England will take a 3-1 lead into the second leg of their Women’s World Cup qualifying playoff against Greece after winning Tuesday’s… opening fixture in Greece, but the margin of victory flattered a performance that fell some way short of convincing. Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier — with her first goal for England — and Alessia Russo were all on target, while Greece pulled one back to ensure the tie is not definitively settled ahead of the return in Leicester on Tuesday.
Sarina Wiegman’s side began as overwhelming favourites against opponents ranked 59th in the world who have never qualified for a major tournament, and the first half in particular will have left the England manager underwhelmed. England dominated the ball but made hard work of breaking down a deep Greek defensive shape, appearing at times to go through the motions. It was not a bad performance in the strictest sense, but England lacked their usual zip, charisma and urgency, and their body language suggested a team focused on the job at hand rather than one enjoying itself.
The flat atmosphere may have played a part. The Hellenic Football Federation made tickets free for the fixture, yet only a few thousand spectators turned up and there was scarcely any noise from the home supporters. Around 500 travelling England fans generated the majority of the sound in an otherwise quiet, often echoey ground, where the athletics track surrounding the pitch meant players’ instructions could be heard clearly from high in the stands.
The opening 45 minutes were largely forgettable, short on real quality apart from a few isolated moments. Lauren James produced a delicious chip from 25 yards that had the away fans believing England had taken the lead, only for a VAR check to show she had been offside. England also had a significant let-off at 0-0 when the Greece striker Ioanna Papatheodorou eased past Esme Morgan and Leah Williamson with alarming ease and struck the bar with a shot from range that looked to have beaten Hannah Hampton. Before the breakthrough, Laura Blindkilde Brown shot straight at the goalkeeper, James curled a free-kick wide and Lauren Hemp drilled a low shot narrowly wide across the face of goal.
England’s goal eventually arrived when Blindkilde Brown played a quick ball to Russo, whose good touch laid the ball off for Stanway to slot in low. Wiegman changed shape at the break, introducing Beth Mead in place of Blindkilde Brown to make the European champions more attack-minded. The chances followed: Mead fell over in the box just as she looked set to shoot, and Le Tissier drew a good save from Fafailia Petaloti before powering in a strong finish after clever work from Keira Walsh opened up the space. Four minutes later Russo tucked a low finish into the bottom corner to make it 3-0, and England might have hoped the floodgates were open.
Instead, some limp defending allowed Greece to pull a goal back, a hopeful, bouncing long ball not initially dealt with by Morgan before it was fired in low. England kept pushing for more, James curling narrowly wide and the substitute Jess Park hitting the bar, on a night when Erica Meg Parkinson and Grace Fisk were handed senior international debuts late on.
Assuming they finish the job in the second leg in Leicester, England would face Slovakia or Ukraine in the second round of the playoffs in the November-December international window. That tie would also be staged over two legs, and England would need to win it to secure their place at next summer’s major tournament in Brazil. Wiegman’s side can feel unfortunate to be involved in the playoffs at all, having won five of their six matches in their qualifying group only to be pipped to top spot by Spain on head-to-head goal difference. The runners-up at the 2023 World Cup, England are hoping to extend their run of reaching the past three major finals and go one better than their defeat by Spain in Sydney three years ago — but they know they will need to improve markedly on their cohesion and fluidity with the ball.