England beat Greece in their Women's World Cup qualifying playoff second leg at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, a sentence that should be followed by a relaxed exhale but instead comes with a side order of existential dread. More than 22,000 tickets were issued for the match, though scarcely half that figure actually showed up, which is either a damning indictment of Tuesday night football or simply proof that Leicester has other things going on. The atmosphere was livelier than Friday's outing in Crete, at least, with a notably loud roar for Ella Toone when her name was read out among the substitutes.
England lead 3-1 from the first leg and the winners of this tie will meet Ukraine, who beat Slovakia 1-0 to complete a 4-1 aggregate victory, in a decisive playoff. England previously beat Ukraine 6-1 and 3-0 in their qualification group, so they will be strong favourites to win that final playoff tie in November and December. The path to Brazil next summer, in theory, is clear.
The match itself got off to a perfect start. Lauren James collected a loose ball in the centre circle, surged forward, and flicked a perfectly timed pass through to Alessia Russo, who rode a lunging challenge from Markou on the edge of the area and passed confidently past goalkeeper Katergiannaki. Four minutes later, Papatheodorou almost replied immediately, sweeping a left-foot shot from the edge of the area that was pushed round the post by a diving Hampton. Good save.
Greece's front three started very sharply. In the 9th minute, Sarri chipped a dangerous cross from the left that was punched away under pressure by Hampton. By the 12th minute, a through pass from James again released Russo, this time on the right side of the area. Russo eschewed the shot and slid a low cross that was cut out by a Greece defender. She was unselfish to a fault because that was an excellent scoring opportunity.
In the 14th minute, England enjoyed their first extended spell of possession until Le Tissier wandered offside. As in the first leg on Friday, she was almost playing as a right-winger when England had the ball. Then came the goal of the night. Le Tissier surged infield to the edge of the D and played a square pass that was diverted into the path of James by a stretching defender. James took a touch and swished a rising drive into the far corner with her left foot. Katergiannaki had no chance. Lauren James, yet another belter.
Meanwhile, in Paisley, Scotland were playing Czechia in the second leg of their playoff. Two-nil down from the first leg, Czechia got one back through an absolute screamer from 35 yards, but Scotland equalised immediately. Then Czechia went 2-1 up on the night, making it 3-2 on aggregate to Scotland.
Back in Leicester, the 19th minute brought more drama. James' brilliant cross from the left was headed wide by Russo, who was penalised for a challenge on Markou anyway. In the 23rd minute, Potter dithered and lost the ball in a dangerous area, which ultimately led to a low shot from Saich that was saved by Hampton. Two minutes later, Katergiannaki dived full length to palm Hemp's cross away from Le Tissier, who was waiting to score her second goal in as many games. And then, in the 28th minute, James' deflected cross was somehow launched over the bar by Le Tissier from two yards out. She was flagged offside after the event, but replays showed she was onside so it would have counted. A remarkable miss.
The context here is that England have two jobs to do tonight. The first, avoiding an almighty upset and progressing past Greece on aggregate, should be a formality for one of the world's best-resourced teams. The second, honing their style to play like contenders for next summer's World Cup in Brazil, is a far trickier but crucial challenge. Friday's relatively uninspiring 3-1 first-leg victory in Crete left room for improvement, and England had plenty to work on as they trained at St George's Park on Monday under gloomy-looking clouds.
In that first leg, it took a labyrinthine move from Sarina Wiegman's team to find a way through deep-lying Greece. On the outskirts of Heraklion, the ancient city of Knossos, associated with the legend of the Minotaur and the labyrinth constructed by Daedalus, Laura Blindkilde Brown's quick pass to Alessia Russo was artfully flicked first time to her Arsenal teammate Georgia Stanway, and the midfielder slotted in past goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti. There were muted celebrations after the goal, reflective of the frustration they felt at having taken 39 minutes to get their first goal against the team ranked 54 places below them.
That was a familiar frustration because, despite two Euros wins and a World Cup final, England have struggled to completely shake free of the accusation that they struggle against low blocks. In spite of the 3-1 scoreline and their dominance in possession, the Lionesses didn't look comfortable or particularly happy for stretches of the match.
The stats from the first leg tell a story: England had 58 touches in Greece's box and turned that into three goals, whereas Greece had two touches in England's box but managed to score and hit the crossbar. Sarina Wiegman said she was not happy her team had conceded. Their defending in June's 4-0 defeat by Spain also left much to be desired, and it feels as if England are not yet certain about who should partner the captain, Leah Williamson, at centre-back. Wiegman mentioned on Monday that stopping counterattacks was something they must fix. They also struggled defending quick breaks in April 2025 when losing in Belgium. That year, they found a way to win the Euros but they must tighten up defensively if they want to win a first world title in the Maracanã in July.
Wiegman made two changes from the first leg in Crete. Jess Carter and Lexi Potter replaced Esme Morgan and Laura Blindkilde Brown. Potter was making her international debut. "I hope she will bring what she has done for Chelsea and in our training sessions," Wiegman said. "She's impressed me, the staff and the team. She's a big talent." On the inclusion of Jess Carter, Wiegman added: "There's a lot of competition in that position. We will probably be one v one a lot in defence, which is something she's good at. We want to be more ruthless, and that's about having the positioning right, making the right decision and executing better than we did. That's what we've been talking about a lot in the last couple of days."
Greece also made a couple of changes. Eleni Saich replaced Eleftheria Drakogiannaki and Stylian Katergiannaki was preferred in goal to Fafailia Petaloti.
England lined up in a 4-3-3: Hampton; Le Tissier, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Stanway, Walsh, Potter; Hemp, Russo, James. Subs: Keating, Charles, Moorhouse, Blindkilde Brown, Morgan, Fisk, Clinton, Mead, Parkinson, Godfrey, Toone.
Greece lined up in a 4-3-3: Katergiannaki; Giannaka, Gkouni, Markou, Paterna; Brame, Saich, Moraitou; Papatheodorou, Sarri, Brouksair. Subs: Giannakouli, Petaloti, Fakinou, Ntarzanou, Kapnisi, Chalatsogianni, Drakogiannaki, Tzourtzevits, Argyriou, Palama, Rapani, Kongouli.
Meanwhile, in a newsletter segment that somehow made it into the live blog, there was a deep dive into Japan's women's football success. Japan have constantly pushed the boundaries in women's football, whether it be with regular success in Asia or their ability to beat the biggest nations in the world. Nadeshiko won the Women's World Cup in 2011 and reached another final in 2015, while more established countries fell by the wayside. Japan have not replicated that success but did win the Women's Asian Cup this year under the guidance of Nils Nielsen, who has since been succeeded by Michihisa Kano, and most of the biggest stars play outside the country, with 24 contracted to Women's Super League clubs alone.
Japan are discreet about the secrets behind their success, particularly the easy-on-the-eye style that has become a trademark of the men's and women's teams, but one of those secrets lies in the Japanese Football Association creating the JFA Academy. There are three that take girls across the country of 123 million people: Fukushima, Sakai and Imabari. A fourth, Kumamoto Uki, is a boys' academy only. Fukushima was the first to open, in 2006, with Sakai following in 2012 and Imabari in 2015. Shota Mishio, an analyst for the national team when they conquered the world in 2011, recently coached in the Fukushima academy, which since the nuclear disaster that preceded their World Cup success by months has moved to Susono City. He offers an insight into how they are able not only to develop world-class individuals but to mould them into a successful unit for the national team.
So England progress, presumably, and the six questions facing the European champions remain. Can they defend well enough to win a world title? Will they stop struggling against low blocks? Can they turn possession into goals more efficiently? Will they find a settled centre-back partner for Leah Williamson? Can they tighten up on counterattacks? And can they win the World Cup in Brazil next summer? The bleedin' obvious answer is that they need to play a lot better. First, they have to get there.