When the draw was made for the European qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027™, there was huge excitement and enthusiasm for reigning champions Spain and great rivals England being paired in the same group.
The duo have competed four times in recent years, including the finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ and UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, with the scores tied two apiece.
After both England and Spain won their opening two Women’s World Cup preliminaries, the European heavyweights are preparing to meet at Wembley Stadium on 14 April in what promises to be a blockbuster affair.
In a group that also contains Iceland and Ukraine, England have the slight edge with a better goal difference. And with only the table toppers in League A punching their ticket for the global finals in the first phase of qualifying, the match takes on added significance.
FIFA spoke to England defender Esme Morgan about the Lionesses’ bright start to qualifying, the start of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season with Washington Spirit, and her love for her adopted hometown.
Esme Morgan: We played well in both of the games, probably could have also scored more in them. But it was really good to start with a big win [6-1 over Ukraine] and put that statement down and have that set the tone for the rest of the qualifiers. In previous years, in the Nations League we’ve had sluggish results at the beginning, which had us playing catch-up, so it’s nice to start strongly with two wins and be well-placed going into the second round of fixtures. The positive thing was that we played well, we were cohesive, on the same page with how we wanted to play and created lots of opportunities. So it was good.
Every game when there is only six [fixtures in the group stage] is important but I think a lot of people will look at [the Spain games] as the key fixtures within the group. With the game being at Wembley, that is something that is really exciting for us. We absolutely love playing there. It’s always such a special, fun atmosphere. So we’re looking forward to that and the challenge of playing against such a strong team.
They are obviously really dangerous in attack, everyone knows their possession style of play, of looking to control the game, so we kind of know what to expect. We’re going to have to be really switched on and aligned to make sure we can deal with the threats that they pose. It should be a good game in a great stadium and a great atmosphere.
It’s always such a tense encounter, there’s never many goals between the teams. It’s always decided by just one goal and the game often goes down to the wire and it’s often quite tense and stressful in the last few minutes. I feel as a sporting rivalry that’s developed, it’s really exciting as it’s always a really high quality game. There are so many talented players on the pitch and in recent years it’s gone both ways in the World Cup final, then the EURO final we managed it to turn it our way.
We always seem to draw each other in these competitions, so it’s like, ‘It’s them again!’ We know it’s always a tough test but I think that brings the best out of us. We’re always excited to be involved in those games and have the challenge of playing against the other best teams in the world.
I don’t know about differently. We’re approaching every game in the group as a must-win because it is such a strict qualifying system. We obviously want to top the group to avoid going through any play-offs, so we are really pleased with the start that we’ve had as it’s placed us well going into this next camp. There is no room for slip ups when it’s just the top team qualifying.
Personally, I love playing at Audi Field in front of our home fans so I’m really excited to get back to that. In the grand scheme of things I’m really excited about our squad. We’ve done well over the last couple of seasons and managed to retain the core of that group and add to it. I feel like we’ve got a talented squad and I’m excited about our potential. We’re also relatively young still but at the same time have people who have experience of going to the play-offs and the championship [game] and have that hunger to put things right and challenge for the NWSL Shield [the team with the best regular-season record] as well.
DC is such a cool city, the museums are so interesting. I need to get round to more of them to be honest, but the ones I’ve been to I’ve not been able finish them as I just want to read everything! I went to the National Museum of American History, National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian. It’s just fascinating hearing the stories of how different groups of people’s lives have been altered by the course of history in this country to the modern day.
The monuments are stunning and such gorgeous buildings. One of my favourite things is when we drive to Audi Field, there is a road we go down and you see the Capitol. It never gets old. I think because DC is not conventionally American in the sense of being full of skyscrapers, it feels quite European to me which is nice. Also Georgetown reminds me of home somehow so finding little pockets of home in a place that is very far away is something that I really enjoy. There is so much to see and do, it’s really great.
My dad introduced me to the NFL eight-ish years ago now and through that I started playing the Madden mobile game and I had to choose a favourite team when I downloaded it. I didn’t have one but teal is my favourite colour so I went for the Jags and I’ve become a diehard fan. I’ve not seen them in the States, I’ve seen them twice in London. I’ve not been down to Jacksonville yet but it’s on my to-do list, perhaps next off-season, we’ll see.
