“I don’t think 20-0 is good for the development of anyone.”
England women’s boss Sarina Wiegman has called for more competitive games after her side beat Latvia 20-0 on Tuesday night – the biggest win in the Lioness’ history.
Three players were able to score hat-tricks, including Ellen White, who took her tally to 48 to become England women’s all-time leading scorer ahead of Kelly Smith, who scored 46.
Beth Mead and Alessia Russo also bagged three whilst Lauren Hemp scored four at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster as England cruised to victory against a Latvia side who were missing key players due to them being unable to get time off work to play.
England Women grind out a narrow 20-0 win over Latvia pic.twitter.com/7Ds8IaJVZ2
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The result means England top their World Cup qualifying group and are unbeaten in their campaign so far – scoring double figures on three separate occasions.
Tuesday night’s result has sparked debate about the competitiveness of the qualifiers and the gulf in quality between the bigger and smaller nations.
Wiegman has agreed that the games need to be more competitive, insisting that results like England’s against Latvia have no benefit for either side.
“Of course you want competitive games and these are not competitive games,” she told Sky Sports.
“We want to develop well-developed countries and the countries that are not that far, so in every country you want to develop the women’s game.
“But I don’t think it’s good that the scores are so high. I know that has the attention of the federations and UEFA, FIFA and I think that’s good because I don’t think 20-0 is good for the development of anyone.”
Further results in the latest round of Women’s World Cup qualifiers also demonstrated the need to help out smaller nations, as the Republic of Ireland beat Georgia 11-0, whilst Northern Ireland’s women’s side beat North Macedonia 9-0 on Monday.
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