England sought revenge for last Friday’s disappointing EURO2025 qualifying defeat, earning a 2-1 victory over France in Saint-Étienne to complete a double-header over les Bleues.
Despite picking up three points, the result sees the Lionesses remain outside of the two automatic qualification spots due to their inferior goal difference compared to Sweden.
England will play their final two qualifying fixtures next month, with a trip to Sweden coming just days after they host the Republic of Ireland at Norwich City’s Carrow Road.
As it happened
After an underwhelming loss on Tyneside that left the Lionesses’ hopes of securing a top-half finish – and automatic qualification for EURO2025 – in question, Sarina Wingman’s side wasted no time in forcing chances in Saint-Étienne.
Ella Toone would be left disappointed as she squandered England’s first chance of the evening though, rolling well wide of the target just before Leah Williamson was called upon at the other end of the pitch to prevent Kadidiatou Diani from latching onto a Sakina Karchaoui cross.
But that break forward would be a rare chance for les Bleues in a half that was largely dominated by the visitors, with Alessia Russo doing well to beat Maëlle Lakrar to a Beth Mead cross but ultimately smashing her effort off-target shortly after the quarter-hour mark.
England would soon take the lead though. Pauline Picaud-Magnin was called upon to deny Mead, but was rendered helpless when Lauren Hemp jinked past Kenza Dali to offload for Georgia Stanway, allowing the Bayern Munich midfielder to rifle home from the edge of the box and open the scoring.
Embed from Getty ImagesThat advantage could have been doubled just before the half-hour mark when a Leah Williamson pass split the defence, allowing Lucy Bronze to volley across goal for Russo – although the Arsenal forward’s header was blocked well by the French goalkeeper.
She’d get her goal five minutes later though, latching onto a Hemp delivery and nodding home at the far post to give England a rather comfortable two-goal lead in Saint-Étienne.
There was always the feeling that England would need a third goal to truly put the game to bed – and those suspicions proved to hold true when Kadidiatou Diani converted from the penalty spot on her 100th senior appearance to bring Hervé Renard’s side back into contention.
Embed from Getty ImagesDespite recording a win that keeps the Lionesses level on points with second-placed Sweden, Sarina Wiegman’s side remain third in their group due to goal difference and, as it stands, will not automatically qualify for EURO2025.
The lineups
FRA: Peyraud-Magnin; Bacha, Renard, Lakrar, de Almeida; Geyoro, Dali, Henry; Karchaoui, Katoto, Diani
ENG: Hampton; Carter, Williamson, Bright, Bronze; Toone, Walsh, Stanway; Hemp, Russo, Mead