LEICESTER — England take a two-goal advantage into the second leg of their Women's World Cup qualifying play-off against Greece but Sarina Wiegman's side have been left to rue wastefulness after a 3-1 victory in Crete on Friday. The Lionesses dominated with 74% possession and 26 shots yet conceded in the second half and saw Greece strike the bar with a powerful first-half effort, leaving Wiegman demanding greater ruthlessness ahead of Tuesday's return in Leicester (19:30 BST).
The display continued a familiar theme since England finished runners-up to Spain at the 2023 World Cup, when they edged past Haiti and Denmark 1-0 in the group stage, needed a penalty shoot-out to beat Nigeria and came from behind to beat Colombia 2-1 in the quarter-finals. In qualifying this year they have edged past Iceland and Spain before under-firing against Greece, despite creating 58 touches in the opposition box and 210 passes in the final third. "We played differently back then [in 2023]. There's a lot more pressure when you're at the World Cup," said midfielder Keira Walsh. "In these [qualifying] games, the worrying thing would be if we were not arriving in the final third. That would be a bigger problem. It's the final pass, final cross and final shot. That was what was missing [on Friday]. I see the girls do that in training every day. They are fantastic at it. It's just putting that in the game tomorrow and hopefully we will." Walsh described the hesitancy as "frustrating".
Arsenal midfielder Georgia Stanway has provided the cutting edge, leading England's scoring since Euro 2025 with 10 goals, ranking inside the top three among European players in internationals with a minutes-per-goal ratio of 81, while Alessia Russo is the second-highest scorer in that period with six goals. Wiegman, speaking on Monday, was clear on the detail required: "We got in good positions but then it's staying onside, having the final pass, the right pass at the right moment, the run at the right time and deciding what cross, what cutback and whether to go for the far post," she said. "That is also about the connections between the players in those situations and taking out the counter-attack [threat]."
England's issue is less about talent than utilisation. Chelsea's Lauren James has been deployed as a winger, a number 10 and even as a centre-forward, while injuries to strikers Aggie Beever-Jones and Michelle Agyemang have left little competition for Russo in the number nine role. Lauren Hemp has been in fantastic form but is not renowned for goalscoring, while Beth Mead has been used in midfield as well as attack. Former England striker Ellen White, who remains the Lionesses' all-time top scorer, told the Women's Football Weekly podcast: "You need to build your own rhythm. You can't just whizz the ball around quickly all the time so you need players in midfield who can dictate it. You then have to have connections with players who are close to you, for example between a number 10 and a number nine. Fran Kirby was like a dream for me because she could always put the ball near me and I felt like we had a good connection. You have to build those."
The goals have at least been shared, with 11 different scorers since Euro 2025 including defenders Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter and Maya le Tissier. Yet England have not been clinical and have not won any match in which they have trailed since Euro 2025, losing to Brazil and Spain on those occasions. Regular starter Hemp has scored just twice in 687 minutes, while James has not found the net in her past 425 minutes. Against low blocks, the challenge has been to break down deep defences. "The movement you have around the box is so important. You need to be unselfish in your movement," ex-England midfielder Kirby told Women's Football Weekly. "You need runs in behind, even if they won't get the ball. You have to entice teams to come out. You need one person to make a mistake and leave space. You also need to pass to someone who has a higher percentage shot position than you. It seemed rushed [against Greece] instead of controlled. You have to be intricate in and around the box."