It took a labyrinthine move from Sarina Wiegman’s team to find a way through deep-lying Greece. On the outskirts of Heraklion, the ancient city of Knossos, which is associated with the legend of the Minotaur and the labyrinth constructed by Daedalus to contain it, Laura Blindkilde Brown’s quick pass to Alessia Russo was artfully flicked first time to her Arsenal teammate Georgia Stanway and the midfielder slotted in past the goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti. There were muted celebrations after the goal, reflective of the frustration they felt at having taken 39 minutes to get their first goal against the team ranked 54 places below them.
That was a familiar frustration because, despite two Euros wins and a World Cup final, England have struggled to completely shake free of the accusation that they struggle against low blocks. In spite of the scoreline and their dominance in possession, the Lionesses didn’t look comfortable or particularly happy for stretches of the match. It was the speed of thinking and inventiveness of the passing that made the difference for the opener; that is the flair England need to find in those testing moments.
The home team remained compact, a narrow-margin loss a more favourable defeat to take to Leicester for the return leg on Tuesday night than the wider margin they would potentially have faced with a swashbuckling attempt to get back into the game. It was only as legs began to tire against the European champions that the home team left themselves more exposed. The critical second goal, which provided a huge amount of relief, arrived in the 63rd minute.
That it came from Lucy Bronze’s stand-in Maya Le Tissier was important, with Kallisti Brouksair having twice broken free of the Manchester United centre-back to whip in a cross in the first half in the rarest of forays into the final third for Greece. Le Tissier operated as a wing-back in the Pankritio stadium, still favoured by Wiegman as the best option to come in for Bronze despite playing centrally week in, week out for her club and – bar those two chances for the opposition in the first half – the goal capped a solid performance. Le Tissier said she was unfazed by switching positions for club and country and by Bronze’s weighty shadow.
I’m not the same player as Bronzy, I try to play my own game and I love getting on the ball and creating chances even higher up as well. I looked up to her when I was younger, but people just have to realise that you’re not the same. There’s so many different players; players that play in the same position but are completely different and I don’t try to be like Bronzy, I just try to be myself and play as well as I can.” Russo’s goal, England’s third, was also significant.
It was the forward’s third goal in as many games for club and country after five games off the scoresheet. With Aggie Beever-Jones out of form and out of the squad, having not scored since March for Chelsea, and unconvincing experiments with Lauren James and Lauren Hemp in the No 9 role, Russo finding her goalscoring from, and staying fit, is critical to England’s World Cup ambitions. The team is also in a transition phase, at the beginning of a new cycle under Wiegman after a period laden with success.
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