England 20-0 Latvia: Ellen White sets all-time goalscoring record with hat-trick

Ellen White became the Lionesses’ all-time leading scorer as England overpowered Latvia to score their biggest ever win.

The Manchester City forward needed just nine minutes to break the record, running to the corner of the flag with arms outstretched before sliding to the ground and clenching his shirt after doing so.

White’s teammates also sped past to celebrate and clap as they secured their spot for the retest as the new record was announced over loudspeaker at Keepmoat Stadium.

It was a night of total celebration as Manchester City’s Lauren Hemp scored four goals – her first for England – while Arsenal’s Beth Mead and Manchester United’s Alessia Russo scored hat-tricks.

Jess Carter scored her first international goal, Manchester United’s Katie Zelem made her debut and centre-back Millie Bright captained her first club’s home side.

A total of 10 different England scorers – Ella Toone, Georgia Stanway, Bethany England, Jill Scott and Jordan Nobbs completed the route.

The win signaled the end of a turbulent 2021 for England but was the perfect way to kick off an impressive World Cup qualifying campaign under manager Sarina Wiegman so far.

England remain top of their World Cup qualifying group with six wins in six, scoring 53 goals without a draw.

Their 20-0 win surpassed their previous record win, a 13-0 success over Hungary in 2005.

“You want competitive games and these are not competitive games,” Wiegman later said.

“In every country, you want to develop a girls’ game but I don’t think it’s good to have such a high score. I know it has the attention of the feds and I think it’s a good thing because I don’t. think 20-0 is that good for anyone’s development.

“We really need some top level games now that we’re going to have [next year] because then we will really know where we are. “

Cheers to the emotional White

Latvia is 94 places behind England in the world rankings and having beaten them 10-0 last month, it was never expected to be a showdown in Doncaster.

All pre-match focus was around White’s pursuit of a goal-scoring record and she didn’t keep the supporters waiting long.

The ruthlessness of England’s opening goal in the 23rd minute left the scoreboard driver overwhelmed by the action and fixed the score at 6-0 while the score was still only 5-0, before Mead Make sure the goals catch up with the scoreboard.

The damage was done in those opening acts, ensuring an explosive carnival atmosphere at Keepmoat with drums, Mexican waves and loads of flags in the stands.

The loudest cheer was not surprising when White broke the record – the emotional-looking striker closed his eyes for a moment and grabbed the badge on her shirt.

She was greeted on the line by friend and City teammate Scott as she made her way down the tunnel during halftime, before being congratulated by other substitutes Fran Kirby and Demi Stokes.

In the span of three days, White became the center of the Lionesses, their record goalscorer and a hat-trick hero.

She won’t be able to forget this week any time soon and immediately received a standing ovation when she was substituted early in the second half.

The full-time shots are just as memorable. Four game balls were brought out to a quartet that scored three or more goals and White said she then tried to throw her ball to her mother in the stands to keep.

Instead, she kicked it before she joined the rest of the England team in the honor.

Player of the match

HempLauren Hemp

Latvia

1. Team number23Name playersSinutkina

2. Team numbertwelfthName playersSklemenova

3. Team number2Name playersTumane

4. Team number19Name playersSkribina

5. Team number4Name playersGaike

6. Team number7Name playersSenberga

7. Team number14Name playersVengrevica

8. Team numbertenName playersGornell

9. Team number16Name playersVitmore

10. Team number5Name playersFreidenfelde

11. Team number8Name playersZaicikova

12. Team number15Name playersBaliceva

13. Team number17Name playersGricijenko

14. Team number6Name playersLubina

15. Team number13Name playersVoitane

16. Team number22Name playersGergelezius