England take comfortable first-leg lead over Greece in Women’s World Cup play-off semi-final
England will carry a comfortable lead into the second leg of their Women’s World Cup play-off semi-final after they recorded a 3-1 victory over Greece in Crete.
Sarina Wiegman‘s team will aim to close out the tie when both sides meet in the return leg at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday, with the winners going on to face either Slovakia or Ukraine in the next round for a place at next summer’s tournament.
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Lauren James believed she had opened the scoring but was ruled out through offside before Ioanna Papatheodorou hit the crossbar for the hosts before Georgia Stanway‘s fifth goal in qualifying gave England a half-time lead.
Maya Le Tissier extended England’s lead with her first international goal before Alessia Russo added another to take the game away from Greece.
England, who missed several chances to win by a wider margin, received a reminder that the tie is not finished as Kallisti Brouksair replied for Greece to cut the deficit to two with their only shot on target.
Ahead of kick-off, the two sides observed a minute of silence in memory of Greece defender George Baldock, marking the second anniversary of his death.
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England controlled the early possession and put the hosts under pressure from the off, creating chances a couple of times through Stanway and Keira Walsh who both missed the target.
The Lionesses ramped up the pressure and Greek goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti was forced into action twice within minutes to firstly stop Laura Blinkilde Brown before pushing Le Tissier’s effort wide.
England thought they had taken the lead in the 20th minute when James neatly lofted one over Petaloti but the goal was ruled out by VAR after she failed to get herself onside in the build-up.
The first 30 minutes resembled a training drill of English attack against Greek defence, with James seeing a free-kick from a good position go wide as the hosts continued to hold firm.
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Greece made a rare foray forward and nearly upset the favourites in the 34th minute when Papatheodorou surged up the field and rifled an effort from 25 yards off the crossbar.
But England finally found a way through six minutes before the break.
A nice passing move between Walsh, Blinkilde Brown and Russo ended up at the feet of Stanway who swept home.
England gave themselves some more separation just past the hour mark when Walsh played it into Le Tissier who lashed in at the near post.
Greece started to tire and England were beginning to control the match as they notched a third when substitute Beth Mead showed some tricky footwork to fashion an opportunity for Russo who finished neatly.
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Greece breathed life into the game with 13 minutes to go when Brouksair aimed across Hannah Hampton and into the back of the net to remind the visitors that the tie is not yet over.
England almost restored their three-goal lead but Jess Park was denied by the underside of the bar.