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

ZURICH — England set a number of unwanted firsts as it began the defense of its Women's European Championship title by losing to France 2-1 on Saturday.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore scored two quickfire goals towards the end of the first half as France recorded a ninth straight win and stunned the defending champion.

Keira Walsh reduced the deficit three minutes from time but it wasn't enough to prevent England from becoming the first titleholder to lose its opening match at a women's Euros.

''The positive is that I've not seen us like that ... for a while,'' England captain Leah Williamson told British broadcaster ITV. ''We hold ourselves to higher standards in individual battles and we improved on that throughout the game, which is good.''

The defeat also ended England coach Sarina Wiegman's remarkable flawless record in the competition, after winning 12 out of 12 matches across two tournaments as she steered first the Netherlands to the title and then England.

''We're frustrated because we had such three very good weeks and we trained really well, but that's never a guarantee that of course you win the game,'' Wiegman said.

''You have to do things really well and we just didn't get it right at those moments.''

The Lionesses next face the Netherlands on Wednesday, before taking on Wales in their final group match four days later.

The Netherlands beat Wales 3-0 in the early match in Group D.

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.

Elise De Almeida won the ball in her own half before surging down the right and threading the ball through to Delphine Cascarino, who put in a low cross for Katoto to tap in at the back post.

France doubled its lead just three minutes later. Baltimore mazed her way into the area, close to the byline, and Lucy Bronze inadvertently kept the ball in play with her attempted tackle, allowing the Chelsea forward to curl into the far side of the net.

France was almost out of sight at the start of the second half, with Hannah Hampton having to scramble behind her and grab the ball before it crossed the line, after fumbling an effort from Grace Geyoro.

England hadn't even had a shot on target before it got back into the game late on. A corner was cleared only to the edge of the area for Walsh to calmly control before firing into the top right corner for only her second international goal.

The Lionesses almost completed an improbable comeback in the final minute of stoppage time when France goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin missed her punch and Hemp turned it goalwards but Selma Bacha cleared it off the line.

The France players fell to the ground after the final whistle, as if in relief, before Bacha led the celebrations in front of their fans — branding a huge France flag as the supporters waved smaller versions in a sea of blue, white and red.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer