England 3-0 Ukraine
By Chloe Reynolds.
Above: Jess Carter celebrating her goal vs Ukraine. Photo: via Lionesses on X
The Lionesses finish their FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 group-stage qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over Ukraine in Liverpool. Goals from Jess Carter, Georgia Stanway and Beth Mead were not enough as Spain, having beaten Iceland 6-1, topped the group due to a greater goal difference.
Overview:
Despite the win, the Lionesses will feel disappointed they have not automatically qualified as they finish second in the group, resulting in a play-off match to determine their attendance at the next World Cup.
However, it was not all doom and gloom at the final whistle as there were other achievements to be celebrated. Jess Carter became the first England player to score at the newly built Hill Dickinson Stadium and Beth Mead scored her 40th goal for the Lionesses.
This game was a must win for England if they wanted automatic qualification to the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year, as Spain sat top of the group due to goal difference. As for Ukraine, they were hoping to gain their first points of their qualifying campaign.
Head coach Sarina Weigman made four chances from Friday’s 4-0 loss against Spain, with Maya Le Tissier, Jess Carter, Nimah Charles and Laura Blindkilde Brown all being handed a start.
Match Report:
The Lionesses started the game stronger as Lauren James powered through the Ukraine defence, with Lauren Hemp then curling the ball out of play.
Hemp then had a strong attempt from distance, but her shot went straight into the arms of keeper Kateryna Boklach.
After coming short for a corner, James crossed the ball well, but it resulted in nothing as it bounced off the woodwork.
Having the majority of possession during the opening 15 minutes, it was England who opened the scoring through Carter. James worked the ball and her kick is guided perfectly to the head of Carter, as she headed it across goal.
Hemp attempted to curl in towards the bottom corner but Boklach did well to get down and palm it behind.
England took another free kick, and once again it was taken short, Hemp gets a fantastic touch on it, but Maryna Shainiuk put in strong challenge.
Charles picked out Le Tissier in the box, but her effort was fired over the top of the bar.
Stanway picked out Blindkilde Brown in the box, the ball falls to Alessia Russo who set it over the top of the bar.
Ukraine had their first real chance of the game as Tanya Boychuk turned and hit an effort, fortunately for England, Hannah Hampton made the crucial save.
England’s second goal of the game arrived in the 37th minute. Russo found Stanway with a perfect sideways pass, giving her an easy tap in.
Still looking for a goal, Hemp moved her way through the Ukrainian defence but sent the ball over the top.
Russo saw an opportunity early into the second half but Liubov Shmatko cleared the ball.
Inna Hlushcenko picked up the ball to the right and worked through the yard of space bit struck wide.
Hemp received the ball from Stanway and tried to cutback, Boklach got her foot to it.
Just Moments after coming on, Chloe Kelly made an instant impact, she forced the clearance from the Ukraine defence.
Inna Hlushchenko managed to get the better of Le Tissier as she tried to send the ball to one of her team mates, but angle the ball wrong and sent it out.
The third goal of the game came from half-time substitute Mead. A wonderful bottom corner strike from her saw England essentially wrap up the game in the 67th minute.
Russo once again found the ball and aimed towards the far bottom corner, but missed and kicked the ball wide.
Mead saw an excellent ball played in by Russo but the Ukrainian keeper Boklach caught it well.
Lineups: England: Hampton, Le Tissier, Charles, Walsh (c), Carter, Morgan, James, Stanway, Russo, Blinkide-Brown, Hemp. Substitutes: Greenwood, Mead, Kelly, Park, Kendall, Bronze, Moorhouse, Toone, Wubben-Moy, Baggaley, Beever-Jones, Fisk.
Goal scorers: Jess Carter 14’, Georgia Stanway 37’, Beth Mead 67’
Ukraine: Boklach, Kotyk, Savka, Shaynyuk, Boychuk, Molodiuk, Zaborovets, Shmatko (c), Kunina, Kohut, Olkhova. Substitutes: Hlushchenko, Radionova, Podolska, Basanska, Semkiv, Holovach, Keliushyk, Khrystiuk, Kotiash, Samson.
Goal scorers: N/A
Referee: Emanuela Rusta
Attendance: 26,065
Post-Match Interview:
England head coach Sarina Wiegman shared her thoughts after her side won 3-0 against Ukraine.
She said; “I’m pretty pleased with that score. I saw a team that was a team, that wanted to dictate the game for 90 minutes.
“I want to score lots of goals. I think we should have scored, and could have scored more goals than we did, but I think overall, that we showed who we are, and that we played a proper game.”
Freya Godfrey was left out of tonight’s squad and has yet to make her lionesses debut
“It’s always hard to have conversations for players you actually want in your squad, but you can only pick 23,” said Wiegman when asked about why Freya Godfrey has not made her senior debut yet.
“So that’s, yeah, that’s hard, but at the same time, I gave a clarity why I made a decision, and that’s the way it is right now,” Wiegman continued.
“Also, she’s coming to her environment not so long ago. And she has felt that she’s learned about it, and she knows now, where she needs to step up, what she needs to do. while she did do some very good things with us, and that’s what she did with London City, too. We having a lot of competition in many positions for Lionesses”
Wiegman also expressed her disappointment that despite only loosing the one game to Spain, the lionesses didn’t qualify top of the group and will have to go through the playoffs.
“Annoying. If you look at the group, like the Nations League, of course, the competition in Europe is really high. What I’m a bit, of course, disappointed about is that we win five games. We have 15 points. We are in the group with the world champion, and that you then can’t qualify,” said Wiegman.
“So, yeah, that’s of course like, this night is was good night, good football night, but yeah, I’m not really happy. Happy with the performance, but not, because we have to go into playoffs. But that’s just the way it is and we’re gonna get ready for it, and we know on the 18th of June, what that will look like.”
From now until Brazil 2027, the lionesses will not play a friendly match, they will all be playoffs and moments to help build for the World Cup. There was questions about whether Weigman would experiment with new faces in the starting lineups or whether she will stick with the current squad.
“The main thing is that when you think you’re the best player, I’ll pick you. And that’s what it’s all about. I want to pick the best players, that I think can, together with my stuff, that can compete at the highest level.
“And if you’re a younger player or you’re an older player or you’re a player that has more experience, for me, that’s not the priority. Of course, when you go into tournaments, it’s important to have players that have experience, that can shadow those experiences, and that know what’s going to happen in games, during games, in tournaments, because tournament life is tough when you’re there. So that’s important too, but I pick what are, in my opinion, the best players.”
The Dutch head coach also shared her excitement over being able to play different teams like Iceland and Ukraine as she feels that the Nations League can sometimes be quite repetitive.
“Yeah, I think the Nations League brought more competition in Europe. I think that’s a good thing, because you always have to show up, and I think for the fans who come to the game, when you get to see these exciting games, that’s really nice. But we’ve also noticed that we’ve played against Spain so many times, and I was really excited with this campaign as we had Iceland and Ukraine in a group, because we haven’t played them. Well, Belgium, we had a couple of times too. But the good thing is, there’s a lot of competition, and that’s a good thing”
The Lionesses must wait until June 18 to find out who their playoff opponents will be.
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