England completed an 8-1 aggregate win over Greece to move through their Women’s World Cup qualifying playoff, and the second leg at the King Power Stadium brought a noticeably better performance from the European champions. There was zip and panache about them, and some of their mojo appeared to be back. Yet for everything that could be observed across the tie — 180 minutes of football and more than 3,000 miles travelled — there was very little genuinely new information. England, after all, were beating a side ranked outside the world’s top 50, and the outcome was the one almost everyone had guessed a week earlier.
The scorelines elsewhere that night only underlined the point. Sweden beat Lithuania 15-0 on aggregate, the Republic of Ireland beat Kazakhstan 12-0 and the Netherlands beat Hungary 11-0, a set of results that would have looked more at home on the cricket scoreboard at Grace Road, just over a mile from the King Power. Against that backdrop, England’s margin of victory was hardly an outlier.
Individually, there was plenty to admire. Lauren James was the standout of the first half, revelling in a free role, finding space, driving England up the pitch and toying with the defenders. She finished with two goals and an assist, and on this evidence she can be the difference-maker in this Lionesses side next summer. The caveat is straightforward: when Greece are not attempting to mark one of the best forwards in the world, her delivery is not a great surprise.
The debut of Lexi Potter was similarly impressive. The 20-year-old looked so at home in midfield that it would have been easy to mistake the occasion for her 50th cap rather than her first, with intelligent positional awareness, tidy passing and a steady tempo that allowed those around her to flourish higher up the pitch. She can be proud of the display and deserves another start in the next round against Ukraine. But anyone who has followed the Women’s Super League this season already knew Potter would be a fine addition to this team.
Beyond those two, England’s new wingback system functioned effectively, Maya Le Tissier covered adeptly for the injured Lucy Bronze, and Alessia Russo brought her usual energy. Freya Godfrey, the London City Lionesses winger, was handed a deserved debut, while Georgia Stanway added to her reliable goalscoring record — heading in at 5ft 5in — and was examined in a higher role.
All of it, though, had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Greece had been competing against the Faroe Islands and Georgia in League C of the qualifying groups, while England won five of their six games in League A and must have wished for stronger opposition to sharpen them for next summer’s tournament. Even the home crowd seemed to sense the formality: more than 22,000 tickets were issued, but the eventual attendance looked far lower, with the lack of jeopardy around the occasion likely playing a part.
The match did little for the growth of the women’s game, and it made a rather good advert for the one-legged playoff ties used in the men’s European qualification paths — single-night matches carrying tension, competitiveness and a genuine edge, as well as efficiency. The men’s game gets through two rounds of playoffs in a single window, whereas the women’s has another two matches still to come, with England due to meet Ukraine in November and December. Those fixtures are unlikely to feel any more demanding: England already beat Ukraine 6-1 and 3-0 earlier in this qualifying process.
None of that is the fault of England, Greece or Ukraine. It is the challenge of a growing sport still working out how to build a qualification system with genuine balance. When qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, England cruised to 20-0 and 10-0 wins over Latvia. The group stage this time, mirroring the new Nations League format, felt much improved, but as the home fans at the King Power felt compelled to start a Mexican wave after just 22 minutes of the second leg, it became clear that the playoffs still need further thought.