England have the edge in their World Cup playoff tie after a 3-1 first-leg win over Greece in Crete, but the performance at the Stadio Pankritio carried a familiar frustration for Sarina Wiegman’s side. Against opponents ranked 54 places below them, it took 39 minutes and a moment of invention to find a way through.
The opener came from a move that began with Laura Blindkilde Brown’s quick pass to Alessia Russo, who artfully flicked the ball first time into the path of her Arsenal teammate Georgia Stanway. The midfielder slotted past the Greece goalkeeper, Fafailia Petaloti. The celebrations that followed were muted, reflecting England’s annoyance at how long it had taken them to break down such a deep-lying opponent.
That irritation is a recurring theme. Despite two European Championship titles and a World Cup final, England have never fully shaken the accusation that they struggle against low blocks. Even with the scoreline and their dominance of possession, the Lionesses did not look comfortable or particularly happy for long stretches of the match. What unlocked Greece was the speed of England’s thinking and the inventiveness of their passing — exactly the flair Wiegman needs her team to produce in those testing moments.
“It’s tough when you come up against a low block,” Russo said afterwards. “We get it a lot at club [level] and here at England … It’s about being patient and then when you do have that moment, it’s about the quality of the pass and speeding the game up just to create half a yard for someone to get a shot off.”
Normally a goal would have forced Greece to open up, but in Heraklion it did not. The home side stayed compact, evidently content that a narrow defeat was a better result to carry into the return leg in Leicester on Tuesday night than the wider margin a swashbuckling attempt to get back into the game might have brought. It was only as legs began to tire against the European champions that Greece left themselves more exposed.
The critical second goal, which brought a huge amount of relief, arrived in the 63rd minute. That it came from Lucy Bronze’s stand-in, Maya Le Tissier, mattered. Kallisti Brouksair had twice broken free of the Manchester United centre-back to whip in a cross during the first half, in the rarest of forays into the final third for Greece. Le Tissier operated as a wing-back, the position Wiegman still favours her in when covering for Bronze, even though she plays centrally week in, week out for her club. Bar those two first-half chances for the opposition, her goal capped a solid performance.
Le Tissier said she is unfazed by switching positions for club and country, or by the weight of Bronze’s reputation. “I’ve played the position enough now to know what’s expected of me,” she said. “Every time I get on the pitch, I just want to try my best, do everything I can and do whatever Sarina wants of me. I’m not the same player as Bronzy, I try to play my own game and I love getting on the ball and creating chances even higher up as well. I looked up to her when I was younger, but people just have to realise that you’re not the same. There’s so many different players; players that play in the same position but are completely different and I don’t try to be like Bronzy, I just try to be myself and play as well as I can.”
Russo’s contribution to England’s third goal was also significant, and it extended a personal run of three goals in as many games for club and country after five matches off the scoresheet. Her return to form matters because the alternatives are thin. Aggie Beever-Jones is out of form and out of the squad, having not scored since March for Chelsea, while experimentations with Lauren James and Lauren Hemp in the No 9 role have been unconvincing. Russo staying fit and scoring is critical to England’s World Cup ambitions.
“I’m my own biggest critic so there’s maybe a bit of overthinking going into it,” Russo said of her recent run. “I knew that stripping it back and getting back to enjoying my football and not stressing too much was important.”
It is perhaps naive to draw too many conclusions about England’s World Cup potential from these autumn qualifiers. Wiegman and her staff are clearly still experimenting and tweaking in search of their best XI and the squad that will travel to Brazil, and the team is in a transition phase at the beginning of a new cycle after a period laden with success. But the opportunities for experimentation between now and the World Cup are few and far between, and the goal England conceded in Greece — met with wild and slightly disbelieving celebrations from the hosts — leaves a serious job still to be done and gives a sliver of hope to an opposition that should have none.