England becomes first reigning champion to lose a Women’s Euro opener

It was a statement victory for France, which — despite being without injured captain Griedge Mbock — was in firm control for most of the match, apart from the opening 15 minutes and a tense finale after Walsh’s goal.

However, France coach Laurent Bonadei was quick to dismiss any suggestion his team was emerging as one of the favorites

“I won’t change my position on our status. At the moment we haven’t won anything, we are still challengers with a lot of ambition,” he said. “We showed a lot of courage tonight and the ability to compete with a very good team.

“But we just won one match, there are still two left in this group.”

England got off to a strong start and Lauren James — starting her first match since a hamstring injury at the start of April — almost gave England the lead within 40 seconds with a clever run into the box but fired narrowly over.

Alessia Russo thought she gave England the lead in the 16th minute, turning in the rebound after Lauren Hemp’s shot was saved but it was ruled out for a tight offside decision on Beth Mead in the buildup.

“No one expected that to be disallowed,” Wiegman said. “We had to get out of that better, it was a huge surprise that it was disallowed.”

As England appeared to deflate after that call by the video assistant referee, France grew in ascendancy and broke the deadlock in the 36th.