Greece v England: Women’s World Cup playoff semi-final, first leg – reside
Key occasions
58 min: Good save by Petaloti! James strolls previous a few defenders, as solely she will, and pokes an angled cross to Le Tissier on the proper facet of the world. She curls a rising shot that’s batted around the close to put up by the diving Petaloti.
56 min A 1-0 lead away from dwelling in a two-legged tie is rarely a unhealthy factor, however most individuals anticipated England to be extra dominant than this.
It’s usually the best way in such video games: not many objectives for the primary hour, then a shedload on the finish.
55 min Mead is offside when she runs onto a intelligent by cross from Greenwood. That’s most likely a blessing as a result of she misplaced her footing and will solely poke the ball straight at Petaloti.
52 min Hampton makes a easy save from a far-post header. Not that it could have counted: the flag went up for offside as quickly because the ball was lifeless.
50 min James curls a cross excessive of the Greece defence. Mead makes a superb run, out to in, however can’t management an ungainly dropping ball on the sting of the world.
49 min A quiet begin to the second half.
46 min England have made a half-time substitution: Beth Mead on, Laura Blindkilde Brown off.
Half-time studying
Half time: Greece 0-1 England
A snug first half for England in Crete. They had a scare when Ioanna Papatheodorou hit the crossbar after a 60-yard run, however that apart it was one-way visitors.
Lauren James had a purpose disallowed and Lauren Hemp drove simply large earlier than Georgia Stanway completed off a pointy transfer involving Keira Walsh, Laura Blindkilde Brown and Alessia Russo.
45 min Two minutes of added time.
42 min Stanway mishits a long-range shot nicely large.
41 min Lauren James nearly makes it 2-0, flipping a left-foot shot simply large of the far put up after a sensible flip. It was a tricky likelihood.
That’s easy methods to play in tight areas. Walsh began the incision, feeding a cross into Stanway on the sting of the D. She flicked it to Blindkilde Brown, who moved it on shortly to Russo within the space. Russo cushioned a beautiful cross into the trail of Stanway, who slid a first-time end previous Petaloti. Very good purpose.
GOAL! Greece 0-1 England (Stanway 39)
England take the lead with a wonderful staff purpose.
37 min It’s been a irritating half for England. The rhythm and tempo of their passing have been fairly good; they’re simply not creating probabilities.
34 min: Papatheodorou hits the crossbar!
Ioanna Papatheodorou nearly scores the purpose of her life. She acquired the ball midway contained in the Greece half, turned Morgan easily and charged at a backpedalling defence. She beat Williamson after which Hemp earlier than driving a flat chip from 22 yards. It beat Hampton and thumped off the crossbar. What an effort!
33 min A uncommon Greece assault when Brouksair beats Le Tissier and drives a cross that’s claimed by Hampton.
32 min For all England’s dominance, Petaloti has solely had one comparatively tough save to make.
29 min: Just large from Hemp! Greece attempt to break from an England nook. Stanway wins the ball again with a zesty deal with – I believed a foul could be given – and performs it out to Hemp on the left facet of the world. She takes a contact and whistles a low shot this far large of the far put up.
28 min England win a free-kick 30 yards from purpose, a good technique to the left of centre. James clips it over the wall and nicely large of the close to put up.
26 min A harmful chipped cross from Le Tissier is headed away bravely by Giannaka on the far put up.
23 min Paterna waves impatiently at her teammates after deflecting Le Tissier’s cross behind for a nook. Greece want to search out some technique to alleviate the stress.
NO GOAL! Greece 0-0 England
James ran again from an offside place to obtain a crisp cross from Walsh, flip and float a nonchalant chip over Petaloti from 25 yards. It would have been a stunning purpose, however replays verify she was clearly offside.
GOAL! Greece 0-1 England (James 20)
Lauren James scores an imposing purpose – nevertheless it may be dominated out for offside.
Tom Garry
A couple of Greek followers are arriving late however their numbers are nonetheless small. We have round 500 England followers to our left and maybe 1,500 Greek followers reverse us – that’d be my estimate. We can hear the England gamers shouting directions to one another on the pitch.
17 min: Good save by Petaloti Walsh spanks a rising drive from 25 yards that’s pushed behind by the diving Petaloti. An England purpose is within the put up.
16 min They have now. Le Tissier will get to the byline and cuts the ball again to Blindkilde Brown, who shifts it away from a defender and sweeps a low shot straight at Petaloti. Her pace of thought, and foot, had been wonderful however the shot was too near the keeper.
15 min England have had 80% of the possession, which is 7.2 tenths of the legislation. But they’ve but to handle a shot on track.
12 min Walsh, who has a style for objectives proper now, makes room on the sting of the world and tries a chip that lands on the roof of the web. Once once more, Petaloti had it lined.
11 min A low cross from Hemp rolls throughout the six-yard field. Russo made a run in direction of the close to put up, however Hemp’s cross was designed for a far-post tap-in.
10 min England are dominating the ball, as anticipated, and enjoying at a superb tempo.
Stanway wins a nook on the left that’s taken by James. The ball bounces across the space earlier than Greece clear.
7 min Stanway has England’s first shot, a low drive from 20 yards that rolls large of the far put up. Petaloti had it lined.
6 min A good transfer from England ends when James’ cross is just too near the younger keeper Petaloti.
3 min England are enjoying with a again three of Greenwood, Morgan and Williamson once they have the ball. Le Tissier is actually excessive, primarily a right-winger. When Greece have the ball, England are reverting to the anticipated again 4.
2 min A good cross from Brouksair is minimize out on the close to put up by the stretching Williamson.
1 min England kick off from left to proper as we watch.
There is a minute’s silence in honour of the Greece cross-border and former Sheffield United defender George Baldock, who died two years in the past as we speak on the shockingly younger age of 31.
Thanks to Trevor for stating that Tuesday’s second leg is on the King Power Stadium – not, as I prompt earlier, at Wembley.
Grauniad gonna Grauniad.
The gamers line up for the anthems. As Tom Garry mentioned earlier, there isn’t a lot of a crowd in Crete. I assume England received’t thoughts that.
Matt Hughes
The Women’s Super League will face main disruption subsequent season as a result of Club World Cup, with Arsenal and Chelsea prone to be absent from home competitors for as much as a month.
The Guardian revealed final week that the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup is set to be awarded to the US, with transatlantic journey to trigger further issues for European sides, whwhile the proposed dates of 5-30 January will conflict instantly with the WSL.
Fifa has but to verify the qualification standards for the Club World Cup however the Guardian has realized Arsenal are assured to be concerned as 2025 Champions League winners and Chelsea are prone to be a part of them, though they might lose their place if Manchester City win this season’s Champions League. Based on this season’s schedule, an prolonged run within the Club World Cup would imply the 2 English golf equipment lacking as much as 4 WSL match weeks plus the fourth spherical of the FA Cup, enjoying havoc with the fixture listing and inflicting main congestion on the finish of the season.
Sarina Wiegman’s pre-match ideas
[On the inclusion of Laura Blindkilde Brown] We count on to have the ball lots as we speak and he or she’s actually good in small, tight areas. We count on her to be within the pocket lots to obtain and proceed the possession recreation.
There’s lots at stake, we all know that. We need to win – however we need to play very well, too, and present who we’re.
The face to face
There isn’t one; that is the primary assembly between Greece and England.
Tom Garry
Good night from the Pankritio Stadium. We have the Sea of Crete to our left and a few lovely mountains to our proper, while the England goalkeepers are warming up in entrance us as one other blue-sky day turns to twilight. The scene could also be fairly however the environment is calm, quiet and albeit a bit flat.
Tickets had been free for this match however the locals don’t seem significantly enthused and it’s honest to say Women’s World Cup fever has not gripped town of Heraklion simply but. There are a couple of hundred England followers right here, at present outnumbering the Greeks. I can see Chelsea, Birmingham City and Derby County flags amongst the England banners draped behind the purpose.
Team information
Sarina Wiegman makes two adjustments, each in defence, from England’s earlier World Cup qualifier in opposition to Ukraine in the summertime. Leah Williamson and Alex Greenwood return rather than Jess Carter and Niamh Charles.
Greece (4-3-3) Petaloti; Giannaka, Gkouni, Markou, Paterna; Drakogiannaki, Brame, Moraitou; Sarri, Papatheodorou, Brouksair.
Subs: Giannakouli, Katergiannaki, Ntarzanou, Theodoraki, Kapnisi, Chalatsogianni, Tzourtzevits, Saich, Rapani, Pouliou, Tsela, Kongouli.
England (4-3-3) Hampton; Le Tissier, Williamson, Morgan, Greenwood; Stanway, Walsh, Blindkilde Brown; Hemp, Russo, James.
Subs: Keating, Moorhouse, Charles, Potter, Carter, Fisk, Park, Mead, Parkinson, Godfrey, Toone.
Referee Martina Molinaro (Italy).
The final time England did not qualify for the World Cup was in 2003. They had the misfortune to be drawn in the identical group as Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal, with solely the highest staff going by – no playoffs, no second probabilities.
Germany received all six video games in qualification – and all six on the precise event within the United States. They turned global community champions for the primary time and retained the trophy in 2007.
Tom Garry
Sarina Wiegman heaped reward on Ella Toone for her optimistic response to being disregarded of England’s preliminary squad for his or her Women’s World Cup playoff in opposition to Greece, after recalling the Manchester United midfielder for Friday’s first leg in Heraklion, Crete.
An damage sustained by Lucy Bronze, described by Wiegman as “actually small”, prompted the England right-back to return to Chelsea and Wiegman known as up Toone, who travelled to Greece from Spain, the place she had organised a coaching routine in the course of the cross-border window.
Toone has 69 caps and has scored 24 objectives, together with within the Euro 2022 closing and 2023 World Cup semi-final, however Wiegman mentioned when naming her squad that she had disregarded Toone and Chloe Kelly as a result of “the degrees weren’t what I count on from them on the pitch”. On Saturday, after beginning Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool, Toone took possession of issues, telling the BBC: “It’s about me now. I’ve bought to maintain working exhausting and use it as gas to come back again even higher.”
Wiegman, requested whether or not she had been impressed with Toone’s response, mentioned: “Yes, very a lot. I believe once I gave her the decision, after all that was a tough name. But she took that right away. Of course [she was] very upset, however the very first thing she did [was say]: ‘OK, I’m going to get again, I’m going to try this.’ She has the help round her too.”
Preamble
unthinkable
1. adjective
If you say that one thing is unthinkable, you might be emphasizing that it can’t presumably be accepted or imagined as a risk.
[Credit: Collins Online Dictionary]
It’s unthinkable that England received’t qualify for subsequent yr’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil – however that doesn’t imply it’s inconceivable. No matter how good you might be, the playoffs include harmful ranges of jeopardy. England ought to be superb, however they nonetheless have to dot Is, cross Ts and beat Greece and both Slovakia or Ukraine.
Those are the opposite groups in England’s little nook of the playoffs. Greece are the primary problem; when you’re into the entire rankings factor, this tie is 59th v 4th. Greece cruised by their group, successful all 4 video games in opposition to the Faroe Islands and Georgia. England had the misfortune to be drawn in the identical group as Spain, who beat them within the 2023 World Cup closing and pipped them to computerized qualification for 2027.
The winners of this tie – the second leg is at Wembley the King Power Stadium on Tuesday – will play both Slovakia or Ukraine in November and December. Whoever wins that might be off to Brazil subsequent summer time. It’s unthinkable it received’t be England. But that doesn’t imply it’s inconceivable.
Kick off 5.30pm BST.
