Kate Walsh captained the England team in Rome for the first time in the women's World Cup Qualifiers, having recovered from a neck injury suffered in training. Playing Scotland in their penultimate Pool A game, goals by Walsh, Rachel Walker, and Lucilla Wright(2), gave them the 4-1 victory and a ticket to the finals in Madrid. With a marginally better goal difference England top Pool A, with Japan in second place. Both teams have one more game to play, but third place China are six points behind. The top four team from the competition qualify for Madrid.
Pool B remains very open, with two more games to play. Korea and the USA top the pool with seven points each, but theoretically all but one of the other teams could overtake them.
England play their final match on Tuesday against Japan.
