One-way traffic as Lionesses hit 10!
CoULD the European champions do it on a tuesday night in stoke?
Against Luxembourg, ranked 117th in the world, the answer was always going to be yes. the final game in their World Cup qualification campaign ended with a 10-0 victory. Eighty goals in their 10 qualifiers and none conceded. Last night was not about the result for England — they sealed qualification against Austria at the weekend — but about how far they have come in 12 months. sarina Wiegman’s first game in charge was in front of just 8,000 people a year ago in southampton against North macedonia. twenty-one games later, they are European champions and selling out stadiums. the fact many of the 24,174 crowd were late due to heavy traffic shows how times have changed. As fans inside the bet365 stadium sang Sweet Caroline, last night was a celebration of everything that has been achieved.
‘I don’t d ’t think thi k the th qualifying record could be much better,’ said Wiegman. ‘this camp after the Euros always seems to be a hard one, we had very big highs, but I think the team has done a tremendous job.’ Georgia stanway got the party started in the 11th minute, converting from the penalty spot after Alessia russo had been tripped. russo doubled England’s lead with a header from a Leah Williamson cross before rachel Daly added a third. Another stanway strike and a Beth mead goal put the Lionesses 5-0 up at half-time. It took two minutes after the restart for England to score a sixth, with Beth England tapping in from a mead cross. Nikita Parris fired in from close range to make it 7-0 before being fouled from behind in the box, as Ella toone stepped up to add her name to the scoresheet from the spot. Lauren Hemp tapped in to make it nine before England rounded off the scoring with a header from a corner. n WALEs drew 0-0 with slovenia last night to finish second in their group and earn a play-off spot as they look to qualify for their first World Cup. they will join scotland and the republic of Ireland in next month’s play-offs.