After falling to a disappointing defeat against les Bleues on Tyneside last Friday, Sarina Wiegman’s England successfully sought revenge as they defeated France 2-1 in Saint-Étienne on Tuesday.
The fourth match of the Lionesses’ EURO2025 qualification campaign brought the double-header against Hervé Renard’s France to an end, with each side earning a 2-1 victory in their respective away legs.
With a strange month-long break before England wrap up their qualification campaign against the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, we’ve looked at the five things we learnt from Tuesday’s victory.
Russo is the key to England’s buildup
Embed from Getty ImagesDeploying Alessia Russo as a ‘nine-and-a-half’ as opposed to as an out-and-out striker looks to be the way forward if she can continue to replicate these performances in the future.
On Tuesday, the 25-year-old stole the limelight and France were simply unable to cope. Dropping deeper at times to hold up the play, the Arsenal forward was always in the right position at the right time and deservedly bagged a goal for her efforts.
It’s a move that’s shown signs of promise at times for the Gunners, and now Sarina Wiegman appears to be reaping the rewards for utilising the forward’s multifaceted skillset at international level.
Of course, Russo is still more than capable of functioning as that traditional number nine – but giving her the positional freedom to drop deeper as Jonas Eidevall has done by deploying her as a 10 on occasion – brings yet more depth to this incredibly talented England frontline.
Is a lack of rotation costing the Lionesses?
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s been a long season. The Barclays Women’s Super League campaign got underway on October 1 – just six weeks after the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup wrapped up. Consider that England reached the latter stages of that tournament, and some players were immediately thrust back into the early stages of UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifiers, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Lionesses appear tired.
For two reasons, it came as a surprise to many when Sarina Wiegman opted to name an unchanged starting eleven for this second clash against France – bar the enforced change that saw Hannah Hampton replace the injured Mary Earps, of course.
Firstly, Friday’s performance on Tyneside was far from scintillating and many hoped to see the youth afforded a chance. Secondly, rotating players after a long, arduous season should perhaps be expected – yet Wiegman waited until the 75th minute to make her first sub, with the second of the match coming in the 90th minute.
Fresh legs surely wouldn’t have hurt England’s chances, especially given Hervé Renard’s side used all five substitutes, including two at half-time. When goal difference could have such a key role to play throughout this qualification campaign, a few more changes could have been the difference for the Lionesses.
Hampton proves herself once again
Embed from Getty ImagesThrust into the match action after less than ten minutes on Friday due to Mary Earps’ early injury-enforced withdrawal, Hannah Hampton was afforded a starting berth on Tuesday in Saint-Étienne.
England’s greatest depth arguably comes between the sticks, with Hampton and Earps both fighting off competition from the teenage Khiara Keating to remain high in the pecking order.
Hampton did not put a foot wrong throughout either of her two goalkeeping appearances, despite shipping three goals against les Bleues. She has surely solidified her claim to rank above Keating – and may even pose a threat to Earps’s previously nailed-on starting spot, with the Manchester United shotstopper expected to be fit for the final set of qualifying fixtures next month.
The new qualification format is working
Embed from Getty ImagesDespite picking up three points in France, England remain outside of the automatic qualification spots for EURO2025 as things stand. That would have been unfathomable in the buildup to previous tournaments, with the Lionesses famously stunning Latvia by an aggregate scoreline of 30-0 across two 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
This rejuvenated and reformed qualifying format for EURO2025 has achieved exactly what it was intended to. No team is a certain qualifier anymore – and while England have the fallback of a guaranteed spot in the playoffs at least, there is undisputedly something to play for in every game.
Watching a double-digits win every now and then can be enjoyable, but they should not be a common occurrence in major tournament qualification and UEFA deserve the plaudits for this reworked format that serves to enhance the quality of individual matches and the fan experience as a whole.
Women’s football in France needs work
Embed from Getty ImagesEngland welcomed 42,561 fans to St James’ Park on Friday. Four days later, the same two teams played in front of just 10,194 at Saint-Étienne’s Stade Geoffrey-Guichard. The sheer difference in attendances in both countries is a stark reminder that, unfortunately, England’s boom in popularity is an outlier.
Kenza Dali touched on it ahead of the UEFA Women’s Champions League final, praising the quality of marketing in England compared to that in France when she spoke with journalists at the House of WePlayStrong.
Admittedly, France weren’t crowned as European Champions and then World Cup finalists in the space of twelve months – and the growth of women’s football within England does undoubtedly stem from that success, but there’s no way to beat around the bush: Tuesday’s attendance figure is unbelievably poor.