What changed
England beat Greece 8-1 on aggregate in the first round of the Women’s World Cup qualifying play-offs. The Netherlands beat Hungary 11-0, Germany beat Romania 8-0, while Sweden and the Republic of Ireland won by aggregate scores of 15-0 and 12-0.
Why it matters
The format is producing mismatches at the point when qualification should be getting sharper. Only one team from each league-phase group qualified automatically, so England dropped into the play-offs after finishing behind Spain in League A, despite taking 15 points and beating Spain 1-0 at Wembley.
That leaves England facing Ukraine again. They already beat Ukraine twice in the league phase by an aggregate 9-1, and must now meet them over two more legs, away on 1 December and at Wembley on 5 December.
The problem is not England winning. It is the route they have been given. A team can lose only once in eight qualifying matches, score 21 goals and concede six, yet still need two rounds of play-offs because it shared a group with Spain. Meanwhile, teams in lower leagues may avoid opponents from the world’s top 45.
UEFA will review the setup. Whether that leads to a different format is unclear, but the latest results make the case plainly: bigger scorelines do not necessarily show a stronger competition. Sometimes they show that the draw has put the wrong teams in the same queue.
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