The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - England win again, Walsh’s pain and Nigeria joy – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Jonathan Liew and Marva Kreel on a day of mixed emotions for the Lionesses

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. This is The Guardian. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. The good news, England are on the brink of qualification. The bad news, at what cost? Another 1-0 win, this time against Denmark, but the sight of Keira Walsh being stretched off in tears in the first half had us all with our heads in our hands. Elsewhere, there's penalty chaos in Adelaide as China are reduced to 10

but find a way to win, meaning Group D's fate goes down to the last day. Nigeria pulled off one of the results of the tournament, beating Australia to leave the co-host's hopes hanging in the balance. Elsewhere, the 2019 final rematch ends in stalemate. Portugal finally find their shooting boots, while Argentina show some of that South American spirit to fight back against South Africa. And that is today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Women's Football Weekly is supported by Google Pixel, the only phone engineered by Google and proud partner of the England teams. Search Google Store to find out more.

Oh, what a superstar panel we have today. Susie Rack, fresh from the Sydney Football Stadium, having diverted on her way via a fast food outlet. How are you doing? Yeah, fresh isn't really the word for the way I'm feeling. Very unfresh. Well, yeah, indeed indeed are you feeling fresh Johnny Lu? Yeah I'm pretty fresh I'm in Germany I'm not out there yet but basically every every kind of young woman between the age of 18 and 35 has been put on standby in case they can play fullback. Yeah exactly or any position actually in any case marva always fresh how you doing just about i think i've just recovered from um my birthday and watching england at 10 in the morning

i'm really glad you reminded me of that because that actually feels like an age ago i don't know what this tournament has done to me already nine days in but i feel like i've uh i've aged dramatically let alone just your tick over to one year. Right, there's only one place to start, isn't there? It's Group D and it's England 1, Denmark 0. Two wins from two for the Lionesses, two 1-0 victories, in fact, but they're not quite in the last 16 just yet. Let's start with the positives and put off talking about that potentially devastating injury to Keira Walsh. Five hours and 43 minutes without a goal from open play.

Susie and then Lauren James comes in for her first start at a major tournament and does that. I mean, everyone's wanted to see her on the pitch, right? I think, you know, the clamouring for her to start was getting intense. And luckily, Serena Vigman clearly fought the same too. I mean, she's just a phenomenal talent. And I actually thought both changes were really shrewd. You know, if you're not going to put Daly up top, having her at left back is the next best thing because the left back options are so slim. Shifting Greenwoods into the centre- center back role she's much better at playing out from the back than jess carter is who is very good defensively but you know that you then are sort of

missing that role amongst your center backs and then rachel daly gets forward so effectively from left back that she allows lauren james to come in inside and almost sort of become a second number 10 and that was just super effective and she's just such a phenomenal player I mean I keep saying it she's the most like naturally talented player for England that I think I've seen since Kelly Smith and it's like nice to see her to start realising that potential on the biggest of stages and like really announce herself within you know six minutes of her start brilliant I thought you were going to say nice to see her to see her nice for a second then I'm glad

you carried on she becomes England's second youngest goal scorer at a world cup behind the legend that is Jill Scott the second quickest behind Jill as well by the way six minutes it took her to get on the score sheet they came came out with so much confidence, Johnny, on the front foot, constant pressure on the Danish box. Everything that we asked of them felt so different to what we saw against Haiti, maybe for the first 30 minutes at least. Yeah, that first, particularly the first 20 minutes, was I think everything we have been wanting and expecting

and hoping England to do at this tournament. You know, Haiti after, you know, the drudgery, is drudgery too strong a word for the Haiti game? You know, they were moving the ball with pace. And obviously James was that kind of that X factor in the centre. center and i thought what was going to be really interesting to watch over the course of this tournament was how kira walsh made space for james you know as susie said james comes inside james and and tuna kind of they're almost kind of interchanging stand way making the runs off her and kira just kind of directing things and i was really looking forward to it and then you know it's kind of unfortunate

really really that um that we only got 35 minutes of that of that partnership and and uh and then I think that that was pretty much the turning point in the game because for the last 50 minutes England were playing a kind of it was almost like knockout football you know the game was getting stretched they were you know they were having to do a little bit of last-ditch defending and and it seemed like they were kind of not not so much hanging on but almost kind of playing on the um playing on the edge of their seats a little bit and i think it all stems from from that that blow just before halftime yeah look we'll get into that in in a second let's speak to marva first about the the changes that serena veegman made because you know we're not used to seeing this from her are we in the in the Euros it was an unchanged starting 11 throughout the tournament but she needed to

make changes after that Haiti match and Rachel Daly came in at left back for Jess Carter Lauren James replaced Lauren Hemp do you think they were exactly the right changes that she made? Yeah definitely it's funny the whole thing of her, you know, finally making changes and the change that she does make is just putting Daley back at left back, which we loved in the Euros. I was surprised to see it, but I'm really glad and I think it really paid off. Lauren James coming in, I thought she was the best player by far against Haiti when she did come on. And it was just that thing of, you know, can she replicate it when she starts? And she 100% did, I thought for those first 25 minutes everything was going through her absolutely

everything and not only just in the sense of the goal not only in the sense of creating chances but I think she allowed England to to finally have a bit of passing football a bit of possession I thought her decision making was so mature even compared to a lot of the other players who were playing today and against Haiti as well I just think that there were moments where we were on break but she instead decided to cut back slow it down a bit keep a bit of possession which we were really lacking in that Haiti game it was all very chaotic and wayward passing and also her her off the ball work as well there was a point where she lost it and that was, I think, maybe a few people's concerns about her

is, you know, obviously she's incredible at dribbling, but she always tries a little dribble and sometimes can lose possession. But there was a moment she did that and then just won the ball back immediately. And I thought her decision-making throughout the game was incredible.

So that's a massive positive. We've been saying how much, you know, we're going to miss Meade's goals from the wings and for Lauren James to come in and be able to give us that and some chances and bring Toon into the game, bring some of the other players around her into the game was really important. But yeah, it still requires a lot of work from, I think, the other players around her. I think they still need to step up to what Lauren James has brought.

Yeah, I loved James and Daly down the left-hand side. I thought they were absolutely superb connecting together. We do have to speak about that bad news. I've been putting it off for as long as I can, but 35 minutes in, as Johnny said, it just absolutely sucked the life out of the game. Keira Walsh forced off with what looks like a nasty knee injury. You actually saw on the television cameras

that she said, I've done my knee. just devastating to see her taken off on a stretcher in tears although I did see a nice moment between her and Lucy Bronze where she was laughing but then immediately covered her face again with her shirt what do we know at this stage Susie your tweet just after it happened featured three words beginning with f which i don't think uh we'll quote here because you know we we know that youngsters listen to this pod yeah no i mean we don't know anything um we've been told that we'll hopefully get an update tomorrow i'm guessing she's got to have a scan of some kind but usually with acl injuries they know pretty quickly exactly what the problem is they just sort of have to get it confirmed if it is an ACL hopefully

it's not as serious as that even if it is a serious knee injury um but yeah I mean yeah it was pretty horrific you just watched her extend and her sort of studs get caught in the turf and yeah go down and you could just see it you just sort of knew it's kind of pretty damning that you can see an injury like that and almost instantly know that there's a serious problem there because we are so used to seeing them we've seen it happen so many times and like in that sense I kind of think the the way the team held on is kind of impressive in the context of essentially having to watch another player go off in quite traumatic circumstances yeah it's it's not nice and you know there's a couple of players who just couldn't And essentially having to watch another player go off in quite traumatic circumstances.

Yeah, it's not nice. And there's a couple of players who just couldn't speak to us afterwards because they were clearly quite broken going through the mix zone. Just didn't feel able to. Of all the injuries, we don't know if it's an ACL yet, but of all of the injuries, it's the one that I think everyone has been worried about the most for England. Because there's not really a backup. There's not really a stand-in.

They experimented with Leah Williamson there, but obviously she's not even around. And there's not really a sort of like-for-like replacement. And no one is as good as Keira in that space. What's gutting is it felt like Serena Wieigman you know in those first 35 minutes had stumbled upon what looked like her best starting 11 and then that blueprint has got to be ripped up straight away so yeah gutting absolutely gutting and that yeah it just did just flatten the game a little bit afterwards but um yeah I think it's all our fault because we did a sit down the press did a sit down interview with her literally two days ago. So, of course, it would be the player that gets injured.

Do you know what? I thought that instantly because we've talked about this previously because you've got form on this, Susie, but I don't think you should blame yourself for that. Jona Seideveld and the TV punditry team on the BBC thought that the pitch looked a little bit dry. Ellen White also said, as you mentioned, Susie, there was no plan B last summer if Kiera Walsh had been injured. On the pitch being dry, I think Jonas is well off because, I mean, obviously he's not out here. He's in a studio. So it's rained here a couple of nights in a row.

It was quite heavily watered before the game. We asked a couple of players about it and they said, no, the pitch was fine. Like it was wet and, you know, Mary upset. She thought it was quite heavily watered before the game we asked a couple of players about it and they said no it's the pitch was fine like it was wet and you know Mary up said she thought it was fine I can't remember who else did but yeah a couple of players in the mix zone said yeah there was no problems with the pitch being too dry so obviously there's loads of reasons why people do these kind of injuries and we just have to sort of wait and see um there's you know obviously loads more research needs to be done on all of the various facets of what is an incredibly multifaceted injury.

But yeah, I thought that was a little bit rogue of Jonas to assume that about the pitch when it's winter here and it has actually been raining for two days. But yeah, we'll leave that one. But yeah, I thought Ellen's quotes about not having a plan B was really, really interesting at the Euros. I mean, maybe Serena did have a plan b and she just wasn't aware of it i don't know i hope there was some kind of plan b not to everyone's assuming that that she said i've done but you know has anyone has anyone here got a lip reading qualification i mean it could be

something totally different she could be saying you know i've got i've got tons of money which is a little bit indelicate. She could be saying I've been stung by a bee, which obviously wouldn't put her out for the tournament. Bee and knee don't work. I've got tons of brie. She's got loads of cheese on her. She's got loads of French cheese.

And I mean, let's not draw any, you know, any hasty conclusions about it. I mean, it is something that's kind of screwed up, though. It's like, as a sport, you know, when you just kind of, like none of us are trained medical professionals, and you can just see it like, yeah, that's an ACL. That's an ACL face. Those are ACL reactions.

That's an ACL replay. It's just, you know, I don't claim to have any of the answers, and I think that's part of the problem, really, that there aren't enough answers. But it's just kind of screwed up, I guess. Yeah, and it does take a little while for a prognosis as well. And we definitely can't speculate on injuries like that. But as you say, a scan imminent, no doubt,

and hopefully we'll find out a little bit more. But Laura Coombs was her replacement, Marva, eight years away from this England setup before being brought back into the fold and I've sat down with her on a number of occasions and she's such a cool and calm measured player the perfect person maybe to come on in that kind of instance but England obviously lost some of their momentum and intensity that we talked about there and they would certainly cage you in the second half yeah and I think we do have to take into account the human element of you know seeing your teammate go through that um and also just the sort of the shock of and of not only seeing it but but having

to kind of adapt to it and be like we were having a great moment we felt like we were back into it and now such a key player again is gone for us possibly for the tournament don't know um so we do have to take into account that that human element which i think you know people can can underestimate really um what what players go through when when they experience that but yeah a lot more cagey but i think stanway you know we've seen it by and she can play that that deeper role um and i think that probably will be the plan B. I personally would quite like to see Nobbs be given a chance. I think Toon hasn't had the best tournament so far and also maybe didn't have the best end to the season either so I would quite like to see a bit of a change and a bit of

a trial as well. Obviously now the last game while it's in our hands we do still have to get something really so it's not the same as being able to just try out anything. But I think the injury does go to show that it is important to try out some players because we saw in the Euros didn't particularly do that. And if we were to have gotten a really bad injury during the Euros, we might have been in a worse position in terms of some of these players who hadn't got minutes on the pitch. And I think we do need to give some of these bench players some minutes in case that anything else does happen especially

while we don't have a very clear starting 11 but having said that I think Beth England coming on at the end was great to see and I thought she actually did well given we're a team who've been putting in a lot of aimless crosses I think we might as well do that more with Beth England on the pitch because she is the person to get her head to it. And you saw that she got one opportunity and did pretty well with it. So, yeah, I think there were actually some positives to take. I know people have been quite negative about this game, but I think we shouldn't underestimate two 1-0 wins in an international tournament.

I think it does show some solidity. I think it does show that we can manage a game quite well. But yeah, that midfield is going to be a big loss without Keira Walsh for sure. I'm definitely feeling positive actually after that, you know, despite the Keira Walsh injury, I actually think it was a much better performance than what we saw against Haiti. And Bethany England replacing Alessia Russo on the 75th minute, Susie. We never thought this day would come. I don't think she did either. It's been such a long time coming. But yeah, it was quite nice to see her afterwards in the mix zone. She was just so utterly buzzing to have got on the pitch.

And I thought she was quite impactful as well. You know, I've always wondered about whether she would be that effective coming off the bench because I think she very much relies on time to grow into games. But I think given the form she's been in for Spurs, she's probably just full of confidence. We've seen her in training over the last couple of days and she's always looked pretty sharp. It's great to see her come on.

If you're putting Rachel Daly a left back you've sort of got to have her as an option in place of Alyssa Russo it sort of opens the door for her a little bit quite nicely and I think the Rachel Daly thing works well so as much as she's spent a year working hard to relieve herself of left back duties England's lack of other options in the position mean that she's probably gonna have to stick there for now but yeah so so nice to see Beth England get on the pitch she's like just the nicest human being and took a huge risk in going to Spurs to try and get minutes and see it like sort of pay off and her get on the pitch

after having a very very difficult Euros and not playing a minute of football. Yeah, really, really lovely. Yeah, indeed. And actually, I really like Rachel Daly down the left-hand side because actually she can still, you know, be a potent force going forward, as we saw with that link up with Lauren James. At the end, Johnny, it got a little bit nervy, I thought. Poor, sloppy defending. And when they brought Amelie Vansgaard on I immediately thought oh there's a lot of height there and we saw what she did against China scoring from a header

to get the three points in the 89th minute and she hit the post with a header late on in this one as well it was a huge let off in the end so they need to learn some some lessons and and regroup going into the China game yeah I mean how long was that header in the air for like a second and just like going through the entire seven stages of grief while that ball is airborne yeah it would have rode their luck a bit and i guess you know as a result of that the the focus comes on onto that defense a little bit you know I thought Mary Earps did well again I thought Millie Bright was

she still looked like she is just coming back to full fitness I think there were there were a few occasions when like a better quicker

sharper team you know with less time to play might have might have put her under a bit more pressure might have called her out I thought Green would play

pretty well you know at the centre back but I again you know this comes back to theback. But again, you know, this comes back to the injury. Like the way Denmark were pressing them, they were basically,

I think, was it Kool? Katarina Kool, who was basically sitting on Walsh in the first half. And when she was off the pitch, her and Harder were putting a lot more pressure on the back too. And they were finding it

a lot harder to play out. So they did know that you know england did not look like uh you know as assured or calm playing out from the back as they did in the first 20 minutes and i think that's going to have a knock-on effect you know how are england's back all go to deal with with teams actually putting direct pressure on them without without having walsh almost as a kind of as a control valve in the middle another like slight worry is that stanway is on a yellow card from the first game. And, you know, like had to be really, really careful in this game to not get a yellow card. I think there may have even been an argument for her trying to get one late on, as long as the game was all but one, to miss the China game rather than miss the last 16.

Because, yeah, who else else is gonna fill that role you know she's the one who slotted back and now they've got the risk of Georgia Stanley who you know isn't is prone to a yellow trying to not get riled up and conceding one in the next game for fear of missing the last 16. She's prone to an orange and I would say in this tournament that would more likely be a red and actually she's going to be really key, isn't she, going into the China game as well, isn't she? Because China now have skin on this game because they beat Haiti by a goal to nil thanks to

a Wang Shuang penalty that was in Adelaide and they were down to 10 players for more than an hour, the Chinese. It was a penalty converted by Shuang. She was only introduced at half time, but there was complete chaos at the end. Should there maybe have been a couple of penalties awarded the other way right at the end, Marva? 100%. I think Haiti can honestly feel like they were robbed

and that's just not an exaggeration um the first one it was blown for and then you look at VAR and it's one of those that in real time I was like oh I don't know maybe a bit harsh and then you see it VAR she's got her hands all around her if you've already blown for that then I don't know how you can rescind that because if you've blown for the foul of yeah she's climbed on her and put her arms around her and then in VAR you've seen yes she's climbed on her and put her arms around her if that was initially your fault to give a penalty and then you've seen that on VAR I don't know how you can undo that while it might have come across as a little bit harsh in real time, I think once you've seen it on VAR and you've already given it, that has to be given.

And then the second one for that to not even go to VAR as far as we know, maybe there was talk in the air, but in terms of, you know, we didn't see it go to the screen. We didn't see the ref be instructed to go to the screen. And that was one that was just as clear of a penalty for me. And it was like the last minute as well. And it's just gutting for Haiti because they tried so hard they had a really good chance earlier on as well and it just would have been such such a narrative if they'd managed to get either one or two last minute penalties but to have it actually blown and then be taken away from them just just feels so so cruel. Yeah really tough to take for Haiti two narrow 1-0 defeats to England and now China their task

has made that bit harder as well when their star player, Melky de Mornay, wasn't fit enough to start. She had an effort saved in the second half. But China had to dig so deep after Zhang Rui was sent off

following a horror challenge. Probably worst case scenario, really, for England. Susie, with China coming into that game, knowing that they probably need to win to have any chance of progressing. Yeah, it's not ideal, is it? And it was so late that things heated up.

They could have really done with having a game where they could have rested a few of the players that are going to be tested in the later rounds. And now they've got to really battle against a China team that has been pretty well organised. So it's going to be a difficult game. I mean, in a sense, maybe it's a good thing that there's one more chance to sort of shore things up a little bit

and experiment a little bit before they go into the knockouts. But it would have been nicer to have the group wrapped up before then, ideally. The final Group D games take place on Tuesday, midday kick-offs UK time. China, England and Haiti versus Denmark. England not mathematically through to the knockouts quite yet. They need to avoid defeat by China to make sure they secure that spot in the last 16. And of course, who knows who they're going to end up meeting because Group B is wide open as well. Let's take a look at Group G,

the final match of day nine, finished Argentina 2, South Africa 2. Just a quick one on this one. It was quite a thriller actually in Dunedin in the end. The South Americans fought back from two goals down to deny South Africa their first ever Women's World Cup win. A superb half volley from Sophia Braun was followed by a header from substitute Romina Nunez just five minutes later

to bring Argentina level. They had found themselves two goals down courtesy of strikes from Glasgow City winger Linda Motalo and Racing Louisville's Tembi Gatlana. South African manager Desiree Ellis pretty cutting about her team post-match. Have a listen to this. We were in complete control of the game and we just needed to finish it off. We lost the ball a lot in certain areas. It's criminal. It hurts us a lot. We have to take responsibility.

It has to be better. They also had their captain taken off on a stretcher and her replacement picked up another yellow. So he's going to miss the game against Italy through suspension. So it actually looks like a tricky task for them against the Italians now, Johnny. Yeah, no, it'll be tough for them. I mean, they have to win that last game against Italy. But they put up a real good show for themselves this tournament.

I think they've shown the progress that they've made as a nation as well over the last few years. Yeah, real fight showed by Argentina, Marva as well. If they can take some of that momentum and passion into that game with Sweden on Wednesday, could we possibly see an upset? Possibly. I mean, I think Sweden have been, you know, one of those teams, again, that we kind of expect them to do really well. And then they sort of let us down a little bit. They don't seem as good as they should be on paper, I I think and when it comes down to the last day of the group stage you never know but um yeah I would probably back Sweden but it would be nice to see some drama I had uh real flashbacks to 2019 with Argentina coming from behind to draw

with Scotland and knock them out of the tournament when Scotland had been 3-0 up. So yeah, it's not like we haven't seen Argentina do this kind of thing before. They have well versed in causing a little bit of surprise and coming from behind. Flashback to that traumatic, traumatic game. We're going to have another flashback to 2019 in a second when we look at USA, Netherlands, albeit with a very different scoreline. But by the way, Sweden and Italy go head to head in Wellington for that second

group game it kicks off at 8.30 UK time on Saturday morning and we'll have reaction to that one in tomorrow's pod that's it for part one

in part two we'll recap all of Thursday's action including that shock defeat for the co-hosts and the repeat of the 2019 final.

Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Right, to Group B, which is absolutely B for bonkers, I think. Australia 2, Nigeria 3. That's shock scoreline coming out of Brisbane yesterday as co-host Australia's hopes of progressing to the knockout round took a massive blow as they were beaten 3-2 by Nigeria. Before we analyse the game, I think we should give the first word to Solis Chukwu from Pulse Sports in Nigeria, who can give us a flavour of just what the result means

for the Super Falcons. So look, at the best of times, Nigeria, we are very optimistic people. And so ahead of this game against Australia, especially with the absence of Sam Kerr, there was a smidgen of optimism in Nigerian fan base but in all honesty it wasn't looking good we know all of the confusion all of the commotion that went into the team's preparation the manager falling out with the FA the players not being paid

as it went due so there was all of that as a very chaotic backdrop that's it's typically Nigerian right we go into these tournaments always with chaos at gates and we try to pull something approaching a korean performance from the team so there was a bit of quiet optimism but like i said it wasn't really looking that good it was hope against hope but that is the spirit of what it means to be Nigerian for better or worse we rarely ever have the best preparation but somehow you know when the chips are down we are able to pull off moments like these moments of great triumph moments of amazing catharsis like this team is there's a lot of quality in this team make no mistake about it you know Nigeria

coming to the tournament Nigeria another lot was expected as a lot of members of the team said so there was not a lot of optimism but there team said. So there was not a lot of optimism, but there's quality within this team. Nigeria has a core of very, very good strikers. And what Coach Randy Waldron has been able to do is he has been able to infuse a measure of discipline, a measure of tactical rigor into this team, into the organization, keeping the lines compact, making sure the team does not give up the sort of easy goals that has been its want for many many years now and then in the absence of you know self-debilitating errors the team is able to go forward and put together a couple of moments of

magic i thought the link up between um rashida ajibadi who was missing from the first game clearly from what we saw here she was a huge miss in that game. Her combination in the middle of the park with Tony Payne and then the impact of Aziza Doshuala coming off the bench was really what swung the game for Nigeria. There were also great performances all over the park. I struggle to think of any player in the Nigeria team who really played poorly. I mean, everybody was brilliant. Osinachi Ohale, who was named man of the match, was typically excellent at the back, a real leader, lots of experience, lots of know-how.

So Nigerians are understandably very proud because we weren't expecting a lot. This result has been received like water in the desert because even away from football, this is a very challenging time for Nigeria. Economically, people are really struggling. There's a recession. There's inflation to battle with. There's political instability in Nigeria. So there are a lot of things that are stealing Nigeria's joy at the moment. So it was really great for everybody to come together in this moment to really celebrate such a momentous victory and not just one that, you know, you

could say, okay, certain wins are not that important in the grand scheme. No, this is a result that puts Nigeria right on the cusp of qualifying from this group, which not many, very many people expected. I mean, you see the host, you're in the same group with the host, you're in the same group with the Olympic champions. You are not really fancying your chances especially when you know we have an fa that doesn't always do what's right but now nigeria is on the course we just need to draw against ireland everybody's pumped everybody is suddenly are weak and alive to the potential of what is a truly truly gifted squad squad of players. And to be honest, I think if Nigeria pulled it off, this team could really go down in the annals of history.

Nigeria's record at Women's World Cup is not great. Qualified for every edition. But aside from reaching the quarterfinal in 1999, not a lot has happened in terms of progression. So coming through this group in convincing fashion, I mean, we came through the group in 2019, but it wasn't that convincing, barely scraped through. Coming through now in this fashion, fairly comfortably,

you know, scoring goals, remaining tight at the back. It's just, it's a whole new level of excitement. It's a whole new level of anticipation for Nigerian football fans everywhere. Such emotional scenes at the final whistle, Johnny. a whole new level of anticipation for Nigerian football fans everywhere. Such emotional scenes at the final whistle, Johnny. As Sol has said so beautifully, this result has been received like water in the desert. What an absolutely huge result for Nigeria and African women's football. Yeah, it was an immense performance.

I mean, to go into that arena on that stage, playing the host nation in front of a home crowd. And just the absolute lack of fear, the lack of nerves, anything at all. They played like they had nothing to lose. They went for it. They counterattacked with pace. And I think they sensed that Australia were kind of nervy. And Australia, they were pretty slow and static. And when Nigeria got the ball, they were able to, you know, they were able to break with pace.

And I think, you know, had it not been for that late goal, I think 3-1 would have been a pretty fair reflection of how they played. And, you know, obviously a lot of the focus is going to be on the host nation. But I think, you know, the fact that Nigeria are on the verge

of qualifying for the last 16 is just a huge result. You know, like you said, for African football and, you know, like pay them, pay them properly, please. Yeah, absolutely. huge result, like you said, for African football. And, you know, pay them. Pay them properly, please. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we said that at the preview, didn't we? And success, as we said in our preview pod,

is the best way to try and get change, isn't it? And successful they have been. What did you make of it, Susie? Seems like the pressure of being on home soil, maybe in the weight of expectation, is getting the better of the Aussies albeit they have a lot of injuries at the minute yeah loads of injuries and obviously a lack of Sam Kerr and a lack of clarity over like what is actually going on and how serious her injury is

is I think underpinning everything yeah really shaky performance I mean maybe expectations about what Australia could do in this tournament were overhyped potentially I mean the more I look at them as a team without Sam Kerr despite a huge number of incredibly talented players Caitlin Ford, Steph Catley, Yemeri Fowler, Ellie Carpenter they've not done a huge amount when Sam Kerr hasn't been in that side. And yeah, I just think that that is the most costly thing. Does the impact of playing on home soil have a huge effect? Does it really make you that nervous? I mean, we've seen so many teams do well on home soil. You know, obviously, England last year at the Euros, the Netherlands in 2017. Although, you know, you could say that's all Serena Wiegmann's fault.

I mean, to be fair, you make a really good point. And I think Sam Kerr would have made a difference. When I read these stats out to you, you'll tell me exactly why. You need a clinical goal scorer because the stats were so heavily in Australia's favour despite the scoreline being everything that matters Nigeria not a single shot on or off target in the first 40 minutes the Matildas created 28 chances to Nigeria's 11 had 15 corners to their two you have to have someone putting the ball in the back of the net it's pretty simple it's such an obvious obvious thing marva yeah massively i think ford it was sort of

in the 94th minute or something at 3-1 had had a header from about two yards out and sort of just headed it straight into nigeria's keepers hands um although she did well positionally but you know at a world cup in a moment like that you have to score that there's there's just no other option and then they had a few right at the end as well they had a good chance from the wing when it was at 3-2 with about a minute left of the never-ending stoppage time and it's just one of those you just you have to do it you know if you when your goal main goal scorer isn't there and I know it sounds easy but in moments like that when you get clear-cut opportunities like that you just have to score them otherwise you're just not going to do what you need to do at a home tournament so

I did feel for them but I was also so so happy for Nigeria. Yeah I know some celebration from Assisa Oshawala after putting her country 3-1 up, maybe channeling her Chloe Kelly vibes. The Barcelona player scored in her third World Cup, the first African woman to do so. How impressive from her to come on in the 64th minute and then inspire her team to victory, Johnny. Yeah, I mean, it was an iconic moment, wasn't it? And I think, you know, that was one of those,

I think they'd gone ahead about, was it five or six minutes earlier? And, you know, Australia was still kind of reeling from that, you know, an attack breaks down and it's a ball over the top. And I think it's Alana Kennedy who makes the mistake, who tries to, basically tries to head it back to Arnold and just, and Shuala just, you know, just steals in. And even then, the finish from a really tight angle when you, you the run and the ankle's tightening, that is the kind of nerveless finishing that Australia kind of lacked all night. And that's the difference between basically taking your opportunity, knowing that you're not going to get many chances and that you have to seize them.

And that's the difference between Nigeria and Australia on that night. And it makes it fascinating going down to the final group game. Nigeria move top of Group B, level on four points with Canada. Australia are a point behind both of them before their last matches on Monday, which could see Australia and Canada in a straight shootout for a spot in the last 16 if Nigeria beat Ireland, who of course have already been knocked out of the tournament. Just a quick one, Martha, who's going through for you I would love to see Nigeria and then I don't mind who else although I don't particularly want an England Nigeria um round of 16 because I've got too many

Nigerian friends that it would just cause absolute chaos but um I think them and I still think Australia could do it but oh this is this is really wishy-washy for me. I'm going to say Nigeria and Canada. Okay, nice. What, as in Nigeria top of the group? Yeah, why not? I think they can beat Ireland. Okay, brilliant.

Lovely stuff. Right, let's move on to Group E, shall we? We were so excited about this match, that rematch between the 2019 World Cup finalists. It finished USA 1, Netherlands 1. Was it a classic game of two halves, Susie? Obviously, Rose Lavelle's introduction, Dutch centre-back Stephanie van der Graat forced off with injury at half-time as well. The USA managed to get hold of it after a tricky first half for them. To a certain extent, yeah. I thought Netherlands were fantastic. Really, really good in the first half.

Really well organised. Surprised me, really, because without Vianna Miedema and with the personnel that they've sort of got in the squad at the moment, I didn't think they would necessarily do a huge amount in this tournament.

Obviously, US are, you know, kind of in a bit of a transition period themselves as well. But they really impressed me. Second half, I can't tell you who to matter about because I was so tired after a 12-hour trip to England's base camp that I fell asleep whilst watching it on my bed in my hotel room and then woke up to see Lindsay Horan's goal.

So I caught, you know, it was a short nap, but, you know, enough for me to miss the first, like, 10 minutes of the second half. Amazing. I it was physical and feisty i can tell you that much for sure 28 fouls johnny but just one yellow card plenty of fascinating jewels all over the pitch did the match itself live up to the hype i think so i mean it wasn't technically perfect and it wasn't tactically perfect but but it had a bit of a needle. And a lot of the times, you know, group games between two big nations, they almost kind of fall into a bit of a holding pattern.

They're almost keeping their powder dry a little bit. This was, like you said, it was spicy. And, you know, right before that goal, Horan is, you know, she tangles with Daniel Van der Donk. And I think, you know, what her teammates, what Horan's teammates were saying afterwards, you know, it fired her up. You know, they could tell that, you know, as what her teammates, what Haran's teammates were saying afterwards, but, you know, it fired her up. You know, they could tell that, you know, she was ticking and it got the whole team going.

And I think if that was a knockout game, I think America find a way to win that. They definitely ended the game the stronger. They were putting a lot of pressure on the Dutch defence. There's obviously a lot of flaws that teams can pick out. If you look at America's two games so far, you say, you know, you can get in behind the fullbacks, you know,

basically if you get them to defend on the run, then their player-to-player marking isn't as tight in the box as it should be. And that's obviously how Ruud gets that goal. But I just think they have, I think they have extra gears. I think, you know, they've all talked about growing into the tournament

and that was a step up. And then having to basically basically having to play their third game with something on it i think that that helps them and so you know they are they are a tournament animal the us and i think that there's there was a lot of kind of doom and gloom after that first half but they they answered a few of their critics in the second i think yeah they did a few chinks in the armor though at the same time marva and we will talk about portugal in a moment but they're not going to be a walkover for USA we've seen what

they're capable of obviously the States heavy favourites to progress but they can't be complacent no definitely and I think yeah as Johnny was saying

there were clear weaknesses I think Netherlands overloading the wings really caused problems for them as you saw in the first goal but they just have that star quality.

And towards the end, I thought Sophia Smith, I couldn't believe that didn't go in right at the end. It was a sort of clearance off the line. Morgan with an offside goal. There were just sort of little moments where you do feel like if that game had progressed for another sort of 10, 20 minutes, they probably would have scored. But yeah, I think it's what made this whole tournament so exciting.

While I have called USA as the favourites, they're just nowhere near the clear favourites as they were last time. I think they've regressed a bit and a lot of other teams have progressed. And you just see that a lot of the teams who we're expecting not much from have really stepped up and the teams who we're expecting more from haven't necessarily. So it's a really exciting tournament overall. And I think the USA and their not lack of capabilities,

but maybe just the slight problems that we are seeing is just a great example of that because it just makes everything just a bit more exciting. And I'm really excited to see the next few rounds. And I hope that USA don't just make it really easy in the next few rounds. I'd like to see some of this chaos continue. Yeah, well, I think that's possible against Portugal, actually, because they carded a 2-0 victory over Vietnam to send their fellow debutants out of the competition in Hamilton.

We spoke on Monday's pod about Portugal's lack of attacking threat in the narrow 1-0 defeat by the Netherlands, but two goals here inside the opening 21 minutes. And we have to give some love to Kika Nazareth, just 20 years old. And she's now scored seven goals for her country. I actually find them quite fun to watch, Susie. Yeah, I really enjoy watching them because they're a little bit out of an unpredictable force. And that's quite nice. And a well-organised one as well.

You know, we saw them perform really, really well against England before the tournament. You know, we've seen them perform well in this tournament. And they're not a pushover. I do think it was inevitable that they would see off Vietnam fairly easily, despite struggling for goals. They're in this sort of middle tier of teams that are sort of really pushing and have a really ambitious federation that want to sort of break into that top tier a little bit when I say top tier I mean you know the the sort of um amongst the traditional

European uh sides so yeah like they are a lot of fun to watch very unpredictable and I mean 29 shots to five speaks for itself to a certain extent just one word for Vietnam who are out of the tournament, but they certainly haven't disgraced themselves, Johnny. But I mean, it took them 43 minutes to get their first shot on target in this game and their first touch in the opposition box at this World Cup. It was important for them to keep the scoreline down, but it does underline there is a bit of golfing in quality at this level. Yeah, but i think you

know when when they came into this tournament i think a lot of uh a lot of people were looking at that first game and expecting it to be an absolute wipeout and you know the portugal game maybe similarly they've actually you know for a team of their their you know at that stage in their development of their resources and i think maybe very few or maybe even none of their players play in play in europe so there's they're clearly still at a very early stage of their development and to actually you know to qualify and to to hold their own against against two pretty well-resourced nations actually speaks pretty pretty strongly of them and you know I'm really interested and excited to see how they develop because it's going to be a long-term process for them and they can they can really

hold their heads high. Yep certainly can We'll see Group E decided on Tuesday when the USA face Portugal and the Netherlands play Vietnam in simultaneous matches, which get underway at 8 o'clock UK time in the morning. The Americans, of course, currently top Group E

with a superior goal difference to the Netherlands. Right, it's been an absolute delight. Thanks, Marva. Thank you. Bye, Johnny. Thanks for having me. Susie Rack, thanks for doing me a koala in lino yeah i'm now gonna go cry into some lino and like carve a kira walsh on crutches

or something oh no no don't do it don't do it um we'll be back tomorrow to reflect on that tasty france versus brazil matchup plus all the other action in Group F and G. Women's Football Weekly is produced by Lucy Oliver. Music composition was by Laura Iredale. And our executive producer is Danielle Stephens. Women's Football Weekly is supported by Google Pixel. With its incredible camera and AI-powered technology, Google Pixel is bringing fans closer to the game this summer.

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