Russo on ice cream mishaps, knockout football and Wales breakthrough

Sunday night’s game was great. The third game of the group so we needed a win and we put on another great performance. Six goals, six different scorers. A really positive performance going into the quarters. I think everyone’s feeling good and raring to go.

It felt nice to finally score a goal. When LJ and Tooney are combining on the ball, I leave them to it because I know that they’re going to create something so I knew it was my job to try and get in the box and get on the end of it. I was being marked quite heavily in the box most of the game so I just needed to find half a yard and the ball fell perfectly to me.

Alessia on the scoresheet! 💫
pic.twitter.com/vNhBjfjhEU

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 13, 2025

I love seeing Tooney shine on big stages like she always does. I don’t actually think I got the assist because she did a little one-two before it went in. I know when I’m in that kind of moment, you’re often going to have runners in the box and Tooney’s one of them that makes those runs. I saw her come in and I just needed to get the ball to her feet. It was great for her to score and she had another great performance as well.

She’s had a tough year and to see your friend go through things like that is not nice but she’s stayed so strong. I tell her all the time that she makes me proud every day not just when she’s scoring assisting but when she’s working hard, being herself and being the Tooney that everyone loves.

I think when you’re in tournament football, it’s tough. You have to be ready to perform at all moments. To have your best mate there through the highs and lows is something that I find really helpful, whether it’s just a little chat or a little laugh.

She gets mad at me for being clumsy all the time. Basically, it was matchday minus-one so there was crumble and ice cream and stuff, so I went up and got mine. I forgot a spoon so I went back to go and get a spoon and Tooney was there with her ice cream.

I was stood next to Anna and Tooney walked over as I was trying to get a spoon and we bashed into each other and I knocked her a little but her bowl fell to the floor, cracked on the floor, ice cream all over the floor.

She completely blamed me – it was completely my fault, nothing to do with her. I said I’d take 60 percent of the blame and she could take 40 but she said she was taking zero percent of the blame!

Downtime is important on camp, especially as the tournament goes on and you’re away for longer and longer. You need little things to get you through. We’ve been playing a lot of Monopoly Deal and actually I haven’t even won a game since I’ve been out in Switzerland, so I think I’m sitting bottom of the leaderboard right now.

Darts is another one. Lots of people have been playing darts. I also like to go off to my room and watching a little series every now and again. I’ve been napping pretty much every day since I’ve been out here.

Love Island as well – we’ve all been watching as a team. When my brother was in it, I didn’t really like watching it with loads of people so I’d just watch it with Tooney and Beth maybe and then we’d have a debrief over breakfast. He’s out of it now so hopefully he’ll be coming out to Switzerland.

Today, we’ve got a bit of downtime and a couple of meetings then we get to see our friends and family and have a little barbecue as a team. Tomorrow, we’re back to training and back on the grass because there’s not much of a turnaround between these games now.

It’s knockout football so the pressure’s on but we’re ready for it. I think we thrive in these moments. Hopefully we can carry on progressing and do what we want to do in this tournament and go on to really put a stamp on it. We want to be here right until the end.