BET365 STADIUM — The task in front of them wasn’t the hardest, the result had always seemed a foregone conclusion, but England capped off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 10-0 demolition of Luxembourg in Stoke.
That’s 10 games played, 80 goals scored and none conceded, a set of statistics which highlight the sheer ruthlessness of Sarina Wiegman’s side when they are playing their slickest football.
And their slickest football it was on Tuesday for this was not a demolition in the most traditional of senses. Luxembourg were not merely overrun by the European champions, they were danced around as the hosts orchestrated a disassembly of their defence with precision at the forefront.
Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and Nikita Paris were afforded the freedom to roam and pulled the strings from out on the wing, providing expertly-timed deliveries to the middle which left the visiting defenders rooted to the floor, unable to cope with the sheer gulf in class.
More from Football
Ella Toone, too, was at her freewheeling, creative best; her trio of nutmeg, one-two and perfectly-weighted cross stunning the bumper cloud who adorned the stands to see the team in their first outing on home soil since their Euros triumph at Wembley in July.
Wiegman had opted uncharacteristically to rotate her starting squad for the fixture, affording starts to Parris, Rachel Daly and goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck after securing qualification for next summer’s tournament with their victory over Austria at the weekend.
But the match did not have the feel of a dead rubber, in fact it was the antithesis to what footballing mythology would predict a Tuesday night in Stoke must be.
In Austria there had been a haphazard undertone to much of England’s play but that just wasn’t the case here with a sense of thoughtfulness evident in each of the side’s moves, time taken where it previously may not have been to make sure that the correct decisions were made.
It was a performance steeped in effortlessness from the hosts, though their opponents being ranked 117th in the world made for a comfortable fixture and an enjoyable sight for those in the stands.
And there were — eventually at least — 24,174, in attendance to see the game. There had been a steady stream of fans still trickling in by half-time, with a mixture of motorway delays and issues with transport to the ground causing the game to start with far emptier stands than it should have.
At least issues in that sense will be far less likely when the Lionesses head into their next showpiece and perhaps the hardest test of Wiegman’s tenure next month when they take on the United States at a sold-out Wembley.
from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/hHcoz7K
Post a Comment