England put TEN past Latvia in Women’s World Cup qualifier as ruthless Lionesses show no mercy in Riga to maintain perfect run in Group D in dominant display
- Ella Toone broke the deadlock in the eighth minute after some poor defending
- It only took three minutes for Toone to grab hers and England’s second goal
- England’s domination continued in the first half with White and Bright scoring
- The goals kept flowing in the second half, with Toone grabbing her hat-trick
- Latvia were shown no mercy and Sarina Wiegman’s side finished with 10 goals
It won’t get much easier than this for England boss Sarina Wiegman. A 10-0 victory against Latvia on her 52nd birthday and, in truth, it could and should have been a lot more.
The Lionesses managed 58 shots with 21 on target and only some fine saves from Latvia goalkeeper Enija Anna Vaivode and poor finishing prevented the scoreline being higher.
Wiegman couldn’t have hoped for a better start to her reign in charge. Four wins from four games puts them top of Group D.
England Women put TEN goals past Latvia in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday evening
Ella Toone (No 6) netted a hat-trick in the dominant win to maintain England’s perfect record
Toone (centre) got England off to a rapid start with a quickfire brace inside 12 minutes
England’s first real test under Wiegman will come against Austria next month but she will surely learn more about her players when they face Germany and Spain in a new invitational tournament in February.
There was little chance of Latvia, who were beaten 4-1 by North Macedonia last week, causing an upset and it was clear from the first whistle that England would spend the majority of the game camped in their opponents’ half.
The first goal came in the seventh minute when Lauren Hemp’s cross was cleared as far as Ella Toone, who finished emphatically into the top right corner.
Toone, who has been in superb form for Manchester United this season, added her second five minutes.
Beth Mead’s cross found Fran Kirby and she laid the ball back for her team-mate to finish into the bottom left corner.
Toone then turned provider when she intercepted Vaivode’s goal-kick to play in Ellen White, who kept her cool to score the fourth.
White’s 44th England goal means she is now two behind record scorer Kelly Smith.
Millie Bright added a fourth when she turned in Fran Kirby’s free-kick before White missed her chance to go one closer to Smith’s record when her penalty was saved by Vaivode.
The goalkeeper had been penalised for bringing down Hemp but redeemed herself to stop White’s effort before making a fantastic double save to keep out Mead’s follow up.
But the fifth came shortly after half-time when Mead finished into the bottom right corner after being played through by Georgia Stanway.
Ellen White got in on the action, netting England’s third soon after Toone’s early brace
White celebrates her 44th England goal and is now two behind record scorer Kelly Smith
Millie Bright arrives at the back post to make it 4-0 and completes a first-half rout for England
Toone grabbed her hat-trick in the 67th minute when she danced her way through the Latvia defence before finishing past Vaivode at the near-post.
It was 7-0 three minutes later when Mead teed up Rachel Daly for a tap-in and Leah Williamson got in on the act with a cool finish from a short corner in the 79th minute.
There was still time for two more with Stanway adding a ninth in the 81st before Daly grabbed her second a minute later.
Rachel Daly came off the bench to score a second-half brace in a relentless attacking display
Fellow second-half substitute Beth Mead also got her name on the scoresheet in Riga