[Carla Botica/SPP England Women]

ENGLAND are plotting and planning for a more arduous route to Brazil 2027 after missing out on automatic qualification for the Women’s World Cup.

Sarina Wiegman’s side eased to 3-0 victory over Ukraine on Tuesday night in their final group game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool. But any hopes that the result would be enough to seal their spot at next summer’s showpiece were short-lived as the Lionesses also needed group leaders Spain to lose or draw in Iceland, but the world champions raced to a 6-1 win in Reykjavík.

It means that England’s fate will now be decided in the play-offs, where they must navigate two rounds of home and away ties against European opposition.

Possible first round opponents include Lithuania, Kosovo, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Belarus, Croatia and Kazakhstan, and if England progress through the two-legged tie, a second round awaits against potentially even tougher opposition. The draws for both play-off rounds are scheduled for next Thursday, June 18, with matches to be played in October, November and December.

Having been thumped 4-0 by Spain on Friday night, England were under pressure to respond against Ukraine. Thanks to first-half goals from Jess Carter and Georgia Stanway, and a sublime second-half free-kick from substitute Beth Mead, they did just that as they strolled to a 3-0 win.

Speaking to ITV after the match, Mead, who will soon be revealing her new club after announcing that she is leaving Arsenal this summer, said: “It’s frustrating. You know, there aren’t many teams that aren’t qualifying on 15 points, so it’s the nature of the competition at the moment, and when you’re in a group with Spain.

“It’s very, very tough, and unfortunately, we finished second, and we go to the play-offs, but we stay motivated to obviously qualify that route instead.”