The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - England conjure second-half magic against Ukraine in World Cup qualifier – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey, and Emma Sanders to review Tuesday’s emphatic 6-1 win over Ukraine, and look at the other results from this round of World Cup qualifying

This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faker others and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. The Lioness's World Cup qualification campaign kicked off with an emphatic win over Ukraine. Six goals, three goal scorer and Serena Vigman's side are on their way in a tricky Nation's league group. Scotland were the only other home nation to get off to a winning start. We'll assess the opening games and tee up the next matches. We'll also see what's going on at the Asian Cup. Discuss Wafcon, plus we'll take your questions, and that's today.

Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Well, what a panel today. Myself and Sanders, who I'll introduce you to in a second, we're just discussing if a certain beer brand did panels. This would be it. Good morning, Susie Rack. Good morning. How are you?

Very well, thank you. You look very snugly in there. I am warm. I've been thinking of you, actually, while I'm here. I'm at Centre Parks this week. I love Centre Parks. All of the arts and crafts. I want to go and say, oh, can I make a magic mirror?

come in and use all the bits. Sophie Downey, how are you? I'm good. I'm coming to you from the Mediterranean, a very, very sunny Mediterranean. So nice views, nice weather, a bit of March sunshine has done me the world of good. You're trying to outdo my centre parks in Nottingham where it's a little bit chilly? A little bit. Cheers for that.

Emma Sanders, I kind of win here because you're in Manchester, aren't you? Yeah, but it was actually sunny, like breaking news. headline. There was no rain in Manchester yesterday. So basically, I'm where sofas. I think you lose. That is breaking news. That's well worth a yellow ticker, shall we say. There was a yellow ticker for England yesterday. They kicked off their World Cup qualification with a comprehensive 6-1 victory over Ukraine in Antalya. It was a dominant but difficult first half, wasn't it? Ellesia Russo grabbed two shortly after the break to put the lionesses ahead. Yala Kalanina pulled one back for Ukraine before Georgia Stanway and Jess Park both scored twice to mark an emphatic win in the end.

With only the group winners getting automatic qualification and Spain obviously to come in April, we all knew it was going to be crucial, Susie, for England to start well. What were your key takeaways from the game? We need to be a little bit patient sometimes. The first half while frustrating, England were dominant, could have scored. And sometimes these things will take a little bit of time to get going. You know, there are a few less regular faces in the starting 11. Lotto Ommo and Lea Williamson lining up alongside each other.

It's something we've not really seen much of. Leah's obviously been injured. Lott has been playing a lot for Arsenal because of that injury to Leah. So then at the back, then you've got, of Jess Park starting, had such a phenomenal season for Man United. Really deserved to start. But Elatoun is injured at the moment. So that's an opportunity for her.

And then Laura Blinghilder Brown starting to Letitia. right back, hinds and left back. Like it's very different starting 11 to what we've seen on the pitch at the same time whilst all those players have featured at points. And I think the thing is always going to take a little bit of time to click first game into a new year, sort of new cycle, I suppose,

with the campaign for World Cup qualification. So I think that first half, there's a lot to be explained about it. And I think the impressive thing is what they did to unlock things in the second half. That's where I think the strategic changes and personnel changes later on really had an impact. And yeah, I think there was a lot to like in the performance overall. Yeah, we'll talk about those personal changes in a sec. But so England did dominate the ball, but they couldn't break Ukraine down in the first half. Susie mentioned patience there. What did Serena Vigman change at the break that then enabled them to unlock Ukraine's defence in the end? So I spoke to

Serena after the game. And she was saying that she felt that they were going too wide with their crosses. Ukraine were doing really well, like packing the central areas. So she said they were going too wide. They were going to Letizia too much. And she was too far away from the goal and she was just sending in the crosses. And, you know, when you have too many defenders in the box, it makes it really hard to try and make an impact in those areas. So I think they up the tempo, made things happen closer to the box and in and around the box rather than too far away from it. And yeah, as Susie said, just patience. But I think getting those two goals so quickly after the break as well was absolutely key because they suddenly had Ukraine on the back foot before they could even breathe

in the second half. They were two goals down pretty much. And it changed the whole momentum of the game. But England can be pretty positive, I think. The way that they came out in that second half, the way that they scored six goals was really a sign, I think, of the development they've made in the past few years. I remember so many of these qualifiers away from home against the standard of opposition who make it really, really hard for you, who sit in a low blow, and don't give you much space to work with. And England used to just grind out a result here and there. And it was really, really tough.

To be able to come out like that in the second half when you haven't played football for a couple of weeks as well, I think it's really clear that the change is happening within this England team and they have the quality to do it. Yeah, and you can see that in other ways as well. For a long time, we were always saying it was roughly the same 13, 14 players being utilised. And now we've had these youngsters being bedded in, players that are starting to get minutes.

and now Serena Vigman isn't afraid to make changes to her starting 11. It kind of feels, because obviously we saw Poppy Patton as well come on in the second half to make her debut, Emma. It shows this real depth in the squad and perhaps a demonstration of the trust that they've built because of those minutes they got from the homecoming series in autumn. Yeah, 100%. I think it's really important. When you're going into this new cycle, obviously with the 2027 World Cup in mind, Serena Vigman knows that she can't just rely on 11 players. It's extremely rare for her to have the full 25 players squad in training the day before.

Obviously, Alex Greenwood picked up a minor muscle injury, so wasn't available for selection. But it still meant that Grace Clinton didn't even get in the 23 player match day squad, which I think tells you enough of the depth. Obviously, she's been struggling for minutes at Manchester City. So it was good to see the new faces. I think obviously some of it was a little bit of managing minutes. For example, Lucy Bronze couldn't play back to back 90 minute games. She's still returning to full fitness, so I wasn't overly surprised that she didn't start,

but I think I would be surprised if she doesn't start against Iceland on Saturday, for example. But the fact that she has, Mayor Lettisier, Manchester United Captain, one of the most informed players in the W-Sail for the last couple of seasons, consistent as well, to have her that can come in and play right back, which obviously she played when she was at Brighton quite a lot, I think just shows that she's clearly got options there. and Jess Park as well obviously she's been in great form for Manchester United playing out wide. It was interesting to

see Serena use her in that position and she swapped with Lauren Hemp in the second half and went on to the left hand side where I felt she was more effective that's where she's been playing with United. I think on the right hand side she maybe wasn't coming in as much as we've seen her do and I think that switch also

made a bit of a difference but the fact that she's got that depth in players but also the confidence to be able to play them in slightly different positions rather than the number 10 that we've often seen Jess Park in for England, I think shows that Serena's learning from what they're doing with the clubs. And it was interesting because Mark Skinner at Manchester United actually said the same about Jess Park and said, look, this is essentially an audition for her to show where Serena Vibn can play her and perhaps get the best out of her. And I think that's what we saw with England and Jess Park in particular

yesterday was almost okay. She's in electric form full of confidence, didn't quite look like she was using that confidence in the first half. So where can we move her so that we can get that from her in the second half, move her to a preferred left wing position and she gets two goals at the end. So a really positive night, I think actually. Yes, the first half wasn't amazing, but you could see that England were getting there. I think some of the stats, 85% possession, 40 touches in the opposition box, 15 shots, one that hit the crossbar from Laura Blinkiller Brown as well, who I thought did well on a rare start, only her third appearance for England. A really good night overall, I think, for England. Yeah, it was. On that Jess Park point, so, you know, it has been a

really tricky time for her. She's had to settle with a place on the bench for much of the Euros, but came back into the side and got her two goals as well, but she's one of the most informed players in the England team at the moment. What does she bring? And is this really her moment to challenge for a starting position? So I think she's a real natural footballer. You can tell, like she just loves having the ball at the feet and the skill that she has on the ball she can undo any defence in terms of just unlocking them and whether it's with her touch or with her running or her vision she just has that awareness that makes such a good footballer I think she's had to buy her time as every player does that move to Manchester United over the summer really really helped her I think

she's become a absolutely integral part of that united team and their success so far this season and she's had four goals now I think since the turn of the year I spoke to her also last night. And I was kind of like what kind of the key to, especially that second goal, which was a beautiful, you know, curling finish. And it was probably the third in a row that she's done a bit like that. So I kind of asked her what's the key to her form. And she was just like having confidence and knowing when it leaves your boot that's going to go over the keeper and hit the back the note. She has that confidence in her at the moment to know that she can try those audacious things. I do think her positioning is interesting. I think probably Surina's typically

I've seen her as a number 10. And that's kind of where she played at City at times. But yeah, it's going to be interesting to see when players come back from injury as well, how that works out because I think she is at the moment an absolutely integral member of the squad. But it's just fitting her in when everyone is fit and ready. Someone who's over the years made herself a particularly integral part of the squad is Georgia Stanway, Susie. 31st goals she's now scored in an England shirt. She's ninth in the all-time top scorer list.

She's now scored seven times in her last four appearances. She is so crucial to that midfield, isn't she? Yeah, and that stat, I think, is hugely impressive when you consider she's a midfield player and has played the deeper role at some times, and that's in the modern era of the game where it's, despite this, generally, smaller score lines. So that adds some additional context to that stat, which I think makes it even more impressive than it is, particularly at her age too. Obviously, two goals, but the overall performance was incredible.

the assist for Jess Parks first as well, phenomenal. You saw the range that she has in that game, particularly in the goals. You know, she's so clinical from the spot and then also, you know, great from distance too. So a real, all-round performance. It's just exciting, isn't it? Like, at a certain time because, you know,

everyone is wondering about where she's going to end up in the summer. Obviously, she's been linked to Arsenal. But I think when we find out where she's actually going to be and what that looks like is going to be very, very interesting. And it's going to be really interesting to see if she does come back to England, like the impact that that then has knock on effect at building relationships sort of day in, day out with various players, assuming she'll be at one of the clubs that have a significant number of England players

moving forward and going into a World Cup year and things as well. Yeah, I hadn't actually thought about that. Because the World Cups feels so far away, even though we're in qualifying, that could be really key for England going forward for sure. The one kind of blot on the copybook, if you like, Emma, was the goal they conceded Yana Kalanina's goal. They didn't react quickly enough to the set piece. They'll have been frustrated by that,

which shows perhaps an area of the game that needs a little bit of work. Yeah, it was definitely frustrating. And you heard Georgia Stanway say in a post-match interview that she potentially may have been responsible for not tracking the player back. But it did just feel like it was a lapse of concentration. And unfortunately, we have seen that a couple of times from England at set pieces. I think it's something they definitely need to look at. it was so easy for Ukraine.

You know, it was their first ball into the box. Nobody reacted to the second ball. And it is a good finish. But maybe Hannah Hampton could have done better as well. I think on the whole, it was just a bit of a scrappy goal. I think the reason why it's frustrating is that, look, we all know the elephant in the room, is that Spain and England are expected to win their games against Ukraine and Iceland.

They're expected to go heads ahead for top of the table. There's only one automatic place in that group, which is crazy to think that one of the, European champions or the world champions are very highly likely going to have to go through a playoff. So obviously they both want to finish in that top spot. So it could come down to goal difference. If they draw their games with Spain, then it could come down to goal difference. So I think that was why that goal was so disappointing because England could have come away with a nice, healthy plus six goal difference, obviously over Spain, who got their three-no win in the

opening game. So that would have felt like quite a nice lead in that goal difference table. But I think overall, look, it's not going to make a major difference. It's just if England can really capitalise against Iceland as well and get some more goals on the board, then I think it just helps their position and keeps them in control of the group before they face Spain in April. Well, it could make a big difference because we've seen what Nations League goal difference can do negatively to England before. Listen, I know that Sof wants a rant on that, but I'm going to just speak to Susie about Ukraine first of all and let Sof organize her thoughts, because I feel as if it's going to be a long rant on the Nations League.

But we all know the situation in Ukraine, Susie, because of the war, they can't play at home and have the benefit of home supporters behind them. And actually, they had to travel on a bus from Moldova for 15 hours to get to this game. And then they lost their key attacker, Nicole Kozlova, to a nasty looking knee injury after just nine minutes into the game. This was Andrew Shack's first game in charge. She took over in January. What can she take from their performance, do you think?

A huge amount. I mean, the context of what they're having to grapple with is so significant. When you look at the difference in facility and expense around a team, and England's have everything taken off of their place as players. Life is made as easy as possible for them to just be able to focus on their football and their recovery, and that's it. And then you've got the Ukrainian players who, as he say, you know, 15-hour bus whilst England get a charter flight. That's the difference between the levels that these two sides are operating at. And they've done an incredible job to reach League A of the Nations League and be at this point.

And to get a goal, to reduce the deficit to 2-1, I just think that was phenomenal. You could see how much joy there was in that moment. England and European champions it's not like it's just any old team who's ranked above them and there's a lot of heart to be taken from that first half and the resilience they showed in that and I think it shows that they'll cause

Iceland problems in particular but also potentially cause Spain problems and they are not that easy to break down and there's a lot of joy to be taken from that and like a lot of motivation going into the next games and obviously not being able to play at home not having that sort of home

advantage, not being able to settle in, having to travel to Antalya for the next game against Spain, those kind of things. They're all huge issues, but also to a certain extent, like, they're the kind of things that galvanise a group of people. People tend to come together in moments of adversity, and I think that was beautifully illustrated by their goal, and it would have been nicer if the margin was smaller, but I think the fact that they've come up to this league and got a goal and put in that first half performance that they did is a great reflection of the ambition of the side. And this is where this is tricky and depends where you sit on the fence. But so the whole point of the Nations League was to avoid heavy score lines and make games

more competitive. I know that you have very strong views on it. How do you feel about its impact on qualification for major tournaments? The floor is yours. I will try and keep this short. Yeah, I am not a fan of the Nations League, especially. how it feeds into qualifying. I think you could have two separate things. So you could have the Nations League and then you could have qualifying separately. My problem with the Nations League is that you are generally stuck with the same opposition all the time and that's being shown by England and Spain, right? And it was England and Netherlands before. Yes, we have two new opponents this time around just kind of by the fortune of it in terms of Ukraine and Iceland.

But you know, the gap between Spain and England and those two are, is quite considerable as well. I think the Nations League was built to try and develop women's football and give lower nations the chance of becoming more stable. But we're saying a lot of the time that, you know, they're going up from League A to League B, you know, bouncing around. So they might get to League A and then they go straight back down to League B again. League C nations don't really have a chance at all to qualify. So the opportunities are still limited. When you think back to the old days of qualifying, I know people hated the 10-0 scores. But I think back to an interview I did with the head of Women's football at North Macedonia and England went there and that was their World Cup.

You know, England coming into town, they got to play at the main stadium for the first time ever, were able to get in fans and market it on that stuff. They just launched a whole new strategy around women's football. The other problem as well is why on earth is only the winner of League A groups qualifying for the World Cup? When you have a group, as Emma said, like England and it's not just this group, but when you have a group like England and Spain, where you have a real risk then of one, you have a one of those teams potentially not making it to the tournament.

Can you imagine a World Cup without England and Spain? And that's not me saying that they have a divine right to be there, but they are the two of the best nations in world football at the moment. And for whoever comes second, it's not easy. Yes, they get an easy path through the first round of playoffs because they have to play a League C team, but the second round of playoffs is not going to be easy at all because you could meet anyone.

So you could come up against, I know, a Belgium. You know, England have traditionally had real problems against them. And one wrong move, you could suddenly be out of running for qualification. So I do think there are some problems, and I don't think it's overly liked by coaches the way that's happening. I've had a conversation with a couple of them. I don't think they feel that it's a right way to qualify for a major tournament necessary. You're right with the divine right point. But if we are growing the game, a World Cup really should have the top nations in it competing, you would think.

Although, obviously, we know with the Men's World Cup pretty much it's hard not to qualify for a 48 team. tournament. It's almost like pushing against it, isn't it? The opposite. Let's look ahead to Iceland, though. England faced them in Nottingham on Saturday, a sell-out crowd, home comforts as well for the lionesses. What are you expecting from this one, Emma? Is it going to be as simple as it looks on paper? I would expect similar to what we saw with Ukraine, actually. I would expect Iceland to be fairly respectful of England's attacking quality and sitting in quite a secure and low block. I think England will have to break them down again. So I think it could be a very, very similar game plan.

I think they would have seen what Ukraine did and think, okay, Ignan do take a little bit of time maybe to get going. So the longer we can hold them out, maybe the better our chances are. And obviously, as we've discussed, they have been vulnerable on a couple of set pieces previously. It wasn't a one-off against Ukraine. So can they capitalize on that? Iceland are quite a physical team. They've got a lot of height advantage in the squad as well.

So I think they'll try and use that. But England should be confident. England should be very, very confident. They have more than enough quality in the squad, which we've obviously discussed with the depth as well. So I'd be shot if it wasn't another England win. And I think they'll be looking to get some more goals on board just to improve that goal difference margin.

Yeah, obviously we will talk about that game on Tuesday's pod. But that's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. In part two, we're going to look at how some of the other nations fared in qualifying and catch up on all things Asian Cup and Wafcon. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So England not the only team in action on Tuesday. Mixed results for the rest of the home nations who are all competing in League B. They can only qualify through the playoffs and they'll all need to finish as high up in their groups as possible if they're going to get a more favourable draw.

Wales had to rely on a 93rd minute goal from Elise Hughes to salvage a point away to Czech Republic. It was actually a real challenge for Rianne Wilkinson's side in the end. finished two two and they're going to be pretty disappointed, I would think, not to have been able to make a more emphatic start as they try and reach their first ever World Cup, Susie. Yeah, although, I mean, Rianne and Clinton's comments afterwards were actually quite positive because they were just really, really glad to get the point. You know, they're in that group up against Czech Republic as the two teams vying for

progression from that group, really. Like, the two that are expected to top it. And the other two teams in that group are Albania and Montenegro. So there's real scope for them to do something. So to go away to the Czech Republic and take a point away from that against the run of play for the match generally speaking. And with the Czech Republic taking the leads twice, they're actually pretty pleased. And you can sort of see that in that context with the fact that that was the away game against the team that they are really rivaling the group for. So I think there's a lot of positives there.

And the fact that they kept going and grabbed that equalizer, you know, in stoppage time, I think was significant. and they're playing for the first time in a major tournament qualifying without Jess Fishlock so it's like a different look although Rianne Wilkinson had a very experienced starting 11 out there there's still a lot of pressure that comes with having to replace someone like Jess and her ability to grab a game by the scruff of its neck and make something happen when things aren't going your way and so I don't think all is lost necessarily with this draw as long as they can build on this and get the results they need against the other two teams and then try and do something at home, I think they've got a good chance. Yeah, they do. Northern Ireland

have got a bit of an uphill battle. We always knew it's going to be a difficult opening game for them. It ended in a two-nil defeat to Switzerland. First game under interim manager Chris Lindsay as well. How much is there a cause for concern, Sophie, would you think? Or will they actually kind of see it as a bit of a free hit because they've got easier opponents, paper anyway to come in terms of Turkey and Malta? I think my concern doesn't come from that game specifically around Northern Ireland, Switzerland. We saw what they did at the Euro's there on and up, as it were.

They were never expected to probably come away, especially from an away visit to Switzerland with the result. So I don't think you can worry too much about the result. My worry is behind the scenes a bit more. I really want to know what's going on with Northern Ireland football at the moment because they lost Tanya Oxby to Newcastle in October. That was her last game. they didn't call up a squad in the last window of last year.

They had no friendlies organized. And that just doesn't shout of a team that's putting in resources and trying to get them to the next level. You have to use those windows. It was a really like even if you went away for a week to the south of Spain, had a training camp and a behind closed doors friendly like the Republic of Ireland did. That's real useful team time and they just didn't call up anyone. And they've got Chris Lindsay and his interim manager.

He's interim for two games at the moment. moment, I think. I imagine they'll probably extend him for a couple of bits, but I just really want to know what their goal is at the end of this, because it's been such a tumultuous time, I think, for Northern Ireland since they qualified for their first major tournament. They had the major tournament, then it went down, and then Tanya came in and picked them up a bit and really started building something. But now you've lost her as well and lost her impetus, and what is the next move? Because otherwise you could go years down the line without not making any progress at all. Very good point. No such concerns for Scotland. Their campaign got off to a brilliant start

with a 5-0 win over Luxembourg. They were always expected to win it, Emma, but let's talk about Caroline Weir. She always makes the headlines, doesn't she? First game officially as their new captain, and she goes and scores a hat trick. I love talking about Caroline Weir. I think all three were from that magic left foot as well. No huge surprises, but you can see how happy she was, particularly after the first goal, because like you say, she's captain now. And I don't imagine that was quite a nice moment for her to be able to cap that first time with the armband on officially as the new captain and to score a hat trick. So, yeah, a fantastic goal. Well, fantastic goals, I should say. I think Scotland will have been not disappointed. Obviously, it was a great result,

but they definitely could have added more. I think Kirsty Hanson had one ruled out for offside, didn't she, she hit the crossbar as well. They did have some other chances. So they weren't actually as clinical as I think they could have been, which I think shows that there's still more to come from the Scotland team. We've been saying that for years, with the quality that they have in their squad. They'll be so, so desperate to capitalize on this generation. But yeah, it was a really good game. Obviously, Luxembourg, as you say, I think they ranked 82 places lower. So it's one that Scotland would have been expected to dominate. But if they can maintain those standards and keep up that level, there's hopefully some exciting times for Scotland to come. But speaking to Jen Bitti,

who obviously works with us at BBC, she seems very excited by the direction of this Scotland squad now. And behind the scenes, it sounds like the players are really on board with what's going on. So kind of in contrast to what Sof was saying about Northern Ireland, it feels like Scotland are starting to move forwards again after being in limbo for quite a few years and disappointing a little bit. But yeah, that would have been a really nice result to see for them. Yeah, it feels like exciting times ahead for Scotland. One other result of note, Carla Ward's Republic of Ireland had a narrow defeat to France in their league A opener. Katie McKay put the hosts into the lead but two goals in eight minutes from substitute

Melvin Mallard turned the game on its head in the end and obviously Ireland very disappointed Sof but what can they take positively from this performance? Yeah, they were clearly hurting I think because they put in a really good performance especially in the first half. They created the same number of shots as France

but had more on target so they had seven on target and France had two and they were the two goals and that's kind of the difference I guess between the two sides at the moment it's that clinical edge and being able to change things from the bench. Ireland played really well in the first half. Katie McCabe, I mean, she's just like, of course she's going to score for Ireland. It's what she does. And it was a really, like,

nice move. There was a reverse pass from Emily Murphy to set her up, and she just held her strength off Elise de Amelda and got the ball in and the celebrations were wild. But I think, yeah, it was just that strength in the bench from France. Melvin Mallard came on and scored within minutes and then scored within minutes again and just turned the game on its head. But I think it's a really tricky League A group for Ireland, but they have really big ambitions. Carla Waters, really big ambitions, and this is who they want to test themselves against. And for them to go toe-to-toe with France, for much of that game, will give them huge confidence going forward. They travel to the Netherlands for the second one on Saturday, which is crucial because the Netherlands

drop points against Poland. So if they could come away with a result there, whether it's a drawer or win, I think that could really set them up nicely for the rest of their campaign and bring in that confidence but yeah they'll be hurting today i know katie macape was really upset afterwards i think really hurting from it but i think when they reflect on it when they have a bit of time they'll see the positives and how much they are continuing to progress as a team under carl award yeah you can see it for sure now listen last week we spoke about the asian cup with james spanger and we also had a message in from andrew savage asking where we can watch the games he's messaged in again it looks like the Asian Cup games are being shown live and free on YouTube on the AFC Asian Cup channel.

So that is good news. Thanks for letting us know that, Andrew. Things kicked off in Perth on Sunday. Australia beat the Philippines 1-0 in front of 44,000 people. Look, we mentioned it last week. There have been relatively few surprises so far. Korea Republic, China, North Korea and Japan have all come through their opening fixtures, relatively unscathed.

What have been your key highlights so far, Em? Yeah, I think obviously Sanker, scoring her first goal in 851 days for Australia was a lovely moment to see the fact it's obviously in a hometown of Perth as well. It's a winning goal gets Australia, the hosts off to a fantastic start. So that's definitely the highlight for me. Anytime you see Sam Kerr score with a head, it's always a joyful moment in women's football. But yeah, I think obviously Japan as well, one of the other big favourites for the tournament, they obviously got off to a good start with 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei as well. And obviously Kiko-K, the Brighton player.

getting a nice goal late on as well. So Japan are up and running and I love watching Japan. I've raved about them before. We obviously get to see a lot of their players in the WSL week in, week out now. And yeah, I love watching their national team come together in major tournaments. They always seem to turn it on. So very much looking forward to seeing how they progress throughout the tournament as well. And then there was obviously the powerful moment with the Iranian players when they didn't sing the national anthem. Obviously, we know what's been happening, the conflicts in the Middle East. It's a really difficult time for everyone out there at the moment. So that was quite a strong thing to see the women standing in a line and obviously quite clearly not singing the national anthem.

I don't know if that's something that they've done before, but clearly in light of everything that's going on, that was something that I think stood out for us all to see. Yeah, and we wish them the very best as well, very difficult for them being so far away from home, watching what's going on in their home country for sure. Listen, we need to talk about Wafcon as well, because we mentioned it last week and that we were going to be covering the tournament and it's meant to kickoff on the 17th of March, but there's actually serious doubt now that the tournament's even going to go ahead. We heard reports on Friday that the tournament had actually been postponed because Morocco had raised issues around its ability to host the tournament. Confederation

of African football still hasn't made an official announcement as we record the pod. Teams are still continuing their preparations for a competition that is supposed to start in under a fortnight's time. It feels like such a mess, Susie. whether the tournament actually goes ahead or not, the uncertainty and the lack of communication and everything else surrounding it surely could have been avoided and is creating a bigger problem. Yeah, 100%. It's complete chaos.

And I think that's going to be hugely frustrating when and if the tournament does kick off on the 17th because that level of disruption and operating in the unknown can't be healthy for preparations. And you know, you wonder about the extent to which countries are able to properly commits resources to it with it sort of hanging over their heads as a little bit of unknown. And I think it's complicated in that we had reports that a decision on whether it's going to be postponed or cancelled entirely or moved location to South Africa potentially. We're all on the cards. And there's not been that much clear public communication from the

Confederation of Africa football about the future of it and either confirming or denying a lot of the stuff that's out and about and given any sort of clear direction on whether it is definitively going ahead on the 17th or not. And that's a really difficult situation for those teams to be and they're playing friendlies at the moment in this international window. With that still, it's a bit of an unknown unless they've been kept better informed than we have. But that feels unlikely that it wouldn't significantly leak ahead of a decision like this. But obviously it would cause chaos because this tournament is supposed to help determine qualification for the World Cup as well in 27. So they'd have to find someone.

way to slot it in. So yeah, a really difficult situation and hope that we get some kind of answer sooner and hopefully this is a bit of a lesson to CAF that they need to be a little bit more organised. But as we know, the operation there isn't as slick as it is in some other places and that can be quite complicated. But I'm not sure you would see this happen to this extent in the men's game. No, I was going to make that point. You can't guarantee that, but you would think not. Anyway, listen, it's been great catching up on all the international football. We will catch up on more next week with the second games in the Nations League and beyond. We'll hopefully have more of a definitive answer on what's going on in Morocco additionally to that. But it's

been lovely to see you. Lovely to see you guys. And I'm on a hendo for the second England game. So have fun. Oh, well, you're going to have way more fun. I can't wait. What kind of hendoo is it likely to be, though? Is it kind of, and sorry if there are any children in the car, any willie waving straw? or for things like that or is it a bit classier? Please tell me it's classier. It will be classier, but this is a party one, 100% a party one. It's not a low-key activity, fun-filled sports day. This is very much we are there to enjoy lots of rum, is what I would say.

Right. Pink tutus and learner plates. Okay, that's probably where I should have started rather than the straws, I think. No, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Soff, lovely to see you. Great to see you. Thanks, having me on again.

Yes, always. Susie Rack. always lovely to see you take care back at you have fun at centre parks I look forward to seeing your recreation of the magic mirror yeah I'm missing out on the den building

with Ted on Thursday because I've got to go and do something which is really that's what I'm mostly upset about I love building a den I love the den building we made a little sign it was great it was so good yeah well he will enjoy that

and I will have to see the photos annoyingly right keep having you say send in your questions via X or email us at women's football weekly at the Guardian.com until then. This is also your regular reminder to sign up

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