Goals were scored at the rate of knots in a World Cup qualifier game between England women’s team and Latvia women’s team as England ran riot with an astonishing scoreline of 20-0. It was a record win in terms of margin for any women's qualifier surpassing USA women's 13-0 scoreline against Thailand in 2019 as England lionesses had no mercy on their opponents. Moreover, the football match's scoreline looked more like a cricket score where no wicket is lost for the score of 20 runs. As many as three England players scored their respective hat-tricks in a high-scoring game.
Electric start
Chasing qualification for the next year's women’s World Cup, England were on the attack right from the word go as it took only three minutes for them to produce the breakthrough with Beth Mead starting the scoring spree. The cameras were clued to one half of the pitch as the lionesses were already hunting down their opponent as the scoreline read 4-0 by the 12th minute. History was already written in the ninth minute of the match as Ellen White became England women’s team's all-time top scorer with her 46th and 47th goal. The second goal saw her go past Kelly Smith’s tally of 46 goals.
Record-breaking Ellen
By the 23rd minute, the football match turned into a tennis contest as England had a 6-0 lead. Beath scored her third of the game and completed the hat-trick before the 30-minute mark. Sarina Wiegman’s side went with a 8-0 lead at the break. The humiliation continued after the break as Ellen marked her landmark night with the second hat-trick of the night. Double figures were already reached in the 56th minute as Jessica Carter joined the attack. By this time Latvia had surrendered, but the embarrassing night was far from over as Lauren May Hemp had the icing on the cake with another hat-trick on the night in the 76th minute.
All-time record
Minutes 23 to 42 remained the only duration in which there was no goal scored. The win takes England one step closer to qualification and will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming year. There were 10 different goal scorers on the night, which was also a record. England’s win though wasn’t the highest-scoring qualifier, Australia men’s team’s 31–0 win against American Samoa in 2001 was still a long way away for England. Most recently England men’s team also won 10-0 against San Marino, but the women have gone 10 better than the lions.
