Why goal blitz from England Lionesses was not good for the game

England put 30 goals past Latvia in two World Cup qualifiers, their march towards rampant professionalism dominating the part-timers from Eastern Europe ranked 94 places below them.

Wiegman has overseen six wins from six qualifying matches during her time as England head coach, with her team scoring 53 goals and conceding none.

There are much stronger teams in women’s football, and England – for all the increased interest and money coming into the game – have developed a reputation in recent years of being serial semi-finalists without ever taking the final step.

Yet they looked every inch a professional outfit in front of a crowd of 10,402 in Doncaster on Tuesday night – from their pre-match warm-ups to the way interviews were conducted post-match. They just need to be tested on the field.

Wiegman, who led her native Dutch team to the women’s Euros title in 2017, said: “Football is about scoring goals and winning, and whoever is in front of you, you want to score goals. So if we can score 20, we are going to score 20, and if we can score 25, we’ll score 25. I do think it’s not good for the development of the game, but that is what the game is about, scoring goals.

“But we really need some top-level games now. We’re doing very well, but we need those high-level games to know where we stand.”

Asked if there was a case for a rule change so certain teams had to play pre-qualifiers, she said: “I think we have to look at it. Of course you want competitive games, and these are not competitive games.

“We want to develop the already well-developed countries and the countries that are not that far. 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.”