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England made it two wins from two in their FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 qualifying campaign after beating a stubborn Iceland 2-0 at The City Ground in Nottingham this afternoon.
Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway got the goals as the Lionesses built on their 6-1 victory over Ukraine in midweek.
England, who have gone unbeaten in their last 23 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying games, dominated from the start and spent the majority of the contest deep in Iceland’s territory.
The first real chance of the game came from a defensive error as Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir’s heavy touch allowed Alessia Russo to intercept but unfortunately, her shot went wide.
This was a sign of things to come from England and it didn’t take long for the Lionesses to find their rhythm. After a few close chances, the deadlock was finally broken in the 22nd minute through Bronze. Lauren James drove forward down the left wing and found Bronze in the box; her powerful header beat keeper Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir to make it 1-0.
The Icelandic goal then suffered a relentless wave of attacks but the nation’s compact back-line did well to restrict England to a single goal lead at half-time.
As the second half got underway, Iceland came the closest to scoring through a powerful header by Sandra Jessen but Hannah Hampton did well to tip the ball over the crossbar and the subsequent corner came to nothing.
At the other end, England continued their battle for more goals and their hard work finally paid off in the 78th minute when a powerful volley from Stanway flew into the net.
The contest ended 2-0 as the Lionesses made it two wins from two in FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 qualifying.
England continue their qualification campaign in April when they play host to Spain before travelling to Iceland.
