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Sarina Wigman and a host of England stars are furious at the ‘difficult’ World Cup qualifying group after failing to secure an automatic place in next year’s tournament despite winning five of their six matches.
The Lionesses beat Ukraine 3-0 in their final qualification tie and finished with 15 points from a possible 18 in Group A3.
While that was enough for them to claim top spot in Groups A1 and A2, their 4-0 loss to Spain in the fifth game meant the reigning world champions took top spot with a superior head-to-head record and goal difference.
England beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley in April, but were treated to a clean sheet at Mallorca Park. And Wigman questioned how it was possible to draw the World Cup holders and European champions in the same qualifying group.
“If you look at groups like the Nations League, of course the competition is really high.
“What I’m a bit disappointed about is that we’ve won five games, we have 15 points and we’re in a group with the European champions, in a group with the world champions and you can’t qualify then. Of course, a night like this was a good night of football, but I’m not really happy.
“I’m happy with the performance but not that we have to go to the play-offs, but that’s how it is and we’re going to prepare for it.”
Rousseau and Charles are disappointed by the ‘difficult group’
Striker Alessia Russo Mentioned the difficulty facing Spain in the qualifiers, admitting it was difficult not to go despite losing only one game.
“I think obviously we all know we didn’t play well enough against Spain,” Russo said Sky Sports. They gave a fantastic performance and all credit to them.
“We know the performance was below our standards, so I think it was disappointing. We also wanted to qualify automatically for the World Cup, but now we’re going to the play-offs. It’s difficult, but that’s football. We were in the toughest group to play against Spain.
“I think we’ve won five out of six games and still haven’t won. It’s difficult, but that’s football. We go on and we go into the play-offs and we’ll do everything we can to qualify.”
the defender Nim Charles Was brought into the starting XI against Ukraine and shared similar sentiments after the match.
He said: “Spain are an incredible team. When you look at our game, it shows that the two top teams were playing in a group together. We were unlucky to miss out.”
‘When was 15 points not enough?’
Keira Walsh disappointed with England’s loss to Spain
Only in the A League group did England top Group A with 15 points, while Germany finished with 16 points. However, if the Lionesses were in that group, they would have won their last two matches against them, including the Euro 2022 final.
talking to ITV After the match, both Beth Mead and Georgia Stanway questioned how the reigning European champions could miss with an 80 percent win ratio.
“It’s very rare that you get 15 points and still not make it out of the group,” Stanway said. I think it shows our level, our consistency, but we know our performance against Spain was not good enough and today we got the reaction.”
Meade added: “It’s disappointing. You know, there aren’t many teams who don’t qualify on 15 points, so that’s the nature of the competition at the moment and when you’re in a group with Spain.
“It’s very, very difficult, and unfortunately, we finished second, and we go to the playoffs, but we’re motivated instead to go that route and definitely qualify.”
