public transport or anything like that. So definitely feeling the heat and feeling the heat right up until, you know, 9, 10, 11 o 'clock at night when it was, I think when the match finished, it was still 28 degrees.

5:08It was 30 degrees at nine o 'clock when it kicked off. So, yeah, the heat is pretty heavy and something else to contend with on top of media duties and everything else. I was going to say, how are you coping with it? I think it's a lot when you're trying to move from location to location. Obviously, like some of the pitches are in the sun at the start of the games. Like how are people coping out there? Just like coping amounts of beers and water and like sunscreen. How is everyone? well luckily the one free thing that UEFA has provided to media is water and which I'm quite disappointed about because at the Euros in England we were given a small bag with a sandwich and a pack of crisps in it you know because we're spending kind of maybe from five six o 'clock until midnight at these games but no also a lot of money to be there everything has to be paid for it's like four francs for a cup of tea in the media room so 8.50 for a sandwich and so yeah it's at least there's water I think I don't know how many bottles of water I drank yesterday but that was one thing they were handing out and to the media around the ground was some water thankfully and to all the volunteers and the staff and the bowl kids and everything else so and they have changed the rules as well and you're allowed to bring bottles I think up to you know 500 milliliters and they're very proud of the fact that you can drink the water from the taps in the stadium because the water here is so good and clean so there's that at least so I think lots of hydration and sun cream.

6:33Good. Well, can you just stay safe, mate? Because obviously it's the first day and there's so many more days yet to come. So you can't have you burning out, getting heat stroke, sun stroke and the rest of it. So keep your lovely Irish skin out of that weather, please. Right. Talk to us about the opening ceremony then, because obviously it was a bit of a weird one. We had the Iceland-Finland game and then we had the opening ceremony coming in the second game at 8pm. Rach, obviously you were there. You saw it. I saw it on TV. what did you kind of make of it it was um I mean I thought it was nice I thought it was really nice it kind of reflected the tournament's theme you know the summit of emotions um you know massive crowd there um like a sea of red it just it looked like quite a like a jubilant kind of start to things I don't think it was the best opening ceremony that I've ever seen but it was it was nice yeah that's probably a pretty good description I think it was probably an opening ceremony made for TV or for people kind of sitting higher up in the stands because from pitch side it was a bit like I don't really know what's going on and then when the floaty balloon trophy came in I thought they were like seashells or some sort of sea creature.

7:42I couldn't figure out what it was until I saw pictures afterwards of it from above and I was like oh obviously it's a trophy. So yeah there was you know people very jubilantly dancing around with massive poles? Yeah. I don't know there was a Beauty and the Beast kind of candelabra vibe about it. but yeah probably missing a few fireworks yes basically the emotion side of things do you know what actually I got some lovely photos of not just Leo Valti but at a Hegelberg both captains looking especially emotional during their national anthems the Swiss national anthem was spine tingling yeah the crowd really got behind that but both captains visibly with tears in their eyes and looking very emotional would seem quite appropriate given the tagline is so much of emotions.

8:31So I think a wonderful moment always to see a captain lead their team out at a home tournament because not many players get to do that. So that's always quite a special moment. So that was evidently emotional. And Anette Hegelberg as well, leading her team out at a major tournament was pretty special for her, I imagine. And given she had that time away from the national team when she didn't feel that Norway was doing enough for women's football and she took herself out of contention and now she's back and got a goal, her 50th goal as well. So there was lots of kind of little moments that made it quite an emotional game, I think, for both.

9:05Oh, 100 percent. You can see the emotion on her face. The camera very much zoomed in to Leo Volte as she kind of came out. And I remember, I mean, we were fortunate enough to go and speak to her in November when she was just in the sort of build up moment. She was doing, you know, like we said in the last pod, like doing so much for the Swiss Tourism Board, kind of promoting all the various things that were going to be going down the tournament. and she was saying how emotional that was going to be. Obviously, she's spoken to Leah about that moment that you kind of lead your team out in a home Euros and kind of like the pressure that's on your shoulders, but also that need to stay really cool and calm and composed.

9:37Like it's not about kind of letting that emotion overcome you. It's about sort of reining it in and making sure that you deliver the best leadership for the squad in those moments. Obviously, they're all feeling the pressure. So yeah, that was really lovely to kind of see that moment for her as well. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, what a kind of enormous moment for her to come out to. Sellout crowd cheering them on. Ticket sales have surpassed those of Euro 2022, even before the ball was kicked, which I do find like a little bit, I did have to kind of fact check this one a little bit. Yeah, that one blew my mind.

10:10It didn't feel that was possible. I think given like the capacity situation with some of the Swiss stadiums that are playing host to some of the games and sort of you look at, Old Trafford being used and you look at the Brighton and Hove Albion stadium being used and the Wembley stadium for all of those massive capacity Premier League stadiums and Switzen doesn't ever I don't understand how that is possible in a way. So I was trying to work that out and I think it was the games that like in the Manchester grounds in Lea and in the Academy Stadium now, Joy Stadium and Brentford was what, 24 ,000 maybe capacity?

10:49I think Rotherham was another kind of lower capacity. So perhaps those ones, they weren't always sold out. I remember there was kind of talk around the fact that Lee and the Academy Stadium weren't sold out, which was kind of a bit shit when they were already low capacity. So I think here, despite there being lower capacity, they've sold a lot of the tickets of a 20 ,000 seater or whatever that might be. So that must be what it is. There's been some numbers coming out. I think Germany topping the ticket sales at 60 ,000 tickets, England in second at 40 ,000 tickets so I think 5 ,000 tickets have been sold to Americans so a good spread of people and yeah you touched on the crowd there yesterday I was really intrigued to see how the Swiss crowd got behind the team and while there was a lot of people buzzing around the stadium outside quite an unusual stadium because it had like a co-op and it had like a sports shop and it had like shops kind of attached to the outside of it so when I went wandering around trying to get some atmosphere everyone's just like sitting on the footpath just chatting or like going in shopping there was no kind of atmosphere outside the stadium and maybe that was because they were coming from the fan zone and they did do a swiss march which looked incredible um but inside the stadium completely different story when the game started and they were behind every single kick of the ball so um that was really cool to see and some really interesting chants that i had to get some swiss uh people to translate for me because it sounded like they were chanting hot cheese um which apparently is not what they were saying uh it was saying hot swiss which is up switzerland but okay when the crowd are doing it it sounds like they're shouting fondue well hot cheese i was i was kind of sat there for a while like what is it i did see some lovely footage of the swiss fans it looked like they were sort of in like a train like train arches but they were obviously that we'll get into the game itself but like the celebrations around some of the moments in the game were absolutely huge and there was just like a sea of red everywhere i mean was it difficult to differentiate the swiss fans and the norway fans at points i mean how did that it must just look like everyone was on the same team surely yeah so when i was going around trying to get photos of fans you'd just suddenly see like oh there's a little blue square in the middle of that red you're norwegian so yeah they were actually quite tricky to pick out because obviously a lot of people were wearing both home shirts and so yeah that was a little bit every so often you might see a head pop up with like a norwegian flag or a cross in the middle.

13:10But a good amount of them down the far end to make a little bit of noise, but absolutely drowned out by the Swiss fans. That march, that shot you were talking about, really reminded me of when Arsenal fans do it from the Tollington, and they're underneath the arch outside the Emirates. It had that kind of vibe about it. Because it really makes it loud. Yeah, yeah. And the cowbells. Fuck, the cowbells. Unreal. Lovely sound. You could hear the noise a bit from the telly, so it must have been absolutely phenomenal like during the actual stadium and i think it looked like quite a close-knit stadium it looked like sort of content like very contained like bowl like so i can imagine like the reverberations would have been great um okay cool let's get stuck into the game itself then uh we'll start with the switzerland norway one despite it not being the first opening game we can't talk about that anymore um what were your thoughts on switzerland because i thought first half absolutely phenomenal it was everything the crowd wanted they obviously had the weight of expectations going into the tournament as the tournament hosts.

14:07I think they were dominant. I think they were on the front foot. I thought they took the game to Norway. And I thought Norway looked a little bit lost. And it just felt like another story, another narrative around Norway just not doing anything that they're expected to do, given the calibre of players. I mean, there were so many chances, I think, that Switzerland could have had to even put the game to bed early doors had they been a little bit more clinical. But yeah, I mean, Rach, what did you think? Switzerland really impressed me. um i was you know you could see they were super up for it i think the way i looked at this switzerland impressed and made me feel like they could get out of the group norway disappointed like will probably still top the group but underwhelming i think um i thought the game plan the swiss game plan was excellent they were playing a back three uh norway and switzerland were just like absolutely dominating the wings and capitalizing on that every single time and surprising how long it took Norway to kind of adjust to that and I don't know it's just unusual when you're looking at like a Caroline Graham Hansen a Guru Wright and a Frieda Monham and Monham at times out in the wing and you're just like what I don't understand like whether the the use of those players where you're getting the best out of those players it just it doesn't make sense and like you know a lot of people I saw talking about Gemma Granger and maybe she's this and maybe she's that and I'm like actually the common denominator here of Norway struggling at major tournaments are the players at the end of the day like there has to be some of that like why does it work for a club and not for country why aren't aren't they getting the best maybe not always playing players in the same the right positions perhaps and I don't know just little things sloppy passes stuff you're just not used to seeing from those players and which was quite surprising but I was super impressed with Switzerland you know there was no kind of sign of nerves they didn't look to be you know overwhelmed by the fact that they were playing their first game the fact that they were arguably playing the hardest game of their group uh first you know which can understandably make you a little bit nervous um but no i was i was yeah super impressed with the way they came out i actually thought like you said they deserved probably go in a little bit more um higher up in the at halftime and look i know that norway had opportunities to put the game to bed and make it 3-1 but equally so too did switzerland you know and there was a triple chance at the end where I just, I don't know how the ball stayed out.

16:27But yeah, I was, yeah. I don't know if overwhelmed is the right way of describing it given I thought Norway were underwhelming, but I was super impressed, especially Reuteler who got player of the match for Switzerland. She was kind of at the heart of everything good they did. 100%. And I think going into that game, obviously there were a few doubts over whether they, about how well they were going to do. Obviously Ramona Backman getting the ACL injury and then Lia Volte obviously coming back and people sort of wondering whether, you know, she was going to be at full fitness. But I thought she had an absolutely outstanding game.

16:58And it kind of felt like it was almost like unlucky. I think they were very much unlucky not to walk away with more points and, you know, get those initial points on the board. And I think, you know, Piers Sundarj after the game was saying, you know, we didn't win the game. There's such a small difference between being successful and unsuccessful. Very disappointed, but to merit it's important we look at the performance and take confidence from that. and I think that's really really fair yeah and I think as well when you look at kind of the timings of the goals I think the way the first and second goal came was almost like a one-two punch right so I thought Switzerland had done so well in the first half then there was that superb header from Ada Hegelberg who came in like a freight train into that box for the header and nearly put it through the back of the net like rising up for the corner what she does best and that was an absolutely superb goal and it it rocked switzerland a little bit and then suddenly four minutes later they get the penalty they get the the own goal i should say and that was an absolute absolute killer because there was nothing really um that sierra lee could do and you know she had hegerberg on her shoulder it reminded me a bit of the laura bassett goal where you're like i have to put something on this otherwise she's going to score and neither way i was going in the back of net whether she did it or whether it was Hegerberg.

18:17It was almost kind of inevitable, like the position of the ball. It was such a well-driven in ball. I mean, credit to Caroline Graham-Hanson because his delivery was absolutely pinpoint perfect. But yeah, I mean, like you said, it did just feel, you could see how disappointed she was in that moment. And the worst thing is actually that the score ended 2-1 and that was the goal that changed sort of whether that was going to be a great game for them, a great start, and now it being a loss and registered as a bit of a disappointment. Yeah, and I just think, I feel like after that goal then, Norway did everything they could to kind of slow the game down, disrupt the game, not let any kind of rhythm, Switzerland find any kind of rhythm, whether it was like, you know, time-wasting fouls, dropping the ball when you're trying to take a throw in, pretending like you can't hear when you're being subbed off or, you know, almost refusing to leave the pitch at one point.

19:05I think it was Ville Boerica. Stuff like that. It was really destructive. Then you had the two penalty situations where Norway got the penalty, because I can't remember who it was, but suddenly thought she was playing handball or something, and it was the most obvious handball. It was like Rachel Williams-esque when she played for Birmingham against Arsenal. She kind of rose up in the air like she was Superman. So yeah, that was a penalty. That had to go to VAR. So that was a slow process. Hegerberg misses. They go down the other end. They get a penalty shout. That takes bloody ages, and you have to wait for VAR.

19:35It's overturned. Then we've got a bloody cooling break after what felt like 30 seconds of action in the last 10 minutes, which kind of disrupted the game even more. Then you were having substitutes. Switzerland just couldn't find their rhythm until maybe the final, arguably maybe five minutes plus injury time. They started really going, okay, we really have to push here. And they had like a triple opportunity. I don't know how it didn't go in the back of the net, but it was exciting. It was a lot of chaos. It kind of delivered as an opening game in that respect. But I do really feel for Switzerland because I thought they probably deserved something out of it.

20:06Yeah, definitely. I think, I mean, it was, like you said there, Rach, there were so many dramatic moments that happened on that first day. I mean, we had a red card in the Iceland-Finland game. We had the penalty decisions. We had an own goal taking place. We had the sea of fans. We had the opening ceremony. It felt like a day that was jam-packed full of weird and wonderful, wild things, like where else but women's football. But, I mean, let's talk a little bit then about Norway because, once again, we're sort of saying, you know, given the calibre of talent they have, again, not delivering, not up to standard.

20:33and it kind of felt like they were lucky to kind of scrape that 2-1 like fortune was on their side. Lovely, obviously, to see Ada Hegerberg back scoring that incredible frigging header. I mean, what a way to mark your 50th goal for Norway and obviously a defining goal as well that helped them secure that first win and get those points. But do we now feel like, actually, this is an Ada Hegerberg who, back to international stage, back to international football, do we feel like this is actually where she's going to shine and kind of make up, I suppose, for the way that she had to remove herself from football before.

21:05This is her back and sort of better than ever, despite, obviously, the penalty miss. Not ideal. Yeah, the penalty miss wasn't ideal. I mean, I hope so. I think Norway absolutely need players like that who can come up in key moments. You know, she hasn't necessarily had the best run of form of the international team of late. And I kind of touched on that in the last episode about how some in the press in Norway were kind of questioning her starting. And so that felt a little bit like vindication. You know, arguably having a hand in both goals. She may not have scored the second, but she caused the second.

21:40You know, had she gotten that penalty, I really feel like that would have been a real stamp, a real marker of her, I'm back now. So we'll see. We'll see in the next couple of games. You know, I think it was a superb goal that should give her a lot of confidence and hopefully she can just forget that penalty miss. 100 % I think you have to look at sort of Norway's I suppose track record in these competitions they've gone out in the group stages of the last two euros do we think actually success for them would be actually just making it out of the group stages obviously this first game now getting those getting that initial win definitely helps another win probably secures their place yeah I mean that that's they've got to use that as a marker of success which feels like a really low bar again given the talent that they have just getting out yeah i know but they have to get out of this group if they don't get out of this group like this group of all groups in this tournament if they don't get out of this one serious problem like serious look like looking needs to be done i think yeah getting out of the group is success it very much depends on who they could meet you know and if our predictions are right which they very often aren't in major tournaments because there's always kind of a spanner thrown in the works at times but they could meet Italy and I think Italy could be difficult for them so you know arguably they probably have an easier side of the draw which is I can't feel like an unfair thing to say in this tournament when everyone's stepping up so much but realistically this is their opportunity to go further and yesterday they got the win that's the main thing performance didn't massively inspire but if they can improve they played one of the tougher teams I guess in their group Iceland again we're going to get onto that didn't massively inspire but at the same time Finland could maybe pose some threats that they didn't think they'd have to worry too much about so it really does depend on how they turn out against the next two teams and I guess they will draw a lot from the fact that they won the game that is the main thing they were absolutely fucking delighted yesterday you could see it in the team absolutely delighted like they were down celebrating with the fans every single player like hugging each other, high fives.

23:46It felt like every time they got a goal or did something really positive, they came together and it was a real like, come on now, we've got this. Let's go, next step. Let's go on, let's win this game. I'm sure as a collective, they'll come together and be like, right, tick. We've got the first three points. Next one, got to get this win and try and maybe stay in their bubble and ignore the noise outside. Yeah, let's wait and see what the second game brings. Coming up after this, Finland beat Iceland and Spain get their campaign underway tonight.

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27:15All right, Rach, we've dissected the first second game. Let's have a look at the first first game. Iceland losing to Finland 1-0. We didn't really call this. We thought that it was going to be an Iceland win. The first game of the tournament kicked off a few hours before the host took on Norway. Katerina Kasala scored a great goal and was the busiest player on the pitch. Iceland goalkeeper Cecilia Runnersdottir made her Euro's debut after being named Serie A goalkeeper of the year. She made some absolutely outstanding saves. Rach, I understand that Soph was at this game. Obviously, you two are splitting off into different directions.

27:56No, no, she wasn't at the game. she was in Basel watching the game and so that she was then ready for the next game so she was writing a report for this for the Guardian so um really awkward because we get like a UEFA stream in the media room and the stream was terrible it was really glitchy it was it was like watching it at like 85 percent uh speed and like the frames kept glitching it was very odd and so I think yeah she also had it up on her computer screen so she could watch it properly and yeah that that's we hadn't split necessarily but I was listening well I put my headphones in on the train from Zurich to listen to this game and about two minutes in and two Swiss girls sitting next to me started talking to me about you know what do I do and how do I get to go to watch the Euros and what my job is they're both in Swiss shirts they were off the game as well so I ended up spending the rest of the train journey chatting to them about working in women's football and the various things that I've done which was really nice and their English was amazing as well and so yeah they're they're on their school holidays from next week and they're going to be getting to go to numerous games so shout out to them if they do end up listening to this episode and so yeah sadly I didn't actually listen to as much of the game as I wanted to but I caught it when the second half and I got into um into the ground and it definitely felt like Finland started better than maybe everyone is expecting it felt like it felt like a proper opening match despite of being technically game too like a feisty physical affair and maybe a bit like Norway in that Iceland under like did not impress and kind of disappointed a little bit you know and I do think it swayed the kind of the the momentum swayed between the two teams at times and yeah that that two yellow cards when I saw that a player being sent off I immediately thought it was the player who'd gotten booked this is harsh like three minutes into the game and one of Finland's central defenders got booked, which felt like a very early booking for the very, very first game for something that I don't think was that bad of a challenge.

29:56I think maybe it was a pullback, for example. But they kept saying, oh, God, now that it was nice from she's going to have to be careful now. She's got, you know, basically the whole game where she has to play on a yellow card. So when I saw a red card, I was like, oh, she ended up getting, no, it wasn't her. It was another player who got two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes. So that's definitely a game to forget for her. But definitely turned it on its head a little bit. Anton's dot here, that's who it was. Two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes. So not ideal. Yeah, 100%. I mean, I was going to say, I mean, obviously Iceland going down to 10 players, not ideal for them.

30:33And I think obviously it did impact, I think, how they were able to show up in the game. But I think when you actually look at that, I mean, that second yellow stamping on Sumanen's ankle. I mean, let's not start the Euros that way, shall we? Yeah, that kind of feels like an over-aggressive and unnecessary thing to take place. But I think I've got to agree with you. I think, I mean, I did find the game very evenly balanced. I think either one of them probably could have won it, but I think probably the right result was Finland scraping the win. I mean, even just looking at some of the stats here, they're so finely balanced.

31:06I mean, 56 % for Finland, 44 % Iceland. similar level of passes similar level of passes accuracy yeah it just felt like you couldn't really call it and I think we said that before the game but I think we basically thought that Finland might walk away with the points no Iceland might walk away with the points but it's good stuff from Finland That was Finland's first win in the Euros in like 16 years or something That's absolutely huge Thinking Iceland were going to win it wasn't that crazy That is, I mean, 16 years I mean that sounds terrible, 4 Euros Do you know what I mean? It sounds easier when to do it within the actual cycle.

31:39But when you say it's like, OK, this is like a pet peeve, right? Slightly off track. But you know, when like the FA Cup Instagram goes, this team hasn't lost an FA Cup game in 397 days. And you're like, yeah, but they haven't played the FA Cup the whole way through the year. There's been like six months of no FA Cup. I haven't lost an FA Cup game if that's what we're doing. Like, do you know what I mean? Oh, I like my scaremongery stats. Saying like 16 years sounds like insane when actually it's probably just just four years, four tournaments, which sounds like slightly less terrible. I think we could always count you to be the voice of reason on that one.

32:12So thank you for giving some kind of context to that. OK, Rach, let's talk about the big, big games happening tonight. We've got Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal. I am super, super excited to see Spain start their Euros campaign. It does feel like they're obviously going to be the ones to watch. and I'm just so excited to see how they approach that first game, kind of who's going to be chosen, who's going to be in the starting XI, how they're going to set up, like what their approach is. And I think obviously it's the first time we've kind of seen them in a major international tournament since the Women's World Cup and, you know, things still haven't been resolved from that and it kind of feels like now is their chance to kind of get back on, back into an international tournament and kind of show everyone what they're about again.

32:53But, I mean, it's got to be the game that you're most looking forward to this evening. eight o 'clock everyone's going to be there yeah I will be at that game nine o 'clock for us here just a reminder so I got home at two o 'clock last night in the morning um so yeah like I think it's going to be an exciting game I don't I worry that it's going to be a high score and I hope it's not um I hope Portugal turn up and and can be really disciplined and defensively sound as much as they can um for me I think the Italy Belgium game not that it's more exciting but like we kind of all feel Spain's going to top the group so it's the who's coming in second and that game Italy Belgium is going to give us a real idea of where these two teams are at in this tournament are Italy going to turn up you know are Belgium going to do something that no one's really expecting and get one over on the Italian you know so for me that game will start to give a bit of an indicator as to who might come second in this group if Spain beat Portugal it's going to be probably between those two teams potentially so both exciting games and like you say yeah intrigued to see who gets the nod for Spain and whether they're gonna I hope not put Bon Matty on the pitch.

34:01Well I mean like you said there Rach it does feel like Spain are probably going to top the group unless something particularly drastic goes wrong. We mentioned in the previous pod that England could face Spain in the semi-finals if they both win their groups. Rach obviously Soph being the absolute women's football guru legend icon of um you know data knowledge and insight has predicted that spain and england are going to be in the final um so things that england will finish second in group d and that's how they will reach that position i mean where is this coming from that's very impressive how did you get inside your mind did you write that for something and i haven't read it well i mean when you're third wheel for long enough i think you just have that level of insight and knowledge um right i mean it doesn't hurt to like pick up the phone and just check in and see how Soph's doing.

34:48Obviously, you're in different cities. So, you know, just... We're not. She's outside. We're not in different cities. We're together. Well, me and Soph have been very close this tournament so far. So, yeah, check in with her and find out how she's doing. No, we actually found out from her article in The Guardian. Obviously, really, really good news that Bon Matias joined up with the Spain squad after her treatment for viral meningitis. I think it's probably too soon for her to be in the starting 11 today. Obviously, viral meningitis is quite a serious thing to have to bounce back from. I don't think it's probably that helpful either that it's like 45 ,000 degrees over in Switzerland.

35:26It can't be that nice to kind of deal with an infection like that and also have to contemplate dealing with that in the hot weather. But like you said, Rach, I mean, Spain obviously renowned for player welfare, mental well-being and looking after players' health. So we can only imagine actually that there is a possibility that she does actually play. Thing is, like, we will never be told like the ins and outs of things, you know, and how decisions are made and all that kind of stuff. I just hope in those situations that the people who are making the decision as to whether someone should join back up with their team is perhaps, you know, an independent decision maker.

36:04you know you know when you have these like HIA assessments and stuff in rugby look I'm not really au fait with rugby so I could get this wrong but I feel like the person kind of making that decision is a third party person that isn't kind of you know leaning towards one side or the other or thinking we really need this player on the pitch so I'd be intrigued to know how those decisions come about you know obviously there's medical well very um good medical staff in and around the teams now but you kind of think like obviously they'll put player welfare at the heart of it but ultimately they're part of the team and they want the team to be successful so I'd be intrigued how those decisions are made but we're not medical experts maybe it was a mild case of viral meningitis if that exists um but for me anything that puts you in a hospital uh makes me wonder whether you're quite ready to play a match kind of four days later 100 and I think I'd maybe understand them trying to speed up the recovery process had it not been for the fact that they They have an absolute stellar stacked squad of world-class elite, talented players.

37:03You could, any one of them, fill a position and do an incredible job. So, yeah, I'm just hoping they approach this sensibly, which is a fucking big ask, actually, for the Spain's Women's National Team Federation. After 14 unbeaten matches, Portugal have been beaten comprehensively of late by England, Spain and Belgium. Coach Francisco Neto hasn't been under this pressure in a long time across his 11 years with the team. They've not really changed much on the pitch either. 17 of their players were at the previous Euros with Portugal. I mean, Rach, are we expecting any kind of challenge from the Portuguese side?

37:38Do we actually just think this is going to be one-way traffic? I mean, I expect it to be one-way traffic. I imagine every team goes out to win a game. But I'd also think that Portugal will want to use this to test themselves, to try and keep close to Spain. You know, they'll be looking at the other teams in the group where they'll be wanting to pick up three points. Anything they can get out of this game, I think, is a bonus. But I think they'll want to be making sure that they don't have a repeat of what happened in the Nations League where they were absolutely battered. So I think that's definitely the target, I would assume.

38:12If it's a close game within a goal or two, I think, and even getting a goal against Spain gives you a little bit of confidence and maybe allows you to settle into this tournament and think, OK, if we can score against them, we can score against the others in this group. Well, Godspeed, Portugal, all the best. And I hope that it isn't the disaster case that might be unfolding this evening. Thank you so much for listening. Rachel and I are back tomorrow to recap those matches. And we'll also look ahead to the opening matches for two tournament heavyweights, Germany and Sweden. Remember, make sure you hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode throughout the Euros.

38:49Also hit the link in the show notes to join our official Euro 2025 Fantasy Football League. It is so simple and it works just like the WSL edition. Pick your 15 players and get involved. Subscribe to us on YouTube too, as we'll be releasing our match reaction episodes on there throughout the tournament. Thank you so much, Rage. Stay safe and of course, stay out of that sun and keep hydrated. We want to see you back in action tomorrow morning. But yeah, have a lovely, lovely evening, mate, and I'll catch up with you tomorrow. Bye.

39:32Upfront is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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