Welsh women are to be fair pretty shite right now. If it was the men they would be called shite so why not the women. Currently losing 2-0 at home to Iceland. Shite, crap, rubbish.
Not crap, though, yesterday when Wales draw the match against Germany 0-0. That draw nearly cost us the chance for Olympia qualifcation (after we were already sure to have it after the 3-0 win against Denmark). Thx to Iceland who won surprisingly 1-0 in Denmark we still can hope to qualify for Olympia via the Nations League Final Four. Drama, though, for England and Scotland. Although England won 6-0 against Scotland (and the Scots needed to lose so that they can be in an Great Britain team for Olympia (no privileges here like in FIFA/UEFA tournaments for the separate countries of UK). After England scored the 6-0 in the 90+3 minute everything looked good but then the Netherlands in the parallel match made the 4-0 against Belgium in the 90 +5 minute and recaptured the #1 place and ended the hope for a Great Britain team at Olympia. That's really bad luck
Big win for Arsenal against Chesea on Sunday. Puts them level at the top. Advantage still with Chelsea as they have the home fixture when the sides meet again later in the season. First time they've conceded four domestically in five years.
Superb effort from Arsenal last week undone by defeat in the NLD. Very much advantage Chelsea again. It's Tottenham's first ever win against Arsenal. There've been a few close games in recent times but Arsenal have always found a way to spoil it. More common that Arsenal give Spurs a good tonking so really nice that Spurs finally got one over the line. Hopefully the first of many. Doesn't do much for our season but hopefully a sign we can close the gap on that top four. The Spurs goal was beautiful too.
Probably more devastating for their Champions League hopes. It's still the one that Emma Hayes is missing. Chelsea are still going to have too much for most of the league that they'll win most weeks and be there or there abouts come the end of the season in terms of the WSL. Another ACL injury to a top star though. Very unfortunate that a lot of the top players have suffered from the same injury.
Chelsea leading the way as usual. City and Arsenal still in the hunt but I can't see Hayes letting that slip in her final year. Manchester United have generally been the closest challengers to that top 3 since promotion. United, Liverpool and Spurs haven't been around long in terms of the top flight of the WSL but you feel like they're probably all there to stay now. 12 team division and everyone else can just fight for 7th / survival. Very dull. Men's football at least had the luxury of being competitive once for it to have the support it does. The women's game has grown but I don't know how much it can continue doing so when it's solely about six football clubs. If those clubs / managers / players had it their way they'd be pushing for widening that gap too. Talk of introducing VAR and whatever else when clubs like Reading only need a relegation to go back in to amateur / part-time football - they can't sustain being professional without WSL survival with relegation at odds of 1 in 6.
Bayern Munich have signed Lena Oberdorf from Vfl Wolfsburg. To me, she's the best defensive midfielder in the world, not to mention that she's a hottie. While I'm looking forward to this dream midfield with her next to Stanway, it does surprise me how loyalty doesn't seem to exist in the women's game. Whatever, she joins in the summer, and I wonder what Sarah Zadrazil will do about this, as I can't see her having it as a bench warmer, especially not after performing quite well for Bayern several seasons already.
the 2 Japanese internationals we picked up last month had added a real touch of quality in our side, hopeful we can fight for a top half finish
Spain's Women won the Nations League Final Four yesterday with a 2-0 over France. German Women got 3rd place with a 2-0 away win against the Netherlands, after we lost the semi-final 1-2 against France on Friday. With this 3rd place finish in the Nations League we qualified for the Olympics Tournament in the summer in Paris. (Interim) Bundestrainer is actually HSV-legend Horst Hrubesch (Nickname: Kopfball-Ungeheuer). He was already interim coach in 2018 for the Women and was also Bundestrainer for the Men's Olympic team in 2016 where we won the Silver Medal. Horst is still also Director for youth football at HSV. The new Bundestrainer(in) will be announced after the Olympics because it is clear that Hrubesch will coach the women't team also at the Olympics . It's the least the DFB can do to thank Horst, would be unfair to deny him the Olympics after he stabilized the team again after the bad World Cup.
I saw the fantastic game. Germany played very well against the Netherlands, even away at a packed Heerenveen stadium. It was fully deserved, as the Germans controlled most of the game and created clear chances, as opposed to the Dutch, who only managed half chances, as they were strangled by the Germans throughout. This achievement of Olympic qualification means so much, since the tournament is so appreciated in the women's game (just like the World Cup), but also because it gives us an immediate chance to redeem our failure from the World Cup last year. If the Germans can play like this regularly, only Spain will remain certain favourites against them. It remains a big "if", as the Germans have recently become notorious for impressing in one game, yet disappointing in the next. Maybe Hrubesch and his crew can fine tune for some consistently good game control. At 73 years of age, I'd like to see Hrubesch leave the DFB with a big achievement with his girls, on top of all his past successes with the junior DFB boys, and of course as a player himself (see Euro 1980 and HSV 80s achievements).
Bad week for City, out of both domestic cups so all on the league if they want to win anything this season. Spurs reach the first FA Cup semi final in their history. Semis consist of Chelsea, Leicester, Manchester United and Spurs. Chelsea are strong favourites but an opportunity for a first time winner if Chelsea fail to win it. Spurs and Leicester looking to just reach a final for the first time. I'm hoping for Leicester in the semis for obvious reasons but anyone but Chelsea would be nice. I've been waiting since 1991 for an FA Cup final appearance. Didn't think the women would do it before the men but it'd be nice nonetheless. I'm not sure if the semis are played on neutral grounds or not but Spurs (men) are away on semi final weekend so it'd be nice to play at our ground if at all possible.
Apparently they are not played at neutral grounds so a home draw would be a great opportunity for Spurs to host another women's match. That said, Arsenal men play at home that weekend so I dunno if it would be allowed (if the fixtures are on the same day)
beat Liverpool without our manager who is currently under investigation for an alleged relationship with a player
