Few Surprises in UEFA Women’s World Cup Playoff 1st Legs

In the sixteen matches played today across Europe for the UEFA Women’s World Cup playoffs, few surprises were to be found. The lower ranked side played at home, with the reverse fixture next Tuesday allowing the higher ranked team home pitch advantage. For the most part, the higher ranked sides easily dispatched the lower ones….

Path 1 Results

Outside of some seriously lopsided score lines, no real shocks here.

Lithuania 0 – 5 Sweden

This can of whoop-ass affair produced one of the day’s hat-tricks.

Romania 0 – 2 Norway

This match was essentially decided by the 34th minute. By then Norway was up thanks to veterans Guro Reiten and Frida Maanum; Romania had already drawn three yellow cards.

Greece 1 – 3 England

Erica Parkinson and Grace Fisk each earned their first cap subbing on in the second half, and Maya Le Tissier scored her first England goal. Georgia Stanway and Alessia Russo scored the other two.

Croatia 0 – 4 Iceland

If you were a dóttir of Eirík it was a good day for you. Arna scored her first national team goal in her fifth start, then added a second in stoppage time. Hlín (no relation) scored in the 75th minute. Glódís Viggósdóttir hit from the spot.

Kazakhstan 0 – 8 Republic of Ireland

Chronologically the first game of the day, and tied for the highest goal differential. For the poor Kazakhs, the 90 minutes must’ve felt like an eternity. They were already three goals down when Yulia Myasnikova was sent off in the 30th, and Ireland just spread the goal scoring around the squad. Seven different players found the net.

Kosovo 1 – 2 Austria

Hungary 0 – 8 Netherlands

Pure domination from the Leeuwinen. Lineth Beerensteyn scored in the 12th and 14th minutes, then got her hat-trick in the 90th. In between, compatriot Victoria Pelova got her three goals, along with singles for Esmee Brugts and Damaris Egurrola. Holland had 70 shots, 20 on target. So let’s give props to Bristol City’s Lauren Brzykcy. The San Clemente, California born goalkeeper made 12 saves.

Belarus 0 – 2 Italy

I’m pretty sure Italian gaffer Andrea Soncin won’t be satisfied with only scoring two against 52nd ranked Belarus. But with apologies to Gertrude Stein: a win is a win is a win.

Path 2 Results

Spoiler alert! Here’s where the shocks happened! Though not how you think.

Albania 0 – 1 Wales

Wales will consider themselves VERY lucky to have come out of Shkoder, Albania with a win. The two sides were evenly matched: each had 3 shots on frame (all saved), 6 corners, and nearly the same touches in the opponent’s box (17 to 19). Wales squandered two big chances; Albania struck the post from a long shot. The difference? An own goal from Albanian midfielder Esmeralda Franja.

Türkiye 3 – 3 Slovenia

This was one of the surprise results. It also happened to be the only draw of the day.

Nobody likes playing in Türkiye, whether for Champions League, Europa League or international competitions. Slovenia discovered this the hard way. They went two goals down before the 25th minute, and took that deficit to the lockers. After clawing one back, they conceded a third in the 75th. But the Slovenes, ranked eight places higher than the Turks, fought back to equalize when Nina Kajzba got her brace three minutes into stoppage time.

Slovakia 1 – 3 Ukraine

A straightforward victory for Ukraine, who conceded a late equalizer before the half but shocked Slovakia with two quick scores right after the second half whistle.

Israel 3 – 7 Switzerland

Watch out! Goals were coming in left and right in this one. There were almost as many goals as there were spectators (due to sanctions Israel must play in an empty stadium, the official attendance is listed as 11). I even had to check the stats to make sure both goalkeepers actually suited up. Turns out nobody kept any statistics, but both played the full 90 minutes. But there are still some crazy facts:

• Israel’s Talia Sommer scored a hat-trick in defeat.
• The game was a 2-2 draw at halftime, thanks to a late stoppage time score from Switzerland’s Iman Beney.
• Switzerland scored three in the second half, one from Sydney Schertenleib and a brace by Riola Xhemaili.
• The final two goals came in stoppage time. Both were Israeli own-goals.

Belgium 1 – 0 Poland

Not so much a shock, as these two teams are very close to each other in the rankings (18th and 26th respectively). Poland is far better than their one point effort in group A would indicate; holding top scoring Belgium to a single goal proves it. The reverse fixture should be a really good one.

Czechia 0 – 2 Scotland

Scotland doesn’t need pretty. They just need to win. Mission accomplished, thanks to Caroline Weir and Claire Emslie.

Northern Ireland 0 – 4 Portugal

There were some high expectations for this scrappy Northern Ireland team coming into this. In an interview with The Guardian, manager commented that one of his goals is to “sustainably now move towards competing on a regular basis at a higher level.” He added: “To take that step, sometimes you need to take a step backwards and take a few hits as well. I wanted us to be exposed and embrace [being uncomfortable].”

Unfortunately his words proved prophetic. Portugal jumped out to a three goal lead before the 30th minute, which included an own-goal from the normally stalwart Rebecca Holloway (pictured below with Birmingham City). Even reduced to 10 players after a 63rd minute red card, Northern Ireland could not mount a proper attack to close the gap.

Finland 3 – 1 Serbia

Much like the Belgium / Poland match, this one featured a higher ranked team in the “lower” position at home due to where they played in the group phase. Serbia was in group A, and got whalloped managing one point from six matches. Finland tied Portugal atop the B group, but placed second on goal differential.