England's job half done, not fully convincing

Georgia Stanway got the Lionesses going before Maya Le Tissier scored her first England goal, a moment that will mean more to her than it does to the scoreline. Alessia Russo added the third, and on another night England might have had more. Greece got one back, and that single reply is the whole reason this tie isn't being filed away as finished.

Three goals away from home in a World Cup playoff first leg is a result any manager takes. Sarina Wiegman's side are in the sort of position they'd have signed for before kick-off: a two-goal cushion, an away goal conceded that barely dents the group and a second leg where they control the terms of engagement.

Job done, performance questioned

What the scoreline doesn't fully capture, according to the Guardian's report from the game, is that Greece stayed in the contest for long stretches and were not simply swept aside. England were clinical in the moments that mattered but short of the fluency that's defined their better nights under Wiegman. Against a side ranked well below them, that gap between result and rhythm is the story.

Stanway's goal was the kind of composed, central-midfield strike that's become her trademark for England, arriving at the right moment to settle any early jitters. Russo's contribution continues a run of big-game involvement that's made her Wiegman's most trusted focal point when the games get knotty. Between them, Le Tissier's first senior goal is the line that will stick: a defender finding the net on the biggest stage she's played on, in a tie that actually matters.

What the second leg needs to settle

A 3-1 lead going into the return fixes is about where England wanted to be, but it isn't the kind of margin that lets anyone switch off. Greece have an away goal, belief from a performance that wasn't a hiding, and nothing left to lose in the second leg. England's job now is simple on a whiteboard and harder on a pitch: finish what they started, and make sure the gap between the scoreline and the performance closes rather than widens when a place at the 2027 World Cup is the thing actually on the line.