The Lionesses have arrived in Zurich, Switzerland, ready to defend their European title at the Euro 2025. As they prepare for their opening Group D match against France on Saturday night, the team is also getting ready to face a heatwave, with temperatures expected to exceed 30°C for most of the week. Beth Mead insists the Lionesses are well-prepared to handle the heat.

Mead has praised the England backroom staff for their work in preparing the team for the weather conditions. "Our staff are very good at being able to give us those extra percentages and margins," Mead said. She also noted that the team's training camp in England included training in hot conditions. "It's been quite hot in the last two weeks of training [in England] so that's been nice. We've trained really hard, the intensity has been great and our recovery strategies that we've put in place have been really good so – fingers crossed – it's prepared us as best as we can be for when we get there".

The Lionesses are coming off a confidence-boosting 7-0 victory over Jamaica in their final friendly before the tournament. The match, played in Leicester, saw goals from Ella Toone (2), Lucy Bronze, Georgia Stanway, Alessia Russo, Aggie Beever-Jones, and Beth Mead. The win provided crucial minutes for the squad, including Lauren James, who returned from injury.

Jess Carter praised the team's younger players, including Beever-Jones, Lauren James, and Grace Clinton. "The youngsters are refreshing; they're not scared, they're fearless," Carter said. "They come in and try to express themselves. They work super hard and they're a joy to play with". Carter also noted the importance of having a variety of goalscorers, highlighting the team's depth.

Ella Toone echoed this sentiment, saying, "We've got a talented squad and we'll step out and give the nation our all". Sarina Wiegman, England's coach, was pleased with the team's performance against Jamaica. "We expected to be in the final third a lot, so we wanted to show what we could do," Wiegman said. "It was nice to score seven goals, though there were times when we played an extra pass. Overall I'm really happy with the performance".

England's Euro 2025 campaign begins against France on July 5th. They will also face the Netherlands and Wales in Group D. The tournament is being held in Switzerland from July 2nd to July 27th. As the reigning European champions, the Lionesses are looking to repeat their success from Euro 2022, where they won the tournament on home soil.