LIST: 5 takeaways from the Euros
Things I'm STILL catching myself thinking about
The female footballers are back out on international duty after some well-deserved weeks of rest, as they’re continuing on their quest to secure a spot at next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
For this I’m actually going to recommend something that FIFA has done (shocker!), namely the app that we all used for the Euros in the summer - it’s very unclear what the name of the app actually is, as it used to be something like ‘Women’s Euros 2022’ in my phone, but now it’s changed name to ‘Nations League’ even though my setting is for it to automatically show the World Cup 2023 - don’t ask me, clearly there’s still a lot to work out there but the takeaway is: there’s actual, easily-accessible information about the games being played for the qualifications to the World Cup. This is especially relevant for the likes of Scotland who are in the play-offs and still in with a chance to make it, but have a hell of a path to get there. The draw is happening on Friday, and you can find more information on the procedure and path here (good luck understanding it though haha).
In this international window it’s only suitable to reflect on this summer. First, a few talking points:
Sweden! Coming into the tournament, they were one of the top favourites to win the whole thing, and they had even made a shirt with a guide on how to beat them. Now I don’t think the shirt was their downfall, but being favourites like that is definitely not a position that Sweden’s used to (and remember the law of Jante …). To add to that, we’ve got a squad in transition and a big shift between the older and younger generation, which became very clear in terms of fitness. There were also some strange decisions made by head coach Peter Gerhardsson, like starting Sofia Jakobsson, who previously had not played a single minute in the tournament, for the semifinal despite Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd having played well in previous games. Gerhardsson has managed the team for five years and has a World Cup bronze and Olympic’s silver to show for it, question is - is he the one to lead us to any actual victories?
Player of the tournament in the Sweden squad is Kosovare Asllani for me, no question. She had the right attitude, especially when it felt like collectively, the Sweden team was lacking that fire, and she was working tirelessly and leading by example. Another player that deserves to be properly lauded was THE TWELFTH player for Sweden, namely the turnout of the support, which was so strong all the way through! Thank you Soft Hooligans for being my favourite non-hooligans hooligans <3
Portugal, who entered the tournament as a replacement for Russia following the sociopolitical circumstances (and therefore had less time to prepare mentally and physically) performed really great. The team was in great form and played some optimistic and fun football, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to get them out of the group but at least made for some exciting games and promising prospects for the future with the likes of Diana Silva and Diana Gomes.
Germany and England, the two finalists, were both really tight at the back whilst also managing to score quite a few goals, England’s total tally being 22 and Germany in second place with 14. England conceded only two goals all tournament, and Germany three, and to no one’s surprise it was a German and an England player sharing the Golden Boot for top scorer, Alex Popp and Beth Mead.
However, I was not that fussed about England winning (:O). I can’t really explain it, but I think a lot of it has to do with the sensationalist side of the English media which is so biased and blows everything up. England had a very straightforward group, and after that there was a lot that went England’s way, whether it was managing to avoid anyone but coach Sarina Wiegman getting COVID, being able to plan in more rest days than their opponents (as hosts), certain referee decisions both in the match against Spain and against Sweden (although we were abysmal after that second goal </3) or having their opponent’s top goalscorer fall out injured right before the biggest game of the tournament.
Buuuuuuut, with all said and done … You still have to take the opportunities you get and they certainly did so, well done England 👏this record turnout for a Euros final was absolutely stunning to be part of Netherlands suffered a lot of bad injuries from the start, as well as being unlucky with the likes of Jackie Groenen and Vivienne Miedema getting COVID, and considering these circumstances they performed really well. ESPECIALLY 22 year-old goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar who had to jump in for first-choice Sari van Veenendaal (who injured her shoulder in their first game against Sweden) and put on a show with some spectacular saves throughout the tournament. Let me remind you:
There has been some turnover in management staff after some disappointing outings for some of these teams, with Norway finally sacking their manager Martin Sjögren, who was replaced by iconic former midfielder Hege Riise. The Netherlands also let Mark Parsons go and hired Andries Jonker. However there’s one coach that’s not being let go (and definitely should be) and that is Spain’s Jorge Vilda.
The Spanish women’s national team captains went to the Spanish federation RFEF to ask for Vilda’s resignation, as well as meeting with the manager in person as a team, as they feel like they don’t trust him to lead the team anymore, and they’d like a change of manager ahead of next year’s World Cup. The outcome of this has been Vilda simply digging down his heels even further, adamant to finish his contract that runs until 2024, with the backing of RFEF, and players like Irene Paredes (who were one of the more vocal ones on this matter as a captain) being heavily criticised by the pro-federation media and left feeling like she’s lacking the backing by players on the team. Unnati Naidu has written a good comprehensive article about the current situation for Sporting Her, and they’re pointing out that this is far from the first time that something like this has happened in the Spanish NT …
During Quereda’s tenure as Head Coach, veteran players such as Vero Boquete, Vicky Losada, and others took the lead in directing the retaliation against the abusive coach. They were successful in dismissing Quereda. As a result, Vilda and the Federation removed them from the National Team, stating reasons such as certain players being better than them at the time. - Unnati Naidu
We shall discuss above topic more in-depth at a later point, but now we need to go on to the actual LIST OF TAKEAWAYS FROM THE EUROS:
There was an all-female managerial match-up in the final (and even in the semis three out of four managers were women).
It’s inspiring that the winning manager tomorrow will either be a granny 🇩🇪 or a mum of two 🏴. Martina Voss Tecklenburg’s daughter Dina (MVT gave birth aged 25) had her baby daughter in March while Sarina Wiegman has two teenage daughters. #rolemodels @WomeninFootball #WEURO2022
This inspires me so much because these women are showing me (and every other female footballer and/or coach) that there’s space for us in the game further down the road and higher up in the game, that we can indeed go on to have big and successful careers in the game and that we can do so whilst having a family (if that’s what we want).
I hope that this is the beginning of the end for managers like Phil Neville are gone (although, aforementioned Jorge Vilda is still on his post).There were so many great and entertaining matches, and I feel like the women’s game got a real chance to show how good and enjoyable it is. Alessia Russo’s backheel is already legendary and the standard of goalkeeping at this tournament was simply outstanding once again <3
In the same breath that we mention the positive legacies, it’s worth pointing out that the international governing body responsible for putting the tournament on is still very wobbly (and some would even say, I don’t know, bad?). Sweden criticised UEFA for their lack of VAR cameras used at the Euros, to which UEFA answered that they had “raised the bar considerably” compared to previous productions (which I can’t imagine could’ve been that hard), and they claimed that the amount of cameras used were at the same standard to the men’s Champion’s League. Former pro referee Jonas Eriksson refuted this however, claiming that UEFA counted the cameras that follow the players out onto the pitch when they measured the amount of cameras used (something that’s not done for the men’s) and he means that it’s a way to muddy the waters (and basically be able to claim that they’re treating it equally when in fact…)
Refereeing standards in general are still not there in the women’s game (something that’s come under heavy criticism also at a league level) and there was a lack of consistency in decisions made throughout the tournament (like the clear penalty that Germany should’ve had in the final). I’m aware that the women’s game is still very much in its infancy compared to the men’s game, but I do not find it a good enough excuse to let the standards slip, if anything it should be used as fuel to mobilise the efforts to raise the standard and involvement of women in the game.
This tournament was a stark reminder that for all of the discourse about inclusion and diversity, representation in the game still has a long way to go - illustrated by the lack of diversity in the winning England squad - but it’s an issue that permeates all of the women’s game (just look at the Sweden squad, there’s a similar situation there). Felicia Pennant wrote a brilliant piece on this issue for Elle, and Anita Asante wrote about it for the Guardian.
THE CROWDS!!! Women painting flags on each others faces, having pints, families helping each other out to take photos on the big day … You love to see it.
