FIFA Women's World Cup: England 2-1 Scotland, 5 talking points

The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off on Friday as hosts France defeated South Korea, and today it was the turn of Phil Neville’s England side to start their journey, as they defeated UK rivals Scotland 2-1 in Nice to move to the top of Group D.

It was a varied performance from the Lionesses, as they took the lead through a Nikita Parris penalty in the 14th minute following a VAR review that decided Fran Kirby’s cross had struck Nicola Docherty’s arm.

England appeared to have doubled their lead shortly after through an Ellen White header before it was chalked off for an offside, but White wasn’t denied 5 minutes before half-time as she put the Lionesses 2-0 up with a left footed shot just inside the box.

Another goal – this time from Beth Mead – was also ruled out for offside as the second half began, and then Scotland began to claw themselves back into the game with England beginning to look a little ragged.

With about 10 minutes to go Claire Emslie capitalised on some slack England defending to get a goal back for Scotland, but despite some more attacks, Shelley Kerr’s side couldn’t muster an equaliser.

Here are 5 talking points from the game.

#1 VAR helps England’s women after hindering the men

Scotland defender Nicola Docherty conceded a penalty after a VAR-called handball

VAR has been the hot football topic in England this week following Jesse Lingard’s disallowed goal against the Netherlands on Thursday and that continued today.

Just hours after a Callum Wilson goal for the England men’s team against Switzerland was controversially chalked off by VAR for an apparent foul in the build up, England’s women benefited massively from the system with a penalty decision early in the first half of their game against Scotland.

In this instance, a cross from Fran Kirby was deflected into the box by Scotland defender Nicola Docherty, but despite the move coming to nothing, the referee was informed of a potential infringement by the VAR team, and a check seemed to show the ball strike Docherty’s left arm. Moments later, Nikita Parris scored from the spot to put England into the lead.

Did the incident really warrant a penalty? By the laws of the game, yes; Docherty’s arm was extended into what could be considered an ‘unnatural’ position – but by any logic she hadn’t deliberately attempted to block the cross with her hand either.

The lead was only what England deserved for their early dominance, but it’s clear that with VAR working in the way it currently does, it’s going to be a lot harder for defenders to make any attempted blocks without risking the ball touching their arm or hand and leading to a penalty call.

#2 England’s first-half performance was phenomenal

Ellen White scored England's second with a left-footed finish

Despite their somewhat controversial first goal, only a blind man would’ve claimed that England’s lead going into half-time was undeserved. The Lionesses simply dominated Scotland in the first 45 minutes of the game, and if anything a 2-0 lead was flattering to Shelley Kerr’s side, who looked completely overwhelmed by their opponents.

Scotland’s defence was completely pinned back, England’s players whizzed the ball between themselves with serious attacking verve – enjoying 70% of the possession by the midway point of the half – and it looked like the game would become a mismatch, just as the gap between the sides in the current FIFA rankings, with England at #3 and Scotland at #20 might suggest.

The only issue for England appeared to be a tendency – like Arsene Wenger-era Arsenal - to attempt to pass the ball into the net rather than look for more simple, but clinical, finishes once a sight of goal became clear.

That wasn’t the case with Ellen White’s goal though, as Fran Kirby caught Rachel Corsie in possession and slid the ball through to White, who finished brilliantly – and gave England the commanding lead that their performance deserved.

#3 The right side will be key for England going forward

Nikita Parris's understanding on the right flank with Lucy Bronze will be key to any England success

In tournaments like the World Cup, players who receive a lot of pre-tournament hype often end up failing to live up to the bill, while others who come in flying under the radar end up rising to prominence.

Two England players who were really being pushed by the media coming into this tournament were right-back Lucy Bronze and winger Nikita Parris – and thankfully for England fans, both women lived up to the hype.

England attacked with verve and vigour throughout the first half and the majority of their attacks came down the right flank, with Bronze and Parris working together to absolutely torment Scotland’s left-back Nicola Docherty, who had a torrid time and was even nutmegged by Parris at one point. The fact that she was the player to give away the penalty only made things worse for her.

Things slowed down for the Lionesses down the right flank in the second half – particularly after the luckless Docherty was substituted – but it’s clear that the partnership between Bronze and Parris will be key to any success that England might have going forward, and England boss Phil Neville would do well to pick up on their almost telepathic understanding.

#4 First half good, second half not so good

Phil Neville might've been concerned with his side's second-half performance

“First half good, second half not so good” was the famous quote once used by former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson to describe one of his team’s performances, and it’s been re-used countless times over the years when it comes to England games.

Today, the quote could’ve been used to perfectly describe the performance of England’s women against Scotland.

Their first half was an attacking masterclass, with Scotland barely being able to keep hold of the ball and England having multiple attempts on goal, two actual goals and a third disallowed for an offside.

The second half appeared to be starting in the same fashion too when Beth Mead found the net in the opening seconds, but once that goal was also chalked off, the tide appeared to turn.

It’s quite hard to put a finger on how and why England’s performance began to slip; certainly their attacks down the right flank through Lucy Bronze and Nikita Parris became less effective once Scotland replaced Nicola Docherty with Kirsty Smith, but in all honesty it felt like Neville’s players simply had an adrenaline dump and couldn’t keep up their first half pace.

Passes began to be misplaced, ball control began to get sloppy, and when Scotland scored in the 79th minute it almost felt like an equaliser was inevitable. That the second goal never came was a huge boon for Neville and his side, but it’s clear that if England want to win this tournament, they can’t let their second half performance drop like this again.

#5 Scotland showed a lot of bravery and might escape the group yet

Claire Emslie scored for Scotland in the second half and got her side back into the game

Shelley Kerr couldn’t really take a lot of positives from her side’s first-half performance, as they were absolutely shellacked by England and with better finishing and more luck, Phil Neville’s Lionesses easily could’ve gone into half-time three or four goals to the good. In the second half though, Scotland came back strongly and were arguably unlucky to come away with a loss.

The truth is that outside of Claire Emslie’s 79th minute goal – which was set up by a sloppy pass from England’s Steph Houghton – Scotland weren’t truly able to carve out any great chances, but what they did show was heart and desire in spades.

Where England were able to carve their defence up time after time in the first half, in the second they were often running into brick walls, and Scotland’s pressing game and tenacity kept them in the game to the point where they seemed more likely than their opponents to score, even though they couldn’t actually force an equaliser.

Given England were the highest ranked side in Group D – ahead of 7th ranked Japan and 37th ranked Argentina – and Scotland were able to perform this way against them, it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility that Kerr’s side could make their way out of the group stage and into the knockouts – and from there, who knows what could happen.