England must rouse themselves to avoid sleepwalking out of the Women’s World Cup
Pre-tournament favourites in some circles, England received a wake-up call in their Women’s World Cup quarter-final win over Colombia on Saturday.
While fans at home went straight from bed to sofa for the morning kick-off, Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses came dangerously close to sleepwalking out of the tournament.
Only when they fell behind were they jolted into showing enough signs of life to earn a 2-1 win and a semi-final against co-hosts Australia on Wednesday.
Five games in, England are still to really get going Down Under. A scrappy opening win over Haiti could be put down to ring-rust, while another narrow victory, against Denmark, was excusable for the quality of the opposition.
But a 6-1 thrashing of China proved to be a false dawn, Nigeria thoroughly frustrated the European champions and took them to penalties in the last 16, and an energetic Colombia used the same blueprint at the weekend. Sluggishness is starting to look like the default setting for the Lionesses.
These lacklustre displays are deepening concerns about England’s attacking output that surfaced on the eve of the tournament.
Far and away the top scorers when winning the European Championship on home turf last summer, they have since lost attacking spearhead Ellen White to retirement and Golden Boot winner Beth Mead and the sparky Fran Kirby to injury.
Between April’s Finalissima win over Brazil and Lauren James curling home against the Danes, Wiegman’s side went more than seven hours without scoring in open play.
The encouraging aspect is that when England did wake from their slumber in first-half stoppage time against Colombia they dazzled.
Stunned by Leicy Santos’s floated opening goal, white shirts suddenly flooded forward and English bodies swarmed into opposition penalty box. Less than 10 minutes after going behind, in the ensuing chaos Lauren Hemp stabbed in the equaliser.
They took that urgency into the second half and just after that hour mark they had turned the contest on its head. Georgia Stanway’s probing pass found Alessia Russo’s run into the channel and a lucky ricochet set up the England striker to smash a low, unerring finish inside the far post.
This was, at last, more like the confident Lionesses outfit which romped to historic glory at Wembley last summer.
Despite a shortage of fireworks, England have shown other qualities at this World Cup.
Colombia’s goal was just the second to get past Mary Earps, they have shown defensive robustness and mostly controlled their games.
They have found ways to win, even when reduced to 10 against Nigeria – no less than we have come to expect from Wiegman, who is on course to reach the final of a fourth successive major tournament.
Australia will be England’s biggest test yet, however. Having taken the scalps of Canada, Denmark and now France, the Matildas are riding a wave of home support.
They are also the only team to have beaten the Lionesses in Wiegman’s 37-game reign. England will need to shake off their stupor and rouse themselves again to avoid a repeat.