Thanks for joining Haitham and me, Paul, on a special edition looking at the exciting women’s Euros. 4 quarter finals finished up on Saturday:
If you haven’t watched, you’ve got 3 games left to see what you’ve been missing. The standard we think is very high - a better watch than MLS we’d say.
Review the 4 games:
Spain - England:
- Bonmati looks a talent, Del Castillo gave Rachel Daly a tough second half - could have made it 2 with the chip that Mary Earps kept out
- England looked better with Alex Greenwood and Russo as the central striker on
- Without the last 5 minutes the narrative could have been so different
France - Netherlands - reminded me of the Spain-England game
- France had an xG of 4.69 but somehow needed a penalty to win. Renard leads the tournament for attempts on goal
- Losing Katoto has been a big loss - Malard didn’t look quite as sharp. Neither did Sarr. Geyoro’s first game hattrick looks like the anomaly that her record would suggest
- Karchaoui, Cascarino and Diani have looked really dangerous at times.
- They do seem to have great depth - Bacha from Lyon looked really impressive, they were able to bring Mateo off the bench
- Van Domselaar was excellent - making multiple saves in each of the games she played in - nearly saved the penalty. And there was Van Der Graght
- Miedema may well have been affected by Covid
Germany - Austria
- At one level this game was a close as any, with Austria hitting the woodwork 3 times
- This was a great example of what can happen when a team playing out from the back comes up against a team with an excellent press.
- Lots of good performances for Germany - Popp obviously, 4 goals in 4. Klara Buhl looks good, although she probably would like that chance she missed back.
Briefly on Sweden - Belgium - 33 shots to 3, Sweden having to rely on a last minute winner from defender Sembrant. Everard from Belgium was outstanding - she was -9 for goals conceded versus expected.
Impressed by:
Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir: Iceland, Wolfsburg Club Team
Lucy Bronze: England, new Barca player coming from Shitty
Disappointed by:
Norway National Team, especially Ada Hederberg
Renard’s inability to direct headers!
Looking ahead:
- England - Sweden - goals haven’t come easily for Sweden, although Blackstinius has looked sharp to me. England seem to have a lot of ways to score (Mead, White, Russo, Heap), but they will have to be aware of Asllani, Rolfo and Blackstinius
- France - Germany - does this follow the pattern of Spain - Germany? Lattwein and Dabritz are from Lyon - don’t know what influence that will have.
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