The forward’s magical second goal against Manchester United was a snapshot of her incredible ability and beliefAbout four years ago, as the 2017-18 Ashes reached Perth, someone organised a game of football between the travelling English media and their West Australian counterparts. We assembled on some nondescript piece of suburban scrubland, the standard was extremely mixed and after Michael Vaughan slotted home the winning penalty we all retired to the bar for the most important business of the day.As we sat there with our schooners, a local women’s team was heading out to train on the pitch we had just vacated. One of them was incredible. She had feet like hands. She had a head like a foot. She had...
Gunners have the easier run-in, but their London rivals have the trophy-winning nous to bag a third title in a rowArsenal. They are one point behind Chelsea with both sides having played 18 games but their remaining four fixtures are, on paper at least, more winnable than those of their rivals. Intriguingly, Tottenham will have a big say in the title race. While Chelsea play them on Sunday and then again on Thursday, the north London derby takes place on 4 May. Although Chelsea should win at Birmingham on 1 May, their tricky concluding home game of the campaign comes against a Manchester United side challenging Manchester City for third place – and the final Champions League slot. Continue reading...
Northern Ireland Women manager’s comments send a poor message and were not adequately addressed by his apologyIt was said so matter-of-factly. “I thought we outwitted them for long periods until it was 2-0,” said Northern Ireland’s manager, Kenny Shiels, after his team’s 5-0 defeat by England in front of a sold-out record crowd of 15,348. “We knew exactly what they were going to do before they did it. We spoke about it. I felt they were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going 2-0 up in the women’s game.“I’m sure you will have noticed if you go through the patterns – when a team concedes a goal, they concede a second one...
In the dark comedy of the Matildas’ last-gasp victory against New Zealand, uncomfortable truths emergedUnless one is fortunate enough to be among that pure group of supporters whose mood is governed entirely by their team winning or losing, in the same binary way that the tides are dictated by the moon, then at some point watching the Matildas clash with New Zealand, all you could do was laugh.It wasn’t humorous in the traditional sense. There were no slapstick collisions or misunderstandings. Lydia Williams didn’t decide to take advantage of the almost complete absence of threat to her goal by giving the crowd at the north Queensland stadium 15 minutes of stand up. Instead, it was amusing in the most perfect,...
Vivianne Miedema eyes the prize, Chelsea’s defence impress as much as their potent attack, plus a Mancunian scrap for third Who knows where Vivianne Miedema will play next season but for now she is Arsenal’s, and so important to Jonas Eidevall’s team. The Dutch striker has revealed that several clubs are interested in signing her for next season – she is out of contract in the summer – but there are no signs that her mind is elsewhere. When Arsenal thrashed Leicester City 5-0 on Sunday to briefly go top of the WSL the Netherlands international was in sparkling form. Miedema had two close efforts before half-time, one saved by goalkeeper Demi Lambourne and another smacked against the woodwork. Then...