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IAN HERBERT: Was England’s 8-0 demolition of Norway spectacular or an unnecessary spectacle?

IAN HERBERT: Was England’s 8-0 demolition of Norway spectacular or an unnecessary spectacle?

IAN HERBERT: Was England’s 8-0 demolition of Norway simply spectacular… or a spectacle this tournament did not need? The defending from a fully-professional team was SHOCKING to behold

  • England blew Norway away in a stunning first-half display at the Amex stadium
  • The hosts were 6-0 up by 45 minutes with braces for Ellen White and Beth Mead
  • Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp also got in on the action in the first half 
  • Alessia Russo headed just after the hour mark before Mead scored her third
  • Click here for all the latest World Cup 2022 news and updates

Before the goals came tumbling in and all hell was let loose, Millie Bright shut out the early threat of Ada Hegerberg, one of the continent’s great players, pressing the space with composure and watchfulness.

Hegerberg insisted after her team had conceded a solitary goal to Northern Ireland that ‘we can’t let this happen again.’ There were fears for an England defence whose four starting personnel were all right-footed.

If all the dark horse defends like Norway, though, attack will be the only form of defence needed. The notion that Norway have advanced as a side since England beat them 3-0 in the last World Cup was shredded as utterly as their defence was cut away.

Beth Mead's first major tournament hat-trick saw England cruise past Norway 8-0 in Brighton

Beth Mead’s first major tournament hat-trick saw England cruise past Norway 8-0 in Brighton

For a time, as Elllen White advanced screaming down the right touchline for each restart and the dominant children’s voices in the crowd squealed ‘football’s coming home, there was only euphoria.

In those moments, you remembered Georgia Stanway, an emerging star at the last World Cup, so startled to be selected to face Japan that Phil Neville told her ‘to pretend you’re in the park, playing with your friends.’ And then you watched her here, thrashing home the penalty won by Ellen White which was the only remotely dubious part of the whole affair. Bullying her way into possession and running her team-mates in behind the straw defence.

But it was when the fifth goal went in that the night morphed from something spectacular into a spectacle which was not actually serving this tournament as much as it might.

Mead completed her hat-trick in the 81st minute having scored twice in a stunning first half

Mead completed her hat-trick in the 81st minute having scored twice in a stunning first half

For England to have put away the part-timers of Northern Ireland, players mostly juggling football with student lives, in such a way would have been one thing. But this a fully-professional Norway team. 

Three of its four starting defenders play in the WSL. Five of its starting team play in that same division, for Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal – not the kind of clubs that are routinely hammered each week.

Ellen White bagged a brace in the first half

Ellen White bagged a brace in the first half

If you’re looking for some justification, then Chelsea’s Maria Thorisdottir playing at centre half when she is actually a winger, provides a tinge of it. But a level of technical deficiency, shocking to behold, removed any strand of competitive interest in a game which was billed as the stand-out fixture of this group. Norway’s physical fitness was nowhere near England’s.

Perhaps a Norway manager with some kind of grip made have made some kind of difference, though Martin Sjogren was a helpless bystander. His players took it upon themselves to sort it out, with a conference in midfield after the fourth goal went in. The further two goals that flowed before half-time show how little difference that made. Thorisdottir should have been put out of her misery at half time but was not.

Take your pick from the many moments of quite exquisite English attacking play. Beth Mead’s giddying run and around the fringe of the six-yard box before despatching the fourth was the finest. Her pace with a ball at her feet is something to behold.

But an element of jeopardy and dramatic tension is the necessary component of any football contests which is to live in the memory. Sarina Wiegman could afford to make three of her four substitutions and still see her players go on to complete the biggest win in Women’s Euros history.

Georgia Stanway's controversially awarded first half penalty got the action rolling for England

Georgia Stanway’s controversially awarded first half penalty got the action rolling for England

It was an extreme manifestation of a pattern which we have seen in the first week of this tournament, with a fundamental defensive capability missing in teams from which we expected to see something better. Germany hammered Denmark 4-0. France beat Italy 5-1.

Spain beating Finland was more expected, though the Spanish at least provided some evidence of a rearguard. Irene Paredes and María Pilar León impressed in central defence.

Spain and Germany meet tomorrow night in Brentford and the losers will face England here next Wednesday. Wiegman will hope for equally fragile opposition then. The tournament requires something far, far better.

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