England Lionesses maul Luxembourg to finish World Cup qualifying with astonishing record
ENGLAND 10-0 LUXEMBOURG: The Lionesses ran riot at the Bet365 stadium with eight players on the scoresheet as they hit double figures to leave Sarina Wiegman purring
The Lionesses handed out a monster mauling as they celebrated their first home fixture as European Champions in stye.
Sarina Wiegman’s history-makers ran riot as they cruised to a comfortable triumph as the girls from the Grand Duchy took a fearful beating. 12 months ago in this corresponding fixture, England hit double figures - and from the first whistle a repeat looked possible.
The Lionesses were five up at the interval and didn’t take their foot off the pedal in the second half as Wiegman allowed a few of her fringe players to get a run-out. And they went to town.
After qualifying for next year’s World Cup last Saturday with a 2-0 victory in Austria, this was always going to be a happy homecoming. Once Georgia Stanway converted a 12th-minute penalty, it was one-way traffic.
READ MORE: Arsenal enjoy ticket sales boom ahead of Women's Super League derby with TottenhamREAD MORE: Lionesses deserve better stadiums after fans watch World Cup qualifier from waterslideIn fact, the biggest cheer of the night had been the appearance of retired England stalwart Jill Scott as she strode onto the pitch before kick-off holding the European Championship trophy. And then Wiegman was feted on the sideline after receiving the World Coach of the Year award in the wake of the triumph over Germany in the final at Wembley.
The feel-good factor was soon sweeping around the Bet365 Stadium - as goal after goal went in. It was over half an hour before goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck touched the ball meaningfully - her intervention being greeted with a huge cheer from the sell-out crowd.
The Lionesses finished with an unblemished record in their World Cup qualifying group - scoring 80 goals in 10 matches and conceding none. Unsurprisingly, Wiegman was purring after the final whistle.
She said: “I’m really happy - I don’t think it could be much better than this. The camp after the Euros is a hard one. The team has done a tremendous job coming out of the summer.
“We knew tonight we were so much better than Luxembourg but we had to make the tempo and keep the energy. And the scoreline is really nice.”
While Roebuck was almost entirely untroubled, Luxembourg 'keeper Lucie Schlime didn’t enjoy a moment’s rest. However, the visitors did come within a whisker of doing what no other team had managed in Group D - finding the net.
Roebuck took her eye off the ball for a fraction of a second following a pass early in the second half- with the Manchester City shot-stopper just managing to recover her ground in time to protect the Lionesses’ proud record.
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Stanway (2), Beth England (2), Alessia Russo, Rachel Daly, Beth Mead, Nikita Parris, Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp all scored as the Potteries’ crowd were treated to a feast of goals.
Now, attention switches to next month’s friendly at Wembley against the United States.
Wiegman added: “Everything we do now is preparing for the World Cup. Against the United States, it’s going to be a loud night - an exciting night - and we are looking forward to seeing if we can sell-out Wembley.
“We would like to see where we are in the world rankings and we need those matches to see where we are.”
