Bonus episode - the wonderful Women's Euros S4 E4B

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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