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Alessia Russo says England must play with freedom to obtain past the Netherlands

England will need to be fearless in their crucial Group D match against the Netherlands at the Women's Euros on Wednesday, said striker Alessia Russo, who demanded the team's confidence possessed not wavered since the 2-1 loss to France in their opener.

England's beat was their first in the group stage in a European Championship in 10 years and they now confront becoming the first holders removed before the knockout round.

England will be out if they lose and France are not beaten by Wales.

"Massively," Russo said on Tuesday, when requested if England must play without dread.

"We want everyone to be as free as possible out on the pitch and going forward.

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It's a big part of what we are as a team.

We have players who can create something out of nothing, and making sure everyone is in a good lead-space is important.

"Ultimately we have a game plan but we have individuals as well who can create a snapped of magic.

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Russo and manager Sarina Wiegman said they knew before the tournament kicked off that their group would be tough, with three of the four teams ranked in FIFA's top 11.

So while the loss to France was frustrating, it was not entirely deflating.

"No, it's tournament football and you move through lots of highs and lows to where you want to be," Russo said.

"We came up against a great France team but we know we can be better and we have high standards as a team.

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Wiegman is predicting an "intense game" on Wednesday at Stadion Letzigrund as England try to rebound support against the Dutch, a team she led to the European title in 2017.

"We knew this was going to be a hard group," she said.

"What we are focusing on is our game plan and executing that, doing your task and having conversations with players together and talking together and that is what we want to do in the game too.

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What we are occupied with is playing football, executing a task and sticking together, getting the right connections, working really hard and doing everything to win the game.

"Requested if she reminds her players of the high stakes, Wiegman said: "We don't talk over consequences.

We talk over the game plan, what we have to do to be at our best and how we can exploit spaces that the Netherlands leave behind.

"England confront debutants Wales in their final group game on Sunday.