England finish qualifiers with perfect 10 as Stanway sparks Luxembourg rout

Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses concluded their World Cup qualifying campaign sat atop Group D with 10 wins in 10 games, having scored 80 goals and conceded none, after a 10-0 demolition of Luxembourg.

It was not quite the homecoming the FA would have wanted for the team’s first home game since winning Euro 2022. At kick-off the stands were sparsely occupied as supporters decried a “park and ride trip from hell” with heavy traffic, insufficient park and ride buses and breakdowns, leaving huge numbers of fans stranded.

As a result, the atmosphere was somewhat muted, with those that had made it through the turnstiles doing their best to give the retired Jill Scott, who brought out the European Championship trophy ahead of the teams, and Wiegman, who was presented with a Uefa Coach of the Year award, a welcome worthy of their achievements.

Any expectation that Wiegman would field a vastly different starting XI after qualification for the World Cup was secured against Austria on Saturday night was misplaced. The manager has been clear that she does not want to kill the momentum of a team unbeaten during her tenure and that was coupled with a desire to put on a show. There was room for three changes, with Ellie Roebuck starting in goal ahead of Wiegman’s first-choice No 1, Mary Earps, Alex Greenwood replacing Millie Bright alongside Leah Williamson at the back, and Nikita Parris starting in place of Lauren Hemp.

It took 11 minutes for England to break the deadlock, but the goal should have come sooner.

Luxembourg are a young team in international football, having been founded in 2003 before playing a first game three years later, and the starting XI included three 18-year-olds and two 16-year-olds.

Russo, who took just seven