England secured a 3-1 first-leg victory over Greece in their Women’s World Cup playoff tie, though the performance fell short of expectations against their 59th-ranked opponents. While Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier, and Alessia Russo found the net to give the Lionesses a comfortable lead, a late goal from Ioanna Papatheodorou ensured the tie remains alive ahead of Tuesday’s second leg in Leicester.
Manager Sarina Wiegman’s side, who reached the 2023 World Cup final and are aiming to qualify for next summer’s tournament in Brazil, appeared to go through the motions for much of the match. Despite dominating possession, England lacked their typical urgency and fluidity against a Greek team that has never qualified for a major tournament. The atmosphere was notably flat, with only about 500 England supporters providing noise in a sparsely populated stadium where players could be heard communicating across the pitch. Making hard work of breaking down Greece’s deep defensive shape, they dominated the ball but often appeared to be going through the motions. At the same time, England did lack a bit of their usual zip, charisma and urgency and their body language suggested they were focused on the job at hand, rather than giving off the impression they were enjoying themselves, it would be too much of a stretch to describe it as a bad performance but. The Hellenic Football Federation had made the tickets free for this fixture but – despite that – only a few thousand turned up and there was scarcely any noise from the home supporters. Instead, around 500 travelling England fans were generating the majority of the noise in an otherwise quiet, often echoey ground in which it was frequently possible to hear the players issuing instructions to each other on the pitch, from high up in the stands behind the athletics track that surrounds the pitch.
The opening 45 minutes were largely devoid of quality, save for a disallowed goal by Lauren James, who saw her 25-yard strike ruled out for offside after a VAR review. England’s defensive formation shifted between a back three and a back four, and they survived a significant scare while the game was scoreless when Papatheodorou struck the woodwork after drifting past Esme Morgan and Leah Williamson. Aside from a few isolated moments such as a delicious chip from 25 yards out from Lauren James, which drew a gasp of appreciation from the away fans as it hit the net and they thought England had taken the lead, it meant that the first 45 minutes were largely forgettable and lacking in real quality. Except for a huge let-off at 0-0 when the Greece striker Papatheodorou struck the woodwork, they were largely untroubled defensively. But smacked the bar, she eased past Esme Morgan and Leah Williamson with alarming ease and her shot from range looked to have beaten Hannah Hampton.
England eventually broke the deadlock when Laura Blindkilde Brown teed up Alessia Russo, who provided a precise touch to set up Stanway for a low finish. Following a tactical adjustment at halftime—which saw Beth Mead replace Blindkilde Brown—England added a second goal through Le Tissier, who netted her first senior international goal after a clever setup by Keira Walsh. Russo added a third moments later with a composed strike into the bottom corner. In place of Blindkilde Brown, to make the European champions’ shape even more attack-minded, and they soon created further chances, with Mead falling over in the box just as she looked set to shoot, and Le Tissier drawing a good save from Fafailia Petaloti, beth Mead was introduced at the break.
A lapse in defensive concentration allowed Rangers’ Kallisti Brouksair to pull a goal back for the hosts, capitalizing on a high, bouncing ball that England failed to clear. Despite the conceded goal, England remained in control, with James and substitute Jess Park both hitting the woodwork in the closing stages. The match also saw senior international debuts for Erica Meg Parkinson and Grace Fisk.
England find themselves in this playoff situation after finishing second in their qualifying group behind Spain on head-to-head goal difference, despite winning five of their six fixtures. To reach the 2027 World Cup, they must navigate this two-legged tie against Greece and then potentially face either Slovakia or Ukraine in a final playoff round during the November-December international window.
