England v Greece: Women’s World Cup qualifying playoff, second leg – stay
Key occasions
GOAL! England 4-0 Greece (agg: 7-1; James 34)
Lauren James continues to get pleasure from herself. She’s simply scored her second objective of the night time with a crisp half-volley – proper foot this time – from Hemp’s inviting cross.
Tom Garry
Lauren James is absolutely having fun with her free position this night, gliding across the pitch, discovering acres of house. When she’s in this sort of assured kind, not many groups can cease her, and this Greece staff can’t. The followers are getting excited right here, each time the Chelsea ahead touches the ball.
33 min Russo is on her ft and appears okay to proceed.
31 min There’s a break in play after Russo is whacked on the again of the pinnacle by a clearance from Katergiannaki. She’ll have to be examined for concussion earlier than play can resume.
GOAL! England 3-0 Greece (agg: 6-1; Stanway 30)
Georgia Stanway can’t cease scoring for England. Hemp made the objective with an attractive curving run and clipped cross in direction of the close to put up. Stanway was ready and guided an professional header into the far nook.
28 min James’ deflected cross is someway launched over the bar by Le Tissier, two yards out. She was flagged offside after the occasion, however replays confirmed she was onside so it will have counted. That’s a outstanding miss.
27 min Katergiannaki dives full size to palm Hemp’s cross away from Le Tissier, who was ready to attain her second objective in as many video games.
25 min England beat Ukraine handsomely throughout their qualification group, 6-1 and 3-0, so they are going to be robust favourites to win that closing playoff tie in November and December.
23 min Potter dithers and loses the ball in a harmful space, which finally results in a low shot from Saich that’s saved by Hampton.
20 min James’ sensible cross from the left is headed extensive by Russo, who was penalised for a problem on Markou anyway.
19 min Not any extra: Czechia have gone 2-1 up in Paisley, so Scotland lead 3-2 on mixture.
18 min “Scotland are taking part in Czechia within the second leg of their play off in Paisley tonight,” writes Simon McMahon. “Two-nil down from the primary leg, Czechia acquired one again by an absolute screamer from 35 yards that’s effectively value searching for out on the BBC web site, however Scotland equalised instantly so it’s at present 3-1 on mixture.”
Lauren James scores one more belter. Le Tissier surged infield, to the sting of the D, and performed a sq. move that was diverted into the trail of James by a stretching defender. James took a contact and swished a rising drive into the far nook along with her left foot. Katergiannaki had no probability.
GOAL! England 2-0 Greece (agg: 5-1; James 16)
Pick that out!
14 min England get pleasure from their first prolonged spell of possession till Le Tissier wanders offside. As within the first leg on Friday, she’s virtually taking part in as a right-winger when England have the ball.
12 min A by move from James once more releases Russo, this time on the suitable facet of the world. Russo eschews the shot and slides a low cross that’s minimize out by a Greece defender. She was unselfish to a fault as a result of that was a wonderful scoring alternative.
9 min Sarri chips a harmful cross from the left that’s punched away beneath strain by Hampton. Greece’s entrance three have began very sharply.
7 min The objective apart – admittedly a reasonably large apart – Greece have began effectively. They’re urgent England as a lot as potential, a courageous but additionally dangerous method.
4 min Papatheodorou virtually replies immediately, sweeping a left-foot shot from the sting of the world that’s pushed around the put up by the diving Hampton. Good save.
GOAL! England 1-0 Greece (agg: 4-1; Russo 3)
Perfect begin for England. Lauren James collects a unfastened ball within the centre circle, surges ahead and flicks a wonderfully timed move by to Russo. She rides a lunging problem from Markou on the sting of the world and passes the ball confidently previous Katergiannaki.
1 min England, within the form of Alessia Russo, kick off from left to proper as we watch.
Tom Garry
More than 22,000 tickets have been issued for this match. It seems to be like scarcely half of that determine are right here inside this stadium in the intervening time. The environment is definitely livelier than it was in Crete on Friday, not less than, and there was a really loud roar for Ella Toone when her identify was learn out among the many checklist of substitutes, which was attention-grabbing.
There was a slight really feel of England going by the motions on Friday – hopefully they may have a bit extra zip and magnificence about their recreation tonight, to entertain those that have turned up.
Sarina Wiegman’s pre-match ideas
[On the debutant Lexi Potter] I hope she is going to deliver what she has achieved for Chelsea and in our coaching periods. She’s impressed me, the workers and the staff. She’s an enormous expertise.
[On the inclusion of Jess Carter] There’s numerous competitors in that place. We will most likely be one v one loads in defence, which is one thing she’s good at.
We need to be extra ruthless, and that’s about having the positioning proper, making the suitable choice and executing higher than we did. That’s what we’ve been speaking about loads within the final couple of days.
Suzanne Wrack
It took a labyrinthine transfer from Sarina Wiegman’s staff to discover a manner by deep-lying Greece. On the outskirts of Heraklion, the traditional metropolis of Knossos, which is related to the legend of the Minotaur and the labyrinth constructed by Daedalus to include it, Laura Blindkilde Brown’s fast move to Alessia Russo was artfully flicked first time to her Arsenal teammate Georgia Stanway and the midfielder slotted in previous the goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti.
There have been muted celebrations after the objective, reflective of the frustration they felt at having taken 39 minutes to get their first objective towards the staff ranked 54 locations beneath them.
That was a well-known frustration as a result of, regardless of two Euros wins and a World Cup closing, England have struggled to utterly shake freed from the accusation that they wrestle towards low blocks. In spite of the 3-1 scoreline and their dominance in possession, the Lionesses didn’t look comfy or significantly completely happy for stretches of the match.
Tom Garry
England have two jobs to do tonight. The first, avoiding an almighty upset and progressing previous Greece on mixture of their Women’s World Cup playoff to achieve a closing tie, needs to be a formality for one of many global community’s best-resourced groups. The second, honing their model to play like contenders for subsequent summer season’s World Cup in Brazil, is a far trickier however essential problem.
Friday’s comparatively uninspiring 3-1 first-leg victory in Crete left room for enchancment and England had a lot to work on as they educated at St George’s Park on Monday beneath gloomy-looking clouds. More broadly, over the following eight months, there are six questions going through the European champions.
1. Can England defend effectively sufficient to win a global community title?
England had 58 touches in Greece’s field and turned that into three targets, whereas Greece had two touches in England’s field however managed to attain and hit the crossbar. Sarina Wiegman mentioned she was not completely happy her staff had conceded. Their defending in June’s 4-0 defeat by Spain additionally left a lot to be desired, and it feels as if England aren’t but sure about who ought to accomplice the captain, Leah Williamson, at centre-back. Wiegman talked about on Monday that stopping counterattacks was one thing they need to repair – in addition they struggled defending fast breaks in April 2025 when losing in Belgium. That yr, they discovered a solution to win the Euros however they need to tighten up defensively in the event that they need to win a primary global community title within the Maracanã in July.
Have you signed up for Moving the Goalposts, our weekly ladies’s soccer e-newsletter? If not, it’s good to think about your life decisions. Here’s a snippet of this week’s version.
Japan have continually pushed the boundaries in ladies’s soccer, whether or not or not it’s with common success in Asia or their means to beat the largest nations within the global community.
Nadeshiko won the Women’s World Cup in 2011 and reached another final in 2015, whereas extra established nations fell by the wayside. Japan haven’t replicated that success however did win the Women’s Asian Cup this yr beneath the steerage of Nils Nielsen, who has since been succeeded by Michihisa Kano, and a lot of the greatest stars play outdoors the nation, with 24 contracted to Women’s Super League golf equipment alone.
Japan are discreet in regards to the secrets and techniques behind their success, significantly the easy-on-the-eye model that has turn out to be a trademark of the lads’s and ladies’s groups, however a kind of secrets and techniques lies within the Japanese Football Association (JFA) creating the JFA Academy.
There are three that take women throughout the nation of 123 million folks: Fukushima, Sakai and Imabari. A fourth, Kumamoto Uki, is a boys’ academy solely. Fukushima was the primary to open, in 2006, with Sakai following in 2012 and Imabari in 2015.
Shota Mishio, an analyst for the nationwide staff after they conquered the global community in 2011, just lately coached within the Fukushima academy, which because the nuclear catastrophe that preceded their World Cup success by months has moved to Susono City. He provides an perception into how they’re ready not solely to develop world-class people however to mould them right into a profitable unit for the nationwide staff.
Team information
Sarina Wiegman makes two modifications from the primary leg in Crete. Jess Carter and Lexi Potter exchange Esme Morgan and Laura Blindkilde Brown. Potter is making her global debut.
Greece additionally make a few modifications. Eleni Saich replaces Eleftheria Drakogiannaki and Stylian Katergiannaki is most popular in objective to Fafailia Petaloti.
England (4-3-3) Hampton; Le Tissier, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Stanway, Walsh, Potter; Hemp, Russo, James.
Subs: Keating, Charles, Moorhouse, Blindkilde Brown, Morgan, Fisk, Clinton, Mead, Parkinson, Godfrey, Toone.
Greece (4-3-3) Katergiannaki; Giannaka, Gkouni, Markou, Paterna; Brame, Saich, Moraitou; Papatheodorou, Sarri, Brouksair.
Subs: Giannakouli, Petaloti, Fakinou, Ntarzanou, Kapnisi, Chalatsogianni, Drakogiannaki, Tzourtzevits, Argyriou, Palama, Rapani, Kongouli.
Referee Rasa Grigone (Lithuania).
Preamble
Hello and welcome to stay, minute-by-minute protection of England v Greece on the King Power Stadium in Leicester. It needs to be a snug night time for England, who lead 3-1 from Friday’s first leg in Crete, however the venue for tonight’s recreation is a reminder that the strangest issues can occur in soccer. Greece are extraordinarily lengthy odds to shock England and win this World Cup playoff, however they’re not 5,000-1. Stranger issues have most positively occurred.
The winners of this tie will meet Ukraine – who beat Slovakia 1-0 this afternoon to finish a 4-1 mixture victory – in a decisive playoff. What England really need, apart from the bleedin’ apparent, is to enhance on a combined efficiency within the first leg. Sarina Wiegman was constructively important after the sport, saying that England weren’t tight sufficient and didn’t transfer the ball as rapidly as she would have appreciated.
England know they should play loads higher if they’re to win the World Cup in Brazil subsequent summer season. First, they should get there.
Kick-off 7.30pm BST.
