Beth Mead insists it will be business as usual tonight, even though England’s must-win Euro 2025 clash with the Netherlands sees her come up against her partner Vivianne Miedema.
Defending champions England stumbled out of the blocks in their opening game of the tournament, deservedly losing 2-1 to France in Zurich on Saturday.
And Sarina Wiegman’s side now face the very possibility of exiting the Euros at the group stages should they lose to the Dutch on Wednesday evening.
But while the result and match will take centre stage, an interesting subplot will also play out as England winger Mead prepares to face off against her long-time partner Miedema.
The duo, who met at Arsenal and began dating in 2022, have already played against each other last season after Miedema moved from north London to join Manchester City.
But this evening’s clash will be the first time the duo face off against each other in a major international tournament, and with so much on the line, it no doubt adds an extra element of intrigue.
Despite that, Mead has insisted that the duo will stick to their usual routine, which includes their golden rule of leaving work talk out of the conversation on a matchday.
‘We will speak [ahead of the game] but it won’t be remotely anything about football,’ Mead told the Telegraph prior to Euro 2025. ‘We’re professional enough not to speak about that. We’ll talk about dogs, how Myle [their dog] is doing, family.
‘We are professionals, we’ve done it before, obviously not in a tournament, but we’ve played against each other and we’re both going there to make our countries proud.
‘Once we get over that white line it doesn’t change anything but, once the game finishes, hopefully we won’t have killed each other!’
Miedema echod those sentiments in the Dutch’s pre-match press conference, and admitted she risked the silent treatment from her other half if they were to knock the defending champions out.
‘If it’s not a nice moment for Beth, it’s not a problem for me,’ Miedema said. ‘Tomorrow for once we will not be friends. I will do everything I can to win tomorrow. If I have to do something that is not good for Beth, then I will do it.
‘I don’t think she’ll speak to me for a bit [if we win] but it’s tough. I also have some of my best friends on that [England] team. It’s part of football. It’s part of the game.
‘I’ve probably been on the other end of it [more, losing]. I’ll be happy for us if we get through tomorrow.
‘We both know what we’re going through. It’s a very important tournament. Our golden rule is we do not discuss anything [pre-match].
‘I don’t know whether she’ll be starting tomorrow or whether she’ll be on the bench. As a Dutch player I will do everything possible to win the game.’
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