The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness - England Hit Wales For Six To Cruise Into Last Eight

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

How important is it for the Lionesses to be scoring goals from all over the pitch? Are we seeing England getting better and growing in confidence as the tournament goes on? What will Wales take away from their first ever major tournament? Millie, Rach and Ben Haines also discuss France’s incredible victory against the Netherlands, which saw the French top Group D and leave the Lionesses as runners-up. Wherever it takes you. It Starts with a Swipe ®. Download Tinder today. https://tinder.com/en-GB/download  For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we get into today's episode of Daily Brighteners, we just want to say a huge thank you to our proud partners, Shaw, for being with us from the very beginning and what a start it's been. I think the reaction to our podcast so far has been nothing but positive from our family, from our friends, from our teammates, from our fans. It's been really nice to see all the positive reviews and feedback, so keep that all coming. Yeah, I also think that we've probably learned a lot about ourselves and me and Rach always talk about this podcast, you know, it's more than just us chatting, it's actually like a little therapy session.

And I've actually learned a lot about myself and I feel like it's given me the confidence to open up a little bit more and show that more vulnerable side. So yeah, it's been really, really refreshing. And we also get to appreciate all the things that we've achieved. Rach, everything you're achieving with Villa, you know, the form at the end of the season, me getting my 200th in the WSL and talking about all our accomplishments, the hard times. Yeah, it's becoming a really nice platform actually, and I'm really enjoying

where it's going. But thank you to everyone for the amazing support. So thanks again to Shaw for showing up for Women's Football and backing the pod from day one and thank you all for tuning in. Hello and welcome to today's episode of Daily Brightness with Millie Bright, Ben Haynes, Rachel Daly and whoever the hell is in the background of Ben's screen. Give us a wave. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

Like I'm in the stadium. I'm in St. Gallen where we've just watched England beat Wales 6-1. Oh, a bit of pause. Maybe we're all right. Oh no, we're kicking off. It's a bit of party time afterwards. So apologies for the noise. Guys, for all the listeners, we are literally jumping on immediately after every single Lioness' game, so we do apologise for the extra noise, but we wanted to

give you our feedback, reflection on the games, and yeah, just share our emotion and kind of what we're seeing from our point of view. So guys, what did you think? I mean, I think it was a comfortable win for England. I think they'll be disappointed to concede, but it's another statement. You know what I mean? It's 10 goals in two games. It gives you great confidence moving forward

and progressing into the tournament. It was great to see some players coming off the bench as well and having an impact again. But yeah, another comfortable performance for England and I'm just loving it. Are you happy for Les? I mean, we spoke so much, Rach, about the fact that she was getting in all the right places. It's brilliant that she's got off the mark now.

Oh, I'm absolutely buzzing. Everyone knows I'm a big fan of Alessia, but I think as a striker, the main focus of England, the number nine role, it's not an easy place to be if you're not actually scoring, albeit her having such a good game last game. But no, I'm absolutely buzzing for less. I think plenty more to come. They announced on TV Mills who got player of the match. I don't actually know. Sorry, that's the thing with setting up the pod. You've got to get the pod ready. To be fair, you'd probably give it less again, because I think the goals she works, going back to Rachel's point on the previous one, it's the work rate.

She literally is, for me, she's going to be a massive key player in this tournament for the Lionessers. It comes from that work rate from the front. It sets the tone. It gives the players that mindset to work hard, to put in the tackles, to never give in on situations where you think she's going to lose a ball just by not giving in on it. She creates something out of it. I honestly think she's

going to be a really, really key player. I know everyone looks at the likes of LJ and other players like that, but I think the work less does goes unnoticed a little bit. So we're going to be her number one fans and she deserved it, but there's a lot of chat about the Netherlands didn't turn up, Wales didn't turn up, but at the end of the day, we've all played in those games and Rach back me up here. You still have to put the ball in the back of the net. You still have to work hard. You still have to break teams down. You still have to do all the right things, have the professional mindset. And now England have got this momentum. We've got this, you know, the ball's rolling

and it's perfect timing to go into knockout stages. Yeah, I mean, I think that I think people write teams off and it's perfect timing to go into knockout stages. Yeah, I mean, I think that I think people write teams off and it's like, flip the script here, like give England credit, like whoever you play against, to score 10 goals at a major tournament in two games is outrageous. So it's massive. I just think that they put themselves in such a great spot going into the knockouts because that just gives you

so much confidence. Like I said, they'll probably be a little bit disappointed with conceding, but on the night doesn't matter. You just take it with a pinch of salt though, Spain have been conceding. Exactly, I think everyone's been conceding. I mean, France look like they're absolutely flying but conceded too against the Atletics tonight. So yeah, I mean, I'm super impressed. I love watching it. It was nice to see Aggie get on the score sheet as well. Nido come on and get on the score sheet. I think you can see the chemistry in the team,

the way they're celebrating with the bench and things. I think there's that nice view as a fan to watch that. It goes back to your point before, Rach, everyone accepting their roles, which we spoke about in 2022, is everyone accepted their role and everyone played their role. And that's what allowed us to win the tournament.

There were no passengers, you're not carrying, you can't afford to carry one single player and I think that's what we're seeing now is from the sofas, it looks like everyone's together, everyone's happy, subs are coming on, they're fit and fiery and they're ready to go and if it's 10 minutes, it's 10 minutes and you give your best for 10 minutes and it looks like there's a really good kind of team togetherness which is really, really nice to see. And like I said, I think they're getting their momentum at the perfect time. I feel like we probably need to give a shout out

to Kiera Walsh as well, because in stadium, she was the one that won it on the night, the player of the match. And you know, on nights like tonight, she can go through the game without doing anything that's really electric. I mean, she had that brilliant shot at the end of the game. Yeah.

But you watch the way the tempo of the game ebbs and flows and she's basically orchestrating the whole thing. It's pretty cool to watch. Yeah, I think we've had a bit better balance, you know, I think that's with the with the changes in personnel and Alex going to the left and Jess coming inside and Keira sitting in front of the back line. I think we think we've looked a lot more secure, especially from the France game, which we've learnt our lessons but the last two games I think we've looked really, really solid. And listen, teams are going to get shots, they are going to get goals, but as long as you're winning, that's all that matters in tournaments. And yes, we're England, we will be pissed that

we conceded because everyone has that high standard, but the most important thing is that each game will look better and better. You know you were saying about that that high standard and the fact they'll be annoyed will they genuinely come away from tonight feeling frustrated? Yeah because you want the clean sheet we've played in the back line we raced together and if you in games if you concede a shot like you get a little bit like fuck like shouldn't have allowed that shot, need to keep them out. And yeah, we talk about clean sheets. And I think when it comes to... It's good to have that mentality.

Listen, if it's 1-0, conceding that goal is 1-1. It's a different... Luckily, we scored a lot of goals. But having that mindset makes you determined to be hard to beat and to defend at all costs and, Rach, that's something we've had for years. That's been part of our DNA and part of our mentality, but the girls will definitely be like, ah, like conceding one is annoying.

Yeah, I think it's not to be like gutted about, but it's the standard that England set themselves and we always have done. So I think, yeah. It's more personally, isn't it? Yeah, a little errors will frustrate the team because I mean, why wouldn't it? You know, you've got that standard, you set that bar so high for yourself.

But again, like I would say, coming away, you've scored six, so it doesn't really matter. Everyone's had a great performance. I think everybody, every single player played brilliantly and contributed so much to the game tonight. Keira, yeah, she's just a joke, isn't she? I mean, I think, like you said, Ben, I think it is nights like tonight where you see her true ability and like how she is literally the one orchestrates everything. So I think we've seen it in tournaments where people stop her playing, but she's so good. I mean, I feel like she almost slips under the radar. I know she's got such a big name and whatever, but yeah, you know, get the credit when you're not on the score sheet and you know, you don't do

things that are like absolutely out there, but she's such a good player and yeah, I was gutted that she didn't score that at the end, but what a bloody save. Wales, I mean, let's give them a little bit of a shout out, do you know what I mean? First major tournament, they scored a few goals, like it means so much to them and their nation. You know, they could have easily come here and gone, we're playing two of the best teams in the tournament, three of the best teams in the tournament. And everyone probably wrote them off

for not scoring a single goal. And I think they've shown moments of brilliance in the last three games. And yeah, I think they can hold their heads massively high for the first major tournament. Well, they've taken their game to the next level, haven't they? And then you'll go another level after that.

You know, football is all about a process. You don't jump from, you don't get to the top immediately. Like every team's gone through that level. So like you said, Rach, they've definitely taken their game up a notch and they'll have learnt so much from this tournament. And credit to them, they've still tried to play out against some of the top teams. They still tried to do all the right things and getting goals. A lot of people did write them off, which you shouldn't do.

You should just never do that ever. So I said, if we don't score that many goals and then they score that goal, it's a different situation. I do actually think that, Mils, the penalty changed the game as well. It felt like, up until that point. And that was a bit of a controversial decision, to be honest, because at first I was like, yeah, pen,

and then you watch it in slow-mo and you're like, did G trip herself almost? For me that could have gone either way, that just depends on the person sitting behind the screen and how they interpretate that situation, but controversial like situation, it could have easily have been given as a not a pen. And you want on a night like tonight, if you're Wales, you want to grow into that game minute by minute, and sort of they'd started really really compact they've been very organized from the kickoff you could see the entire play just shifted about 60 yards they went fine Hannah you have that ball and we're going to drop into shape be really

narrow and defend the edge of the box. We didn't really get through for the first up until that decision we didn't really get through like at all they defended really really well and they were just looking to defend and hit the counter which they got in a couple times to be fair but like I said again it goes back to moments in football that one moment and you get a little bit deflated and then it's hard to come back especially when the intensity of the England team and they keep that pressure on and that's something that we've done so well in the last two games is keeping that pressure on, you know, keeping the attacks going, keep pushing for a goal, keep pushing for a shot. But yeah, I think as always, you never know which way these decisions are going to go to be honest. Just on Wales, I want to kind of like let people in a little bit on this.

Basically, I've got all of the friends and family, you know, we were speaking before about everyone bringing their support network with them to the tournament. Yeah yeah. And there's maybe kind of, I don't know, 200 of their Welsh friends and family down in front of me. Wow. And it's really interesting because they don't look upset, they don't look like a team that's been beaten. Yeah. And when the players came over, you could see they were just so buzzed that they'd scored that goal at the end and that they'd had these two moments in the competition with Jess Fischlok scoring as well. Fans were unbelievable, they did the march to the stadium again and I think there was maybe three or four thousand of them here tonight. They were absolutely

incredible and I just wonder whether maybe, even though they were so unlucky with the way that the draw fell I just wonder whether maybe just having that experience just gives you that taste that you go like oh man I want I want to be back in that I want to be back playing in that environment again playing these games but also then going a step further perhaps. Yeah I think it's like what Milly said though I think they've really developed developed. They've had a few good managers over the last few rounds. I think again what Millie said, you can't come into your first major tournament and expect to be in the finals. It's a process and they've worked really hard and they've got some unbelievable talent.

Obviously, we know Rhian really well from the Olympics, Mills and her time at England, and I know she will want to kick on with them. But I think, yeah, overriding feeling for them must be pride. They were literally in the toughest group, and they've managed to score goals, they've enjoyed themselves. And yeah, it's a proper taste of what is to come for them.

It does kick you on. They're gonna wanna make all the tournaments now. They're gonna wanna keep pushing. They're gonna wanna progress. And yeah, I think you can see their fans that I think Welsh people are very Welsh, aren't they? And very, very patriotic. And I love that. I love to see that. I think it's a great atmosphere for them to play in and great for their friends and family and great for the nation. I think she'll also be reminding them of that journey and she'll be saying, this is about

a process and we've took a step forward and now it's about shifting again that journey and she'll be saying this is about a process and we've took a step forward and now it's about shifting again. I think she'll be keeping the group very confident in where they are and where they want to get to, which I think is a really important thing, which is something we experienced under her. And yeah, I think she's fantastic at that, at keeping the belief, keeping everyone kind of together and not being deflated, like taking the positives out of your first major tournament and, you know, using them to make sure that next time you're not just getting by, like you compete and you look for that top two spot. So, yeah, I think credit to them.

I think they've been amazing. And yes, they've not got the results that they wanted, but they've I think they've shocked a lot of people. Yeah, 100%. Right, time for us to take a short break. When we come back, we will have a little chat about France v Netherlands and talk about how Group D finished. This episode is brought to you by Tinder. People think that dating is to just find the one male, but I think there's so much more to it than that. We spoke about it before about, you know, you have a soulmate in life, but you have a

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Download Tinder today. Welcome back, guys. We are now gonna discuss the Netherlands-France game. Benjy, let us in on that. So I was trying to keep across both games at once and there was a moment in this game where the tables flipped. There was a moment where it looked like England was suddenly going to go through top of the group. And I mean, just before I get into the kind of like Netherlands, France stuff, I was really intrigued to know,

like, would that have been as much of a disaster as I make it out in my head as a fan, for England to go into the half of the door with Spain and Germany? Honestly, I think when it gets to knockout stages, it does not matter who you face, because we know as players, like, whoever you're facing, the reality is, you're going home or

you're going through and you've got to bring your A game no matter what. And it's anyone's to take, it doesn't matter what you've done in the groups, all that's irrelevant. It's 90 minutes, potentially 120 minutes of football and that is it. And I think that's always been our mentality as players is it doesn't matter who you face. And obviously people will probably be looking at the likes of Spain and you know, and their momentum, but look how quickly our momentum switched and now we scored double figure goals in two games. Do you know what I mean? So tables can turn very, very quickly.

So I think for us, it was just a matter of qualify and whoever's put in front of you, you tackle then. As again, of course, I'm in fan mode. So I'm thinking, God, you don't want to play Spain in the semi-final but the reality is you're going to have to play Spain at some point anyway. And we've done it before. Yeah exactly and when you guys won it you had to weather that storm right? Yeah. Everyone was sort of saying Spain were the team to beat and you found a way. Anything can happen in a knockout game, anything can happen like literally anything So I think it's just a matter of you qualify, you get your job done, you

recover, you make sure you keep that momentum and then you smash whoever's in front of you. And this one was really interesting because Netherlands, we were so, I was so disappointed by the way that they approached the game against England. I thought we were going to have a really open end to end game and the way that they set up just didn't really bother England at all other than that VIV chance that we spoke about after maybe five or ten minutes or whatever it was. Tonight was a little bit different, they were a little bit more structured,

they're a little bit more organized, they went behind to a very good volley from Teleti who took it really beautifully. But then Pelova scores on the counter. I've seen that goal. I mean it's a lovely strike isn't it? I do think though, like I do think the Netherlands there was a period of time at the beginning of the game where they were on top because I was watching both, I had that one on my laptop and I thought yeah it looked like a different Netherlands and I thought this we're in for a bit of a weird night here because I couldn't work out which way it was going to go and then obviously when they went 2-1 up, I thought, hmm,

you can never say die attitude with France, is it? But there was a large part of that first half I thought Netherlands look like they flipped the script here a little bit, but they're just so ruthless. We also thought France were going to be out the blocks because they rested a lot of players in their last game. So we we were all like, oh, shit, they've rested a lot of players like they're going to come out the blocks, whatever. But I think the biggest question is obviously,

Viv didn't start and nor did she make an appearance. So hoping there's not a big injury there, but that's a crucial player not to have in a game in a must-win situation. I can only think that that would be an injury though. Like I can't wrap my head around in such a big game. If you're not injured, why wouldn't play her it was it was a strange one so yeah you have to have her on the pitch I hope there wasn't an injury I hope she's okay so all of our best wishes to her but

it would blow my mind to make that decision if there was no injury there well I mean she was stood with Andrzej Jankar like in in theout, kind of talking about things and pointing at various stuff on the pitch. It looked like there was a fairly good relationship there. And you can imagine with Viv, if she was dropped and left out, you would know from her face. She's also had a really tough run with injuries, Anshu, so I really hope that it's nothing major but to keep her out of a must-win game. She was on the bench though, so at least that gives you a positive sign that it wasn't and it's nothing major maybe she's just overloaded, you know, she's had a tough, like you say, a tough few runs with injuries so fingers crossed she's okay but yeah it was

a strange game I thought. Good finish for France though. Cascarino's finish, oh my god. Wow, take a bow, that is filth. I literally was just like... That's one of them where you just, you don't even say anything, you just wash it back, you're like... Also, like, Netherlands, like, Daphne is a phenomenal goalkeeper,

and she's now conceded nine in two. Yeah, it's not a good stat, is it? I don't know I think there's got to be questions asked of how many they're conceding. I mean the ones that are like screamers you're like fair play. I was by no means saying I'm by no means saying it's Daphne's fault I rate her very highly I think she's a phenomenal goalkeeper but I just think to concede nine in two games at that yeah as a standard that they'll probably set themselves has got to be looked at, I think.

Well, especially after our game, you'd think you'd be tightening up. You don't make the same mistakes twice. No, no matter who you're playing against and no matter where you're playing with it, it's groups, knockouts. To concede nine is a very big number for a top nation. The other thing tonight that I think they need to look at is the way that they've fallen apart again. It's not just conceding the goals

because you can concede to Cascorino in the way that, I mean, she's now making a play for player of the tournament. The way that she's going about business at the moment, she's beating what, three players there, chopped inside and then whipped into the top corner. But even that, it's too easy. You can't skip past three players like you're in a must-win game like you do the basics and you do the basics brilliantly like you win your battles you win your duels that's how you change momentum in a game

you put your tackle and you get your team going you spread that energy you can't be getting skip past you can't skip past three players in a must-win game and then beyond that you've got to react right if you've conceded two goals in four minutes, or whatever it was, two goals in three minutes, you have to react to that point, surely, to be like, okay, just shut up shop now for a bit. Let everyone just calm down. Just get everyone together.

You're like, f***ing hell, guys, like we've got to win this game. This is us going out or going through. Like, that's the situation. Then they concede again in three minutes. For the talent that they have and the calibre of team that they are, you probably expect a little bit more. But yeah, very weird game. But I think positives for France is that they've come back from being behind, they've overcome another hurdle. And in tournaments, it's good

to have little setbacks because you experience, you get to know each other as a team then. Like our situation, we lose to France, we know how we bounce back we know then how we develop and how we get better and you need that in tournaments as well it can't be smooth sailing so I think yeah they've proved that they can come back players come on in the games score a ridiculous amount of goals and and completely change the game so positive for them but yeah I think really disappointing for the Netherlands. Yeah like that I think the biggest thing that they'll take away is that everyone said this was kind of like, as we called it, the group of death. And they fell into the trap of playing the group and not playing their game against both

France and against England got themselves caught up in games that they didn't want to be involved in. They got it tactically wrong against England and they got it emotionally wrong against France. And I think that's probably cost them over the course of like two lots of 90 minutes, suddenly they're going home in the group stage again. And it's another example of Netherlands underwhelming at a tournament when, like you said, Millie,

if you look at them player for player, you put them ahead of so many other teams in this tournament that have made it through to the knockouts, Dave. But now it's getting exciting because it's knockout. This is it. Van Steen now. Right, that's it for today's episode of The Rest is Football Daily Brightness.

Tomorrow we'll be releasing the next episode in our Euro 2022 Rewind series. It's all about the quarterfinal from three years ago and reliving a nail-biting game against Spain. Then on Wednesday, we'll be back to preview all the exciting quarterfinals. We've got to look forward to this year some mouth-watering games like England versus Sweden and France versus Germany. Goodbye from me and have a great week everyone. Bye bye from me!