England are in command of their World Cup play-off with Greece after profitable the primary leg 3-1 in Crete.
Targets from Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo moved the Lionesses into a robust place for Tuesday’s second leg in Leicester – though Calliste Brookshire, who performs for Rangers in Scotland, pulled one again late on for a Greece aspect ranked 58th on this planet. The winner will play Slovakia or Ukraine in spherical two on the street to Brazil 2027.
Lauren James noticed a surprising chip from lengthy vary dominated out for offside within the first half however the Lionesses – compelled into the play-offs after ending behind Spain in qualifying – weren’t at their sharpest in that interval and so they had been nearly shocked when Ioanna Papatheodorou cracked a shot towards the crossbar from 35 yards.
However England grabbed the benefit when Stanway completed a slick transfer that noticed her mix with Laura Blindkilde Brown and Russo.
Le Tissier then thumped in from an angle after the break earlier than Russo discovered the underside nook from Beth Mead’s sq. move simply 4 minutes later as England swiftly took the sport away from Greece.
Brookshire obtained on the scoresheet with some neat footwork within the field to provide the underdogs some hope, however Jess Park blasted a shot towards the underside of the crossbar in stoppage time, maybe signalling that Sarina Wiegman’s aspect have extra firepower of their arsenal for the return leg.
Key moments in Crete
England have fun throughout their tie with Greece
12: ROOF OF THE NET! Keira Walsh’s tried lob from 18 yards has an excessive amount of on it and the ball lands on the roof of the web.
20: GOAL RULED OUT! James finds the web with an beautiful chip from 30 yards out… however an offside test guidelines out the objective.
34: GREECE HIT THE BAR! Papatheodorou twists and turns as she runs previous Esme Morgan after which pings a shot towards Hannah Hampton’s bar from 35 yards!
39: GOAL! Blindkilde Brown pops the ball into Russo, who lays it sq. for Stanway to provide England the breakthrough.
63: GOAL! Le Tissier thumps in England’s second on the angle after earlier seeing two photographs parried away.
67: GOAL! Russo fires a 3rd into the underside nook from Mead’s sq. move within the field.
78: GOAL! Greece pull one again with Brookshire displaying some neat footwork within the field earlier than firing into the far backside nook.
Wiegman: We nonetheless have issues to work on
England boss Sarina Wiegman chatting with ITV:
“I feel at moments we performed very well. We began nicely; they began very aggressively too, however we stayed calm. That is what I am most happy with.
“I feel now we have a few issues to work on too.
“At moments within the recreation, we weren’t tight sufficient. The ball wasn’t shifting rapidly sufficient, particularly once we obtained the ball quite a bit within the pockets and better up the pitch. We must be tighter and extra aligned as a result of, with the alternatives we created, we may have scored so many extra objectives.
“Generally we had been offside, so I feel these are issues now we have to work on. And, in fact, I am not pleased with the objective we conceded.
“There have been extra positives, Maya’s objective was considered one of them. She’s actually bettering her recreation at membership degree and, with us, she’s extra comfy.
“She lined loads of house. After all, she needed to defend, however on the identical time she performed in assault actually excessive up the pitch.
“It is very nice that she obtained to the far put up, had an incredible shot and scored a objective.”
