England 20-0 Latvia
by Adam Millington
At the Keepmoat Stadium

WEEK after week, millions around the globe flock to football grounds to see its magic take place: the magic of the unexpected. 

It is a bizarre phenomenon for a game which, at its heart, never changes. It is the same size pitch, the same size goals, and the same twenty-two players. Yet this simple formula has a unique power to produce the extraordinary, and it did just so on Tuesday evening.

What those in attendance at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium witnessed was a footballing spectacle like no other, a match which will go down in the footballing history books for decades to come. 

Fans were expectant of a new record all-time Lionesses top scorer – a figure which Ellen White reached and extended to 48 from Kelly Smith 46 – and that was just one of the sights they would be treated to.

“It did feel really emotional and I feel really lucky to have all my teammates with me to support me,” White said.

“I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't emotional, because it's been spoken about so much, I didn't want to talk about it for a while. I feel lucky that I can just concentrate on the team now.”

Ever the professional, White was keen to speak about her teammates as much as her own personal accolade. Despite becoming the Lionesses’ record scorer, she used the moment to talk about her peers.

She added: “It's amazing to have the support of your teammates and the respect of your teammates is the number one.

“The talent we have and the support that we have and the togetherness and the love that we have for each other, I know that sounds corny, but it's really special and I feel really lucky to have the teammates that I do. 

To repeat, it was twenty goals for England with no reply. And that figure will find itself being repeated for a long time. It will go down as one of those ‘I was there’ moments, the one which gets brought up by anybody who was lucky enough to witness one of football’s great moments in front of their own eyes.

There were an incredible four hat-tricks, with Lauren Hemp notching in four while Ellen White, Beth Mead and Alessia Russo each added three to the tally.

As the minutes on the clock slowly went up, it seemed like a fresh goal would come with each new one. The team had clicked, and every ball they sent goalwards looked as if it would end up in the back in the net.

A win of such a margin will yet again raise questions over whether pre-qualification would be a good idea. The match was entertaining, but there is little to be learnt from the result. For the travelling Latvian squad, the looks of despondency on their face at the final whistle were clear as day.

“I think we have to look at it,” England head coach Sarina Weigman said of pre-qualifying. “I've said that before. Of course you want competitive games and these are not competitive games. 

“You want to develop the well-developed countries already and the countries that are not that far. In every country you want to develop the women's game but I don't think it's good that the scores now are so high.

“I know that has the attention of the federations and Uefa and Fifa, and I think that's good because I don't think a 20-0 is good for the development of anyone.”

On the face of it, the scoreline will herald a celebration of this England team, but there are bigger issues around games like this lying under the surface. This game showed the sheer gulf in class in the women’s game and the issues which allow it to perpetuate.

This isn’t just a case of footballing difference as we would see in the men’s game – there are other factors at play. A number of Latvia’s players were not able to get time off work and as such a team filled with young players had to be fielded.

Take, for example, the Latvian goalkeeping situation. They started with Laura Sinutkina, an 18-year-old who had only recorded a single previous appearance, and they then switched to 17-year-old Alina Sklemenova. Both were spirited and (despite the scoreline) did well, but it is a sorry state of affairs when these are the options available for a World Cup Qualifier.

Perhaps there was no better occasion to highlight just how far the women’s game needs to come. One of these sides can take advantage of a full-time professional women’s league and players who are paid the same as the men for their international appearances, the other is more indicative of international women’s football on the whole.

When thinking about the progress of the women’s game, this match should act as a stark reminder of the inequalities which still need to be addressed. Had these have been men’s sides meeting, the scoreline would have been very different indeed.