Women’s UEFA U19 Euros: England collapse against Portugal | OneFootball

Lauren Smith’s side collapsed in the closing stages despite taking the lead, with players and coach left searching for answers ahead of a decisive Group B finale.

Portugal u19 vs England u19s UEFA Women’s u19 Euros – Copyright Sylvain Jamet 2025

Lauren Smith made one change from the team that had defeated the Netherlands, with Erica Parkinson coming in for Lola Brown. The starting XI was: Cox; Ward, Reid, Newell, Maltby; Potter, Harbert; Baker, Parkinson, Lia; Ademuyiyi.

It was a very strange game that ended in a 4-1 defeat for England. Despite leading 1-0 with 15 minutes to go, they were unable to keep the scoreline down and collapsed completely, conceding three goals in six minutes. I was genuinely expecting England to hold onto the lead and close out the game. Once Portugal got the equaliser from a defensive mistake, it became wave after wave of Portuguese attack, and England had no answer.

I asked England head coach Lauren Smith if she had any rational explanation for the collapse.

“I wish it was rational,” she said. “It looks like Portugal had a bit more guts about them. They came after us, we folded, and they turned it on. I think we caused our own problems which led to them getting loads of confidence, so Portugal saw that we were making mistakes and drove a knife through that.”

I wondered if the hot weather had played a part in the second half, as both teams were stretched and space between the lines became bigger and bigger.

“We coped really well,” Smith said. “We have been here long enough and it was hot the other day against the Netherlands. I don’t really want that to be an excuse. We gave them too much of the ball. We could probably run less if we could control the ball much better, it would have saved us from the heat. It is our own problems, not the conditions,” she said.

We then talked about the game plan, especially the build-up play, where England used the two wingers positioned in the half-spaces with the full-backs really high, getting into a 3-4-3 shape in attack. That structure disappeared in the second half.

“The plan was to still do that in the second half, but we did not do enough with the ball,” she said. “They were still doing that, the wingers were still there, the full-backs going up, but the ball was not reaching them. I think we were too sloppy to continue the game plan.”

Captain Katie Cox was in a combative mood, ready to take on Spain.

“It was not really good enough in the second half from us, but what we can do now is go into the next game,” Cox said. “That’s what we have in our head. It is still possible, it is still in our hands. We have to think about the future. There is no need to dwell on the past. There is still one game to play that we can win.”

Group B is wide open. All four teams have three points going into the final day. England are bottom of the table, so only a win against Spain will do. The other Group B match ended in an upset, with the Netherlands defeating the holders, Spain.

In Group A, France have done their job with a 5-0 win over hosts Poland, guaranteeing a top-two finish and qualification for the Euros semi-finals, as well as the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Poland in 2026. Italy are nearly there too. They need to avoid defeat to qualify for the semi-finals, and even a loss to France would see them through as long as they avoid a seven-goal swing.

As for the four remaining spots for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, it all depends on Poland’s final placing in their group. Should Poland finish second or third in Group A, the four semi-finalists and the third-placed team in England’s group will qualify for the U-20 World Cup. Should Poland finish fourth, the third-placed teams in both groups will play off for the final spot.

That is a huge incentive for England in their final game against Spain. They will certainly need to improve their performance, individually and collectively, to have any chance of progressing further in the tournament.