New Women's football thread (inc World Cup) 2023-26

[Durhamfootman]

a quick check... Spain are ranked 1, USA 2, England 3

makes no sense whatsoever

of course that means England should still qualify with ease, especially over 2 legs, but it's the principle of the thing

[Durhamfootman]

WSL2 side Durham have announced that they are in serious danger of going out of business, unless a buyer for the football club can be found within 3 weeks

This has come as a real shock to me. It was only a year ago or so that they were looking into going into partnership with Durham's women cricket team to build a dedicated women's only multi sport facility next to the cricket ground

[Durhamfootman]

comfortable 3-0 win for England, but too little, too late.... go straight to the play offs, do not pass go, do not collect £200

I wrote above about the almighty scare that Iceland gave England in the last international break. Well, Spain gave Iceland an old fashioned thrashing and put 6 past them, and they did it with half their best team not starting

Germany moved above England in the rankings after the Spain defeat

[alfie]

a quick check... Spain are ranked 1, USA 2, England 3

makes no sense whatsoever

of course that means England should still qualify with ease, especially over 2 legs, but it's the principle of the thing

Yes it struck me that having the 2 nations that have contested the last World and Euro finals , apart from being ranked 1 and 3 , in the same group was "odd" to say the least.

As expected , winning the last match for a 5/6 record hasn't stopped England being kept in second spot after their one bad game against Spain ; so on to the knock out play offs. Should be fine I guess ; but annoying - as the coach said in her post match interview.

She will be pleased at the return to form yesterday though I imagine ? How did they look , DFM ?

[Durhamfootman]

I haven't watched it yet, Alfie, but I have it recorded. I'll watch it later and report back

[Gingerfinch]

I sat down to watch it with my daughter and fell asleep before they even kicked off. I wok up and we had won!

Getting old!!!

[Durhamfootman]

It was a workmanlike win (workwomanlike/workpersonlike/workgendernonbinarylike win), but that's all

Ukraine were poor. They defended in numbers, but didn't do it terribly well. England had 23 shots, with 10 on target, but only 3 goals. They scored 6 in the away reverse fixture and they should have had at least 6 here, if I'm being honest.... maybe more. Spain put 6 past Iceland in the frozen north where Iceland gave England such a torrid time.

Now it's entirely possible that the side was in a 'big win never going to be enough, end of a long season, what's the point' place and I have some sympathy with that, because automatic qualification ended on Friday night, but if I'm being honest, for all their many qualities, and they are plentiful, England just don't score enough goals. If they create a dozen excellent opportunities right in front of goal (which they did) and only take 3 of them against Ukraine, then they're always going to struggle against Spain, USA, France, Germany where they might only get three or four (if that) chances to win the game and have to try and do it with a 1 in 4 goal scoring ratio even against much lower ranked teams. Perhaps it's why big games are such nervy affairs for England fans.

Maybe I'm being harsh. England went into this final game with a +5 GD and Spain +13, but if they hadn't lost 4-0 on Friday both would have been on +9. There is no chance of England putting 4 past Spain but it always feels as though they could easily concede that many, even though they don't very often. What England are very good at is scraping wins by the odd goal when it really matters, when there isn't a back door to provide an alternative route.... and it's a very good thing to be able to do, but it would be nice for the fans not to have their nerves shredded whenever they play another top side

I imagine that should England go through to the WC next year, it will be the last for many in this team. I would think it highly likely that the next cycle will not feature a goodly number of the current preferred 13 or 14 stalwarts. Spain already seem to be working towards their future best XI. England can't do that, because there's still work to be done in the here and now, before they have to face that future, so when it does come the gap between England and Spain (and perhaps others) risks becoming wider

[Durhamfootman]

USA beat Brazil 1-0, thanks to an own goal. Two Brazil players were sent off in stoppage time, with another 2 players sent off after the final whistle for confronting the referee, with a further 4 staff sent off too. Riot police had to come on to protect the officials after the whistle was blown

I think there were 9 yellow cards and 8 red's, with the bulk of them coming late on

[Durhamfootman]

Lionesses draw Greece in the first two legged play off and, assuming they win, will then face the winners of Ukraine/Slovakia

[Durhamfootman]

WSL2 side Durham have announced that they are in serious danger of going out of business, unless a buyer for the football club can be found within 3 weeks

This has come as a real shock to me. It was only a year ago or so that they were looking into going into partnership with Durham's women cricket team to build a dedicated women's only multi sport facility next to the cricket ground

A local investor has taken a majority shareholding in the club and their future is secured for the time being at least

[Durhamfootman]

good start for the lasses in WSL2

4 wins out of 4, including a 4-0 thumping of Leics today

goals too! Martha Thomas has 4 in 4 and Newcastle have 11 in 4 with only 1 conceded

[Durhamfootman]

Sunderland are in second place, but rescued Durham are languishing at the bottom with no points and a whole heap of problems

[Durhamfootman]

5 out of 5 now as Newcastle easily beat Durham 3-0 away. Durham have been the architects of many a Newcastle set back over the last 2 seasons, but this is a Durham side shorn of everything, including money, and must surely be favourites to drop out of the second tier for the first time in quite a long while.

Newcastle have scored 14 goals in those 5 matches and conceded only one.... and that was a ridiculous fluke where even the goal scorer would have had no idea how it ended up crossing the line.

They were good value for the win today... probably a 4-0 result would have better reflected their dominance, but to be fair to them, Durham, for all that ails them, put up a spirited resistance

[Durhamfootman]

comfortable win for the lionesses against a Greece side ranked way, way below them.

and yet for all of England's dominance... 74% possession, 58 touches in the opposition box, 26 shots... they only managed 7 on target and only scored 3 goals. It was a familiar tale where, after whole strings of intricate passes and long periods of possession, the final balls were played behind the player closing in on goal, or too heavy for the player running in on goal, or momentary hesitation playing that final ball leaving the attacker making their run offside. It happens far too much for my liking

To add insult to injury, Greece had 2 shots, with the first hitting the bar and the second finding the back of the net. Both from that nemesis of England football... the long ball over the top and a whippet. This has been England's biggest weakness since they won the Euros in '22 and 4 years later, it's still a thing. The goal came as England pushed higher and higher, lost the ball with only one player hanging back and no England player in their own half.... big hoof, devil's gallop... and even though Morgan tried to pull the attacker over a couple of times, England couldn't get faster than another 2 Greece whippets and they pulled one back. It was entirely avoidable, but England smelt blood and kept throwing too many bodies, too far forward, despite repeated warnings

England did have a goal ruled out for offside, which was a pity because it was a thing of beauty from James, but really this match should have finished 5 or 6 nil. They will have done enough ahead of the second leg, but it should have been play off 1 done and dusted and it isn't ..... yet

[andy]

Sarina Wiegman has signed a contract extension with england