West Ham United women’s team defender Eva Nyström believes Finland can take plenty of confidence into their UEFA Women's Euro 2025 campaign, that begins next week in Switzerland, despite losing 2-1 to the Netherlands in their final warm-up clash on Thursday.
First-half goals from Dutch captain Vivianne Miedema of Manchester City did the damage at Kooi Stadion in Leeuwarden. However, Marko Saloranta’s side didn't back down and imposed themselves on the game, having five shots in the second half, and were rewarded for their persistence deep into stoppage-time when Nyström's West Ham teammate Oona Siren notched her first international strike with the last kick of the game.
By that point it was nothing more than a consolation for the Helmarit, but Nyström believes the overall display from the team provides reason to be optimistic going into what will be both of our Hammers’ first appearances at a major tournament.
“It's a shame that we lost the game, but I think we can be satisfied with our performance,” said Nyström.
“We haven't played against the European top teams for a long time, but we fought back from 2-0 down and never gave up. We can be proud of that, but we know we still need to improve for the next tournament (UEFA Women's Euro 2025).
“I think we were a bit passive in our defensive game [in the first half]. We couldn't get close, and that's why they were able to control the game and threaten our defence.
“We’re disappointed with the goals we conceded, but I think we improved all the time, and in the second half we were much better.
“We changed the pressure a bit in the second half, and we put more of an emphasis on pressing our opponents, and I think that we caused them some difficulties.
“I think we were able to create a bit more space, and when we won the ball, we got closer to their goal and were rewarded with a deserved goal at the end.”
Te äänestitte Hollanti-ottelun 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 -pelaajaksi Oona Sirenin! 🦉💙#Helmarit #MeOlemmeSuomi pic.twitter.com/VWhdiuouKp
— Helmarit (@HelmaritFI) June 27, 2025
Moreover, Siren was voted the Finnish Player of the Match against the Netherlands, having marked another excellent performance by firing home her first goal for her country, and the Hammers duo are now relishing the chance to write themselves into history over the coming weeks.
Finland now turn their attention to their Euros Group A opener at Stockhorn Arena, Thun, against Iceland (Wednesday 2 July, kick-off 5pm BST), before travelling to Sion to face Norway (Sunday 6 July, 5pm BST) at Stade Tourbillon and then hosts Switzerland (Thursday 10 July, 8pm BST) at Stade de Genève, Lancy.
UEFA Women's Euro 2025, the 14th edition of the tournament, will be held in Switzerland from 2-27 July, and be broadcast live in the UK by the BBC and ITV. For Finland-based supporters, games will be shown live on Yle Areena.
