England’s progress into round two of the Women’s World Cup qualifying play-offs was never really in doubt, and neither, it seems, is Georgia Stanway’s habit of scoring for her country. The midfielder found the net in both legs of the tie against Greece, opening the scoring in Crete as the Lionesses won 3-1, before delivering again at the King Power Stadium as Sarina Wiegman’s side sealed an 8-1 aggregate triumph with a 5-0 victory in Leicester.
Stanway’s contribution drew warm praise from her manager, who had asked for greater ruthlessness after a performance in Greece she found frustrating. “She is always so eager to go towards goal. She has that tenacity in her,” Wiegman said of the 27-year-old’s scoring form. “She is always aggressive out of possession but also in possession.” The England boss went further when discussing the qualities Stanway brings to the side. “When you really need a fight, or a duel, or a counter-attack breaking up, she is there. She is a warrior who you can play a possession game with too,” she said.
Stanway had a goal ruled out for offside in Leicester, much to Wiegman’s dismay, but her broader record underlines why she has become so central to England. She finished the season as her country’s top scorer, netting 11 times in her last 11 matches, and ranks inside the top three for goals scored by European players in international football since Euro 2025. Wiegman was also keen to stress the other parts of her game. “Football is about scoring goals, but also playing in the pockets, keeping the ball and connecting with other players – and I was happy with her doing those,” she added.
Former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, described Stanway as “unplayable at times” against Greece on Tuesday night. Her numbers from that match bore the claim out: she won all her tackles, recorded a 90% passing accuracy rate, took four shots, scored once and had another goal disallowed. It was also a somewhat different role for much of the evening, with Stanway operating more as a right winger after changes in midfield.
Those changes were a large part of why she was so effective. Wiegman introduced Lexi Potter, a 20-year-old Chelsea midfielder making her debut, whose cover allowed the experienced Stanway and Keira Walsh to push higher up the pitch, while Lauren James played in the number 10 role. Stanway caused the visitors problems throughout and adapted to the tweaks impressively. “Stanway has shown how flexible she is, how exceptional she is both at the bottom end of the pitch, breaking up play, as well as at the top end,” Brown-Finnis said. “She was playing as a second striker, playing out on the right, dropping deep as a number 10. She’s been absolutely brilliant.”
Wiegman admitted the balance of the midfield pleased her, and explained the thinking behind the experiment. “There is a lot of competition going on in that area,” she said. “First of all, I wanted to see Lexi Potter deeper on the pitch and what that might bring. There was also the option to put Georgia Stanway higher up the pitch. We wanted to score more goals and we know that she can do that. She can play in the pocket and also deeper on the pitch so we wanted to see all of that.”
England still have work to do to reach the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil. A two-legged play-off tie against Ukraine awaits at the end of the year, having already beaten that opponent 9-1 on aggregate across two games in the league phase of qualifying. In Leicester, Alessia Russo and Lauren James each scored twice as England ran out comfortable winners, and Wiegman must now decide whether a formation that brought the best out of Stanway should become a longer-term option.