Euro 2025: England coach Wiegman says Jess Carter is ready for semifinal despite online abuse

GENEVA (AP) — England defender Jess Carter is ready to play in the Women’s European Championship semifinals after being targeted with racist abuse online, her coach Sarina Wiegman said Monday, adding that it's “sad” and “disgusting” that the team has to deal with such an issue.

Defending champion England plays Italy on Tuesday, two days after Carter, who is Black, revealed she was subjected to racist abuse this month that was reported to police at home.

“She’s ready to perform and to compete. That says also a lot about her and about the team,” Wiegman said at the Geneva stadium.

“Of course, it’s really sad that we have to be occupied by this,” the coach added. “It’s ridiculous, it’s disgusting what’s happening and that goes beyond football.”

England trailed by two goals after a rough first half-hour against Sweden in the quarterfinals in Zurich, then rallied late to level the game. England won a memorably chaotic penalty shootout.

Carter is “not the only one that gets this abuse or this racism,” Wiegman said, adding her team was ready to send a “message to the world.”

England midfielder Georgia Stanway said the collective support for Carter “probably brought us together as a team.”

Carter also got support from the Italy camp, where defender Cecilia Salvai said she hoped “she can play this game 100%.”

“She’s not the first one that has been the victim of this abuse and we have the greatest solidarity with her,” Salvai said in translated comments.

Italy coach Andrea Soncin said the abuse cannot be tolerated and his team was ready to join England in any shared gesture at Tuesday's game.

“We have a strong and huge responsibility in giving positive messages,” he said.

Stanway also revealed that when England players talked about the abuse Carter faced, some wanted to take time away from social media "because they’re fed up with it.”

Tournament organizer UEFA, like world soccer body FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, try to protect athletes with online platforms that flag up abusive posts reported to social media operators.

UEFA acknowledged last week this strategy has limited success because of the regulations applied by social networks.

“Although it’s a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person,” Wiegman said. “She also felt, and so did we, that we had to address this. You can’t just let it go.”

The 27-year-old Carter has played 49 times for England, and came to Euro 2025 after helping her club Gotham FC in New Jersey win the CONCACAF Champions Cup final.

Carter's teammates at Gotham include her partner Ann-Katrin Berger, the goalkeeper who was the star of Germany’s win over France in the quarterfinals. Germany plays tournament favorite Spain in the other semifinal on Wednesday in Zurich.

The final is played Sunday in Basel.

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

Sweden's Filippa Angeldahl, right, challenges England's Georgia Stanway during the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Sweden and England at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

England's head coach Sarina Wiegman watches during the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Sweden and England at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)

England's Jess Carter reacts during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between France and England at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

England's Jess Carter speaks to England head coach Sarina Wiegman during the Euro 2025, group D, soccer match between England and the Netherlands at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)