England Women boss Sarina Wiegman has praised Ellen White as she passed 100 caps for the Lionesses, and nears the all-time scoring record.
White, who has 45 goals in 100 appearances, is one goal away from matching Kelly Smith’s record following a 40th minute strike against Austria in England’s World Cup qualifiers.
Smith earned 117 caps for the Lionesses scoring 46 goals before retiring in 2015 in a career that lasted almost two decades.
White made her debut in 2010 for the national team, and in just four years since Smith retired is one goal away from matching her record.
Her work on the field has not gone unnoticed by manager Wiegman, who praised the Man City star’s consistency in front of goal.
“Yeah, of course it is an amazing moment, as well as last Saturday when she achieved 100 caps,” she said.
“She shows so much consistency when she plays football, that is the only way you can do things like this.
Despite the praise, Wiegman admitted that despite her wish for White to match the record against Latvia, beating the Nordic side by any means necessary is the priority.
“It will be really nice if she scored her goal, but we have to score goals, it doesn’t really matter who scores.
Meanwhile, England teammate Beth Mead revealed that despite the momentous occasion, White’s thoughts are not on the record.
“It is a huge moment but it is funny that Ellen [White] isn’t really thinking about it at the moment. I think that shows the professional that she is, she is playing the game as she is always playing it,” she said.
“She has the quality to score plenty of goals and it will be an amazing moment for her and for the team. We will all be behind her and celebrate with her when it happens, Ellen being Ellen isn’t really thinking about it right now.”
England, who lead Group D, next play host to Latvia tomorrow, who are bottom of the group. England previously beat Latvia 10-0 in October.
