Ellen White celebrates scoring against Latvia
(Picture: Getty Images)England women’s football team smashed numerous records on Tuesday night after they scored 20 (yes, twenty) goals in a ruthless victory against Latvia in a World Cup qualifier.
Goals from ten different England players saw Sarina Wiegman’s team romp to an emphatic victory which is likely to go down in the annuls of time as the records tumbled at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.
The headline grabber was Manchester City striker Ellen White – who both equalled and surpassed the previous goalscoring record of 46 set by Kelly Smith – in the first nine minutes of the match. White finished the match with a hat-trick meaning that the 32-year-old now has 48 goals overall for England and you wouldn’t bet against her adding more.
White is now on par with Harry Kane and Gary Lineker with 48 goals for England and isn’t far behind Wayne Rooney’s record total of 53. White received a special congratulatory message from Kane on breaking the women’s record and he also believes that there are more to come too.
A special message for the @Lionesses' new all-time record goalscorer @ellsbells89 from #ThreeLions captain @HKane! 👊 pic.twitter.com/GyznQHV38m
— England (@England) November 30, 2021
🏆 THE RECORD IS BROKEN 🏆@ellsbells89 is our new all-time record goalscorer! pic.twitter.com/kfwUg1KaUX
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) November 30, 2021
White’s three goals weren’t the only hat-tricks on the evening as three other players also scored hat-tricks – Beth Mead, Lauren Hemp (who scored four and hadn’t even scored for England before) and Alessia Russo.
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It probably won’t shock you to learn that four is the most amount of hat-tricks ever scored in a single England game.
Russo, who was a second-half substitute, would score the fastest ever hat-trick in England history when she hit the back of the net three times in the space of just 11 minutes.
Russo’s first goal broke the record for England women’s biggest ever win at international which was previously a 13-0 defeat of Hungary in 2005.
The Lionesses also managed to attempt 121 shots during their two qualifying games against Latvia and not face any in the other direction. The previous fixture, which happened on October 26th, saw England win 10-0.
20-0 - England's women's team have beaten Latvia 20-0, recording their biggest ever victory in an official match (previously 13-0 vs Hungary in 2005). Over their two group matches against Latvia during qualification they have attempted 121 shots and faced none. Commanding. pic.twitter.com/w466Q7XbQl
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 30, 2021
Other scorers on Tuesday night were Ella Toone, Georgia Stanway, Jess Carter, Beth England, Jill Scott and Jordan Nobbs.
Tuesday’s win was the third time that England have scored double figures during the qualifying campaign having beaten Luxembourg 10-0 in September.
This comes just a few weeks after England’s men scored 10 against San Marino in their biggest ever win in a competitive international fixture.
Obviously, the monumental scoreline does come with caveats as Latvia are only a part-time team which has again brought into question how competitive and useful these types of mismatches are.
Speaking after the game manager Wiegman said: “I think we have to look at it. Of course, you want competitive games and these are not competitive games. In every country, you want to develop the women’s game but I don’t think it’s good that the scores now are so high. I know that has the attention of the federations and Uefa and Fifa, and I think that’s good because I don’t think a 20-0 is good for the development of anyone.”
Regardless, White was still proud of the record she set during the game. Speaking to ITV4 she said: “I actually feel really emotional about it. It’s been spoken about for a long time and I feel very proud. I feel really proud of the girls tonight, we’ve got so many girls who scored their first goal for England.”
