HERAKLION — England seized a valuable first-leg lead in their Women's World Cup qualifying play-off with a 3-1 victory over Greece in Crete on Friday night at the stadium in Heraklion. The back-to-back European champions, who are chasing a place at the finals in Brazil next year after finishing runners-up to world champions Spain in their qualification group, will now look to finish the job in the second leg on Tuesday in Leicester (19:30 BST), with the winners of the tie facing Ukraine or Slovakia in round two.
Lucy Bronze withdrew from the squad with a minor injury earlier this week, handing a rare start to Manchester United captain Maya le Tissier at right-back — her preferred position for Sarina Wiegman, rather than centre-back where she plays for her club. Making her 15th cap, the defender was a standout performer and scored her first international goal in the 63rd minute to offer optimism for a future without the 34-year-old Bronze. "As soon as we were in possession, she was higher on the pitch and she already came close to a couple of moments with crosses," said Wiegman. "I'm very happy for her and for the whole team because that was an important goal."
It was just England's third win in their past eight competitive away games and, despite the gulf in class, Wiegman admitted frustration at not keeping a clean sheet. Familiar lapses in concentration in defence gave Greece chances, with Ioanna Papatheodorou striking the crossbar in the first half before teeing up Kallisti Brouksair for the hosts' goal. Georgia Stanway, England's top scorer this year, had opened the scoring after a neat, incisive passing move in a frustrating first half. "That's up to us. We have to show up on Tuesday, play a good game and then we should be better than Greece," said Wiegman. "Of course we want to take some more distance [in the scoreline], that's absolutely true, but at the same time we won and that's the most important thing."
With victory secure, Wiegman handed debuts to Liverpool captain Grace Fisk, 28, who had waited more than six years since her first England call-up in 2020, and 18-year-old Erica Meg Parkinson, who came on in the 85th minute. Parkinson was unexpectedly named in the squad in March after stepping up to England Under-23s only months earlier and joined North Carolina Courage from Portuguese side Valadares Gaia this summer. "She's a really intelligent player. She has incredibly good movement and timing, picking up pockets for players to find her," said defender Esme Morgan. Parkinson's emergence has added to the debate over Wiegman's preferred number 10, a position that remained difficult to nail down at Euro 2025. Chelsea forward Lauren James was given a creative, free role in Crete and nonchalantly lobbed goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti from 30 yards, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside, while Laura Blindkilde Brown started in that role. Other options include Manchester City's Grace Clinton and Manchester United's Ella Toone, both recalled to cover injuries with Aston Villa's Lucia Kendall among those to drop out, while Beth Mead and Jess Park have also played there. "I see there is a lot of competition in that position, where we have a lot of options with different players, who have different qualities," said Wiegman. "You can call it a question mark but I call it many options. Today we had two 10s and sometimes three. [James] was one of them."
There was an eerie atmosphere inside the 26,000-capacity stadium in Heraklion, where fewer than 4,000 fans attended after local media had questioned why the fixture was not staged in Athens. England struggled at times against a well-prepared and disciplined Greece press and lacked ruthlessness despite their dominance. "I think we made it a bit harder. Greece were well prepared and disciplined. We struggled when they tried to press us," Wiegman added. "We could have scored more than the three goals. There are lots of things to take. I have seen some fluid moments but I want more. The final ball, final cross and the positions can be better. Of course, we are working on that. We have an opportunity to improve that on Tuesday."