Rhian Wilkinson saidWaleswould not suffer any trauma in Switzerland after being thrashed 4-1 byItalyat their Euro 2025 send-off. Wilkinson endured the largest defeat of her 15-month reign as Italy scored four times in the first half of a Nations League finale in Swansea – the Wales manager calling it a “little bit of capitulation”.
First-half goals from Cristiana Girelli, who struck twice with excellent headers, Elena Linari and Sofia Cantore punished poor Wales defending and secured Italy second place in the group. Jess Fishlock produced some late cheer with a stunning consolation, eight minutes from time, scoring off the underside of the crossbar from 35 yards for her 47th Wales goal.
“The first half felt like a punch in the face,” Wilkinson said after Wales’ final fixture before their opener against the Netherlands in Lucerne on 5 July. “Let’s be clear, that was not a performance that I expect from this team.
“Obviously this is a painful lesson and this is the first time that we’ve really been exposed. There’s no psychological damage, there really isn’t. This team punished us for every mistake, and that’s something that we talk about as a team.”
There was more bad news for Wales as the goalkeeper Olivia Clark, already sporting a black eye suffered in the Denmark game, was forced off before half-time with a head injury. Clark had required treatment for a head injury 15 minutes earlier after being caught by her own defender Hayley Ladd, but continued before conceding a third goal. Wilkinson said: “Two head hits in a week is not good, so we decided to pull her. We weren’t messing with this and took her out, but I’m not concerned there’s any lasting damage.”
TheScotlandmanager, Melissa Andreatta, thought her side were unlucky not to win after they picked up their first point in the Nations League with a 1-1 draw away to theNetherlands. Already-relegated Scotland fell behind when midfielder Jill Roord put the hosts in front – and they were in position for a sixth defeat from a possible six – but Andreatta’s side got themselves on level terms courtesy of Kathleen McGovern’s 27th-minute equaliser. Scotland were not happy with just the point and pushed for a winning goal after the break, but Netherlands had goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar to thank for their point after she made a string of saves in the second period.
Andreatta was happy with her side’s performance, telling BBC Scotland: “With that performance. We earned that result. Especially when you think about the last 24 hours that we had, I think that showed what this team is about. That was established long before me but they put in a great performance tonight. I was really pleased. I think we did start well then the Netherlands started to dominate. We did a tactical change, got a foothold back in the game and we were unlucky to concede that chance but I think we dominated the second half and were unlucky not to win.”
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Northern Irelandsecured a promotion playoff place after a 1-1 Group B1 draw againstBosnia and Herzegovinain Zenica. The visitors only needed to avoid defeat to clinch their playoff spot and Simone Magill’s opener put them in a healthy position before Sofija Krajsumovic brought Bosnia back on level terms before the break. Northern Ireland seemed happy to protect their result but suffered a scare when Una Rankic hit the goal frame from a free-kick but hung on to grab their chance to climb into League A.