No need to panic: Why England's World Cup mishap isn't cause for concern
Wiegman must avoid ultimate embarrassment and use playoff run to continue experimenting ahead of 2027 World Cup
England signed off their 2025-26 campaign with a 3-0 win against Ukraine at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday night. The result wasn’t enough to see the Lionesses automatically qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup as Friday’s heavy defeat to Spain in Mallorca means that two rounds of two-legged playoffs must be navigated in order for Sarina Wiegman’s side to book their ticket to Brazil next summer.
This is the first time in nearly 25 years that England have failed to finish top of their World Cup qualifying group. Europe’s qualification system has proved much more competitive than previous cycles as only the top four teams in League A of Uefa’s Nations League have automatically qualified for the tournament.
In the end, 15 points from six matches, and the third best record of any team in League A qualifying, was not enough to secure a spot at next summer’s World Cup. With the margin of error so thin, last Friday’s 4-0 defeat in Spain - the heaviest of the Wiegman era - was enough to resign England to the playoffs. For what it’s worth, England did their job against Ukraine with relative ease thanks to goals from Jess Carter, Georgia Stanway and Beth Mead. The routine nature of the win, as well as the 6-1 win in the reverse fixture and victories against Iceland (2-0 at home, 1-0 away), on top of a Wembley win over Spain, should provide sufficient encouragement that the the Lionesses can navigate whatever is thrown at them in the playoffs.
With a two-legged tie against one of these League C minnows: Lithuania, Kosovo, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Belarus, Croatia or Kazakhstan, lined up in the first round of the playoffs, the real challenge will come in the following round, where possible meetings with one of Belgium (ranked 18th in the world), Portugal (22nd), and Switzerland (26th) are among the trickier options from a pool of 16 possible opponents that also includes the likes of Scotland and Wales.
Wiegman was calm and confident when discussing the prospect of facing the playoffs, saying after the Ukraine game: “We have a team that is very good, and we know what we have to do, so I’m very positive that we’re going to qualify anyway”.
England are far from the only big name trying to qualify through the playoffs, with the likes of the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Norway among others also looking to qualify via this route, though it is worth noting that none of these teams can draw each other in the playoffs. Beyond having to wait to secure their place in Brazil, another implication of being in the playoffs is that the four matches England are involved in will take up two international windows, and while it could be argued on the one hand that more competitive matches are a good thing, it means that England will not be able to arrange friendlies against top-class opposition until 2027.
The first round of playoffs, in particular, could allow Wiegman to experiment with less experienced players. Up until this point, her squad has not had a huge amount of turnover since the 2023 Women’s World Cup. This first phases of qualifying has seen opportunities handed to the likes of Laura Blindkilde Brown and Lucia Kendall in midfield, while in defence Maya Le Tissier and Lotte Wubben-Moy, both experienced players at club level who have sometimes found game time hard to come by at international level, have been given significant minutes. As Wiegman tries to find a balance between continuity and change, the playoffs will give a further opportunity to refine her squad for what everyone of an England persuasion hopes will be a tournament summer next year.
Before then, England must ensure they avoid the ignominy of failing to qualify for a major tournament. The last time they suffered this fate came 24 years ago, when they lost to France in a playoff ahead of the 2003 Women’s World Cup in the US. A repeat of that sort of outcome, almost a quarter of a century on, would be unthinkable.
 | A guest post by
|