Greece v England: Women’s World Cup playoff semi-final, first leg – live

Sarina Wiegman makes two changes, both in defence, from England’s previous World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in the summer. Leah Williamson and Alex Greenwood return in place of Jess Carter and Niamh Charles.

Greece (4-3-3) Petaloti; Giannaka, Gkouni, Markou, Paterna; Drakogiannaki, Brame, Moraitou; Sarri, Papatheodorou, Brouksair.

Subs: to follow.

England (4-3-3) Hampton; Le Tissier, Williamson, Morgan, Greenwood; Stanway, Walsh, Blindkilde Brown; Hemp, Russo, James.

Subs: to follow.

Referee Martina Molinaro (Italy).

The last time England failed to qualify for the World Cup was in 2003. They had the misfortune to be drawn in the same group as Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal, with only the top team going through – no playoffs, no second chances.

Germany won all six games in qualification – and all six at the actual tournament in the United States. They became world champions for the first time and retained the trophy in 2007.

Sarina Wiegman heaped praise on Ella Toone for her positive reaction to being left out of England’s initial squad for their Women’s World Cup playoff against Greece, after recalling the Manchester United midfielder for Friday’s first leg in Heraklion, Crete.

An injury sustained by Lucy Bronze, described by Wiegman as “really small”, prompted the England right-back to return to Chelsea and Wiegman called up Toone, who travelled to Greece from Spain, where she had organised a training routine during the international window.

Toone has 69 caps and has scored 24 goals, including in the Euro 2022 final and 2023 World Cup semi-final, but Wiegman said when naming her squad that she had left out Toone and Chloe Kelly because “the levels weren’t what I expect from them on the pitch”. On Saturday, after starting Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool, Toone took ownership of things, telling the BBC: “It’s about me now. I’ve got to keep working hard and use it as fuel to come back even better.”

Wiegman, asked whether she had been impressed with Toone’s response, said: “Yes, very much. I think when I gave her the call, of course that was a hard call. But she took that straight away. Of course [she was] very disappointed, but the first thing she did [was say]: ‘OK, I’m going to get back, I’m going to do that.’ She has the support around her too.”

unthinkable

1. adjective

If you say that something is unthinkable, you are emphasizing that it cannot possibly be accepted or imagined as a possibility.

^{[Credit: Collins Online Dictionary]}

It’s unthinkable that England won’t qualify for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil – but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. No matter how good you are, the playoffs come with dangerous levels of jeopardy. England should be fine, but they still need to dot Is, cross Ts and beat Greece and either Slovakia or Ukraine.

Those are the other teams in England’s little corner of the playoffs. Greece are the first challenge; if you’re into the whole rankings thing, this tie is 59th v 4th. Greece cruised through their group, winning all four games against the Faroe Islands and Georgia. England had the misfortune to be drawn in the same group as Spain, who beat them in the 2023 World Cup final and pipped them to automatic qualification for 2027.

The winners of this tie – the second leg is at Wembley on Tuesday – will play either Slovakia or Ukraine in November and December. Whoever wins that will be off to Brazil next summer. It’s unthinkable it won’t be England. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.