The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Euro 2022 kicks off, view from Vienna and more – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: July 7, 2022

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Anita Asante and Vienna correspondent Tom Middler discuss the England v Austria opener. Plus sell-out crowds, rainbow cars and Sophie Downey on 20 years of tournaments

Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is supported by Visa. Hello, Faye here. Before we start, just wanted to let you know that the news of Boris Johnson's resignation came in after we recorded. So you're hearing it from me live from Manchester

Piccadilly station, we don't actually mention it on the pod. Does not make my resignation gags any less funny though. Without further ado, here's today's show. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. England kick off Euro 2022 with a 1-0 win over Austria thanks to Beth Mead. Controlled, dull, insert tepid adjective here,

but grinding out a narrow victory over mediocre opposition in the group stage of a major tournament. The one nation mentality reigns supreme in England. The government did try to steal the headlines,

but a record Euro crowd kept the limelight hoggers quiet, at least until the final whistle we'll break down the game discuss Wiegmann's selection decisions look ahead to some of the rest of the week's matches and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly is supported by Visa, a proud sponsor of UEFA Women's Euro 2022. In 2020, Visa announced the launch of The Second Half, a career development programme to support female footballers

as they consider their careers beyond the football pitch. Through The second half, Visa helps female footballers recognise that their skills are transferable, showing how they will be able to apply these skills outside of sport through training, in areas such as financial literacy, personal branding and leadership. By investing in the women's game and programmes like The Second Half, Visa hopes to encourage more young girls to believe that a career in football is possible.

And it's in this world of doors opening for more people where we might see a new player of the match or a totally unexpected entrepreneur among us. Visa recognises that we'll only see the best of all of us when everyone participates. Find out more at theguardian.com slash all hyphen win. Right, the question is, can we get through a whole pod recording without a panellist handing in their resignation?

Let's hope so. Susie Rack, still feeling optimistic about England's chances? Sat there in your flat? I think so. There's room to grow, isn't there? Room to grow. Well, you've certainly grown. I mean, you've been telling us about,

you've been given a glamorous apartment this evening, it looks. Yeah, it's not bad. It's very, very fancy. I feel a bit out of place. No, you look very much at home. Anita Asante, it feels as if I only saw you a few hours ago, perhaps. 71 England caps to your name. You were sat next to me for the game last night and you were kicking every ball. Yeah, I mean, it was amazing atmosphere just to be part of it. And I think we were so close to the friends and families.

You just wanted to get involved. They were dancing and jumping up and down and all of that. But, you know, the girls must have just delighted in the occasion, really. Yeah, it was an incredible occasion. Tom Midler, welcome to your debut. Hi, thanks for having me on. And, you know, I will walk off, actually. I will hand in my resignation if there's any more references to Austria as being mediocre so you've got to be a bit careful there. You obviously host

the other Bundesliga and you're at inside scoop on Austria how did your split loyalties fare last night? Well if you saw any pictures of me online I was wearing an England jersey last night but actually once the match got underway I was I was really feeling it it was one of those proper 50-50 split loyalties in the end I can personally live with a 1-0 win for England it's you know not the worst result for for either team it sort of fulfilled the minimum requirements shall we say for both teams I think so yes very much split difficult on that but that's how it is sometimes when you live abroad. I'm very glad that you weren't at Old Trafford last night so we're not tempted to buy a half and half scarf we can remain friends for the rest of this pod. Right before we get to the football 68,871 people at Old Trafford smashing

the previous Women's Euros attendance record the tiny car back to deliver the match ball. Proof always of a proper football tournament. Really nice mix of Austria and England fans as well. We had so much to cover in the preview that we didn't really touch on the ticket sales and the attendances that much. But it was such a fantastic atmosphere, Anita. Did it overwhelm you as much as you thought? I mean, it just felt so big last night. It's just amazing, obviously, for it to be at Old Trafford, you know, this legacy club, the atmosphere was incredible. And just to witness in real time the growth of the game, you know, I was at the 2005 Euros. So to just see that massive shift and, you know, kids walking with players' names on the back of their shirts and people cheering, singing, all of that just created

this like incredible feeling. And you just kind of make the hairs on your arms stand up a little bit to just delight in what, you know, everyone's wanted in the women's game. We've wanted these moments and it was incredible. Yeah, it really was. And the opening ceremony, thankfully, only 10 minutes long. I think we were all very grateful for that. Wasn't entirely sure whether the smoke was going to clear at one point and the players be able to see to kick off. But Tom, what did it look like from where you were watching it?

Where were you? I was at a big public viewing, actually. It's something they really like doing over here for football tournaments. And it's great to see that for the Women's Euros as well. You know, we've got nice weather over here. It's really warm at the moment.

You can come and sit outside and watch the games. I was doing it in Vienna, but I heard that there were several others around the country. And I think, yeah, everyone's really getting on board with the tournament.

And it was nice to hear. Anissa, you were just talking about 2005 there I feel like Austria a kind of we're in our 2005 of women's football right now if you know what I mean so I'm really hoping that this tournament and just big games like the one last night are just the catalysts to keep pushing this on over here yeah the match was bigged up everywhere Susie wasn't it and even if the the government was trying to steal the thunder while they were imploding in the background and handing back their VIP tickets left, right and centre, did it live up to expectations for you? like overawed he's eight uh when he got into the stadium at the scale of it at the size of the crowd you know was singing sweet caroline when i got into the hotel room at 11 p.m um and yeah so like i think it really uh it really created a buzz i mean it's the only like sour note for me

is the fact that you could potentially have had this level of crowd for every single England game but the next two grounds are you know kind of half the size um and there was a real opportunity there to to sort of go big on England all the way through you know we should be having grounds that hold 70,000 60,000 etc I think for England games in this tournament. Yeah I absolutely agree with you and Nita you've been to tournaments with England before. You mentioned 2005 there, but what's the mood going to be like this morning? What would it have been like in the dressing room immediately after that opening win?

Well, I think immediately after, the girls would be super happy with the result because ultimately that's what you want. You want to get off to a good start and and get three points on the board and you know they're gonna take every game as it comes you'll get you know some of the girls who probably will rehearse every single moment of that game that evening and probably didn't get much sleep but honestly it will come down to when they get to the regrouping as a as a team and doing the team analysis. Often players and management, you know, you're much harsher in the moment when you're watching a game in real time as to how the team performed overall or how individuals performed.

And you often watch it back and go, actually, there was really good moments and it wasn't as bad as you think. And you also have to give credit to the opposition. Like Austria didn't make it an easy game for England. You know, they were very organised, really disciplined. And when you look at the stats, they actually had a lot of ball recoveries in that game too. And, you know, they were kind of, they were just solid as a team.

They work hard in both directions. You know, when they try to go forward, they really try. But England overall I think was defensively really solid as well. Yeah that's interesting there are a few kind of opening minute nerves Susie which which are to be expected and you know I did notice when the girls walked out myself and Anita were really close to the pitch right next to the dugouts and and we were talking about how emotional some of them were and trying to contain that.

And Leah Williamson sang the national anthem with her eyes closed. I think she was just trying to, you know, channel something. And you could kind of see in the first five minutes in particular that they weren't quite settled. Yeah, it looked a little bit shaky, didn't it? And I kind of think that's to be expected, given the occasion, the build-up to it you know the fact that it's at home the scale of the crowd I always spoke to Lauren Hemp in the

mix zone afterwards and she was like this is the second time I've played in a crowd that's even close to this big and you know that's that's a big deal um so you can sort of expect a few nerves I think many of the players are probably just very very happy to get this game out of the way. You know, it's been such a long build up. I mean, it's basically been three, three, four years really, hasn't it? Because of the pandemic delay pushing it back, managerial changes. They've had mostly friendlies literally up until sort of, you know, September time last year when they finally got some World Cup qualifiers for some competitive but not very testing games. So it's been a long, heavy way.

And in a sense, just getting off the mark and getting over the line was the most important thing, I think. Yeah, and the player who managed to do that and make the breakthrough, Beth Mead, proving to be England's guardian angel already this summer. It was a very good goal Anita wasn't it little chip from Frank Kirby over the top of the defence Beth Mead chipping it over her teammate at Arsenal Manuela Zinsberger it doesn't always seem like Kirby's doing the most glamorous kind of things but that kind of vision when she picks

it out it is worth its weight in gold what did you make of Fran Kirby in that role yeah I think um you know there's big expectations on Fran because of what we're used to seeing her do at Chelsea week in week out in the WSL and in England sometimes you know arguably we haven't quite seen the same level of confidence or you know just perhaps. But what I really liked about Fran is actually she took up really intelligent positions throughout the game. She didn't always get the ball, which, you know, can be frustrating when you're an attacking midfielder. But it's about making the moments when you do have the ball count. And in international football, you don't get as many opportunities to create on opposition. know these are very good teams they're very

organized so the execution of fran's pass was just sublime it was not an easy pass you know it was a diagonal kind of ball chip ball into beth mead's path which she did extremely well to control in the box and have the composure to bring it down in the way she did and and then finish so I think it just shows just a little glimpse of the magic we can hopefully expect to see as the competition continues. It's funny you talk about Fran's positioning there she like mentioned that in the mix zone afterwards and said that that was something she was getting better at that she hadn't really sort of been used to having a bit more of a roaming role where she can move around a bit.

She sort of was always stuck in an area that she'd been told to stay in and just sort of stayed there. So she said it's a little bit weird for her to sort of swap around a little bit and shift position in the game and stuff and swap around with, you know, Stanway or Kira or whoever it may be. And she said she's sort of, you know, enjoying finally sort of finding her feet in that place, which I thought was a very, very interesting take. And I've had her literally while we've been recording her, well, the goal and her pasta mead on loop playing next to the Zoom screen.

So, yeah, it's just beautiful isn't it i think the past that went into beth mead there was the outstanding moment of the game actually in terms of attacking quality you said earlier you know we were talking about the teams cancelling each other out a little bit and and the organization of the two teams being the the thing which came to the fore which is sort of unfortunate in a way for fans tuning in just looking for an out and out spectacle you know hoping for an out-and-out spectacle, hoping for a 4-2 win or something on the first day. And I think the only unfortunate thing was my thought,

with Carina Wenninger, she tried really hard to clear that one. It looked for a second, we celebrated in Vienna that there was this magnificent clearance. And in the end, the thing that sort of stuck with me was that I was a bit sad for both teams in the end then because the heroic clearance hadn't worked out. But also it sort of robbed England of the moment, you know, maybe this catalyst moment to really kick off the Euros. You know, you need something to almost hit the back of the net, get the crowds cheering,

just, you know, without a second thought of, oh, do we have to wait for a check? Do we have to see if that really went in? And I thought it dampened the moment a little bit, if I'm being honest, which is unfortunate. It wasn't the kind of goal that you could call the opening of the floodgates. And so it proved as it stayed just 1-0. And the ridiculous thing about it is that they didn't actually have to go to VAR

because they have goal line technology and the watch said it was a goal. So why are you going to VAR, Susie? Apparently it was to check the watch, which was quite utterly bizarre. To check the watch was working was what we were told, which, yeah, absolutely surreal. In terms of Frank Kirby again, though,

like one of the things I said before the 2019 World Cup when Jordan Nobbs got ruled out was I thought that was the difference between England being able to win that competition or not. And I sort of felt a little bit like that ahead of uh ahead of this tournament with Fran Kirby um because she's that important when she's on form so it was really like nice after the end of the season that she had out ill uh with that fatigue problem that she's struggling with to see her on the pitch and see her start a game I thought was really really important and I think for Fran as well like you said you know she's still finding

her feet in this kind of roaming 10 role but so much of England's threats come down the wings you know in the likes of Hemp and Mead so it's also important to know that we they have another kind of you know catalyst and central areas that they can also exploit. And she can kind of fulfill for me that kind of Kelly Smith, you know, we trust in Kelly Smith, we give her the ball, knowing that she could come up and create something, you know, you'll just have the sort of innovation to make something happen. And I think Fran can really fulfill that role. From an Austrian perspective, Tom, did it feel like a promising performance in this group? Because actually, I felt as if Austria could have perhaps nicked it towards the end,

apart from two fantastic Mary Earp saves. But do you take heart from the defeat for Austria in many ways? Yeah, definitely. It was obviously disappointing. This is a very ambitious group of players and a very understated manager. And she's very ambitious as well, actually. She's not somebody who's going to really be patting herself on the back for a 1-0 defeat. But at the same time, I think everybody knows that, that 1-0 against England is far from a bad result.

And the way that the girls showed themselves, you know, just the same as for England. This is an opening game. It's at Old Trafford, 70,000 fans almost. It's been so, so long in the making. Austria have been looking ahead to this for so, so long that I think they'll be pleased to just have this one out of the way as well. And they've come away certainly without a drubbing. They've held up very, very well. There's a lot of positives to take for sure. The group's always going to go down to the game with Norway, hopefully for Austria, if they can get the job done again against Northern Ireland another team that they know very well from

World Cup qualifying as well as England of course so yes I think there's a lot of positives to take England pushed them back quite well I think talking about England's wing play we were looking for Wienreiter to get forward here you know young players just moved to Arsenal we were hoping that she'd be able to get forward down the wings. And it was really things like that that sort of went a bit unnoticed perhaps last night that actually Austria just weren't able to do that at all. And it wasn't because,

it wasn't for a lack of trying, you know, just the way England kept that general pressure, even if they weren't converting it into loads of chances, that the general weight of the quality of England just sort of kept Austria always pushed back a little bit. And I think Irina Fuhrman will be slightly disappointed that Austria weren't able to take advantage of the nervous opening sort of 10 or 12 minutes from England.

And not only that, but they conceded very quickly after that as well. And the chance that fell Sarah Zadrazil's way just about five minutes into the game, she had an option over on the right went for the shot instead and you know I was screaming at her to shoot so you know I can't say I would have thought any differently myself but then when you look at it back you think actually maybe maybe there were there were different options on and I know that the training camp pre-euros was

really focused on trying to play these games where you don't get quite as much possession and and make the most of what you can get. And the little things that fall your way in the final third. And England did hand a couple of things to Austria in that final third and they weren't able to take advantage of them. But still, overall, a lot of pride in Austria

and a lot of positivity to come away with a 1-0 win. You know, Austria are not in the elite group, I would say, of women's nations at the moment. So still, yeah, lots of good things to take away. Not yet, Tom, not yet. Not yet, indeed. That's what you mean. Indeed, not yet.

Only 10,000 women playing football here, by the way. So it's an incredibly small amount of registered players, something like 7% of all the footballers in Austria are female. So it's just a problem that people don't believe they can play football here yet. You know, I don't think girls and young women are growing up thinking, yeah, we can play football. And this is the first generation of players where we do have people walking around with names on the back of their shirts as well. And yeah, I'm just, I'm so hopeful for this Euros that if Austria can get through the groups and perhaps, you know, get back to the knockouts again, you can prove that 2017 wasn't a one-off

and really kick on. I think it's easy to forget that this is a decent Austria side that reached the semifinals of the 2017 Euros and actually caused Denmark quite a lot of problems in that semifinal as well. Could have reached the final. So, like, the idea that they are sort of, them and Northern Ireland are sort of the push-overs

of this group, I think, is vastly misread. It's lazy. It's lazy is what it is, Susie. Do your research. Listen, we got to see Leah Williamson back in her central defensive role. And you definitely saw the benefits at points of the game from having two passes in different areas of the pitch with Keira Walsh slightly ahead of Leah. Is Serena Vigman settling on pushing Leah back to defence? I mean it feels especially because she selected Rachel Daly at left back it

felt really harsh to leave Alex Greenwood out Anita Yeah, we had this discussion that we do in the game and I said I was surprised initially to see that Greenwood wasn't starting. But at the same time, I understand why Serena's opted to put Leah Williamson back in a centre-back role. I think she's really effective in terms of England's build when she plays in that position because of her passing distribution and the type of centre back that she is she's comfortable and stepping into midfield areas so effectively she can create those overloads in midfield anyway and and they can shore up in the back anyhow but I think also

it's it's her calmness and her leadership And I think in pivotal moments when momentum swings, as it did early on against Austria, you need players like that who have calm heads and can be calm on the ball to get the team reset. And I think that's why she probably relies on her to be in that position, as well as her relationship with Lucy Bronze, the other side of her, and Millie who

you know they've had a solid partnership in in the past but I agree it's a difficult one but that's the beauty of having a really strong squad as well knowing that they can play in multiple positions and I actually think you know Serena Wiegmann opted for Rachel Daly on the left hand side as a left fullback to sort of counteract what we thought we would see more of from Austria as some mentioned with Wiener Reuter you know creating overloads down the wings to counteract her speed and and those overloads and have someone who's maybe a little bit more athletic and robust to deal with that so I actually think that's why you know Rachel Daly played at left back

because initially I thought potentially it could be Greenwood at left back. Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Oh, by the way, I meant to tell you in the tunnel afterwards, Beth Mead had swapped shirts with Veen Rota and that's what she was wearing. And then I was doing the post-match interview with her.

Her and Manuela Zinsberger were having bants with a Z at the end, maybe, in the tunnel. And Zinsberger, don't speak to her. Don't speak. Don't interview her. It was very funny. She's a character anyway, isn't she? Manuela Zinsberger, for sure. Look, it wasn't a glittering performance, perhaps, but ultimately needs to just be seen as what it

is that's three points gained Susie which is job done totally that's what the message was from pretty much every player in the mix zone that I spoke to was you know we just we just needed to get this one under our belts and also it's important and it is true it's a cliche but you don't want to peak too soon in a tournament. You know, it takes time to build into a tournament. And I think this was an important stepping stone. I mean, you could even argue that if England had sort of blown Austria out of the water, that there could have been a little bit of complacency moving forward.

At least this keeps them sort of on their toes a little bit. And I also think that it showed Serena Wiegmann's like tactical flexibility as well I mean the decision to play Lear at the back for an opponent that they expect to have a lot of the ball is a clear tactical decision and I think against Norway we may well see Lear shifted further forward alongside Kira Walsh as a bit more of a shield uh you know up against the likes of Ada Hagerberg and Caroline Graham-Hanson um running at that back line so I think that if I was Alex Greenwood I would be really really irritated to not be on the pitch because that partnership with Millie Bright is so so good but um you know I agree the passing range of of Leah at the back when you're against an opponent like this that you should beat is is

quite important and then in the middle um she's uh you know kind of against Norway offers an extra layer of protection so I think I think it's all it's all tactics it's all quite um quite smart positioning yeah and to add to what Susie's saying you know going looking ahead to Norway you know Serena's probably thinking she can get her balance back. Greenwood back on the left-hand side gives them the balance they need. And obviously, Leah can step in and be that shield and just shore up that, tighten up that midfield. So, yeah, she's probably thinking ahead one step whilst the players obviously have to focus game by game. Yeah, but I mean, having a plethora of options like that is fantastic. And that's exactly what you need

in tournament football, isn't it? That versatility. Group A continues this evening. Northern Ireland and Norway facing each other at St Mary's. We'll reflect on that game in our next show on Sunday. That's it for part one

of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. In part two, we'll round up the latest news around the tournament. So as you know, this podcast is supported by Visa. The Euros is all about the continent's very best competing at the highest level, but getting there and staying there isn't always easy. This is why Visa, on top of being a proud sponsor of UEFA Women's Euro 2022, is committed to supporting female footballers on and off the pitch. Through initiatives like the Second Half, a career development programme to support female footballers,

players like former Reading midfielder Brooke Chaplin were able to think about life after football and importantly, do so before it actually happened. Brooke, lovely to see you. You had a stellar career at the likes of Everton, Sunderland, most recently Reading, of course, but you had to retire pretty abruptly this year. Can you tell me what happened and exactly how that came about? So unfortunately, I had an incident this season. I was quite lucky, really.

I had an injury just before Christmas and I went for a scan. It was some form of stress fracture, but within the image that I had, there showed a small tumor in one of the bones below my knee. They thought that it was cancerous and the safest option, the one that was the best, was to have my fibula taken out to be certain that obviously the whole tumor was removed. That must have my fibula taken out to be certain that obviously the whole tumour was removed. That must have been such a shock for you. Retirement is something that every player obviously is going to face at some point. You had to face it earlier than you would have liked to.

So had you actually already thought about it and put a plan in place? I think when I turned like 30, I started to really think like, what do I want to do? So I obviously signed up to the visa second half and I started a master's. I had started to think about it, but more in kind of preparation for it happening at some point. But obviously that point came a lot earlier than you wanted. Tell me about what's next for you. So I've taken the general manager role at Reading. So I will be moving into the more business side of the team this year. I'm looking forward to staying in the game and really, hopefully being able to improve it for the females that are coming through.

Brilliant stuff. Thank you so much for joining me, Brooke. And best of luck with the new job as well. Thank you. Now back to the show. Welcome back to the Guardians Women's Football Weekly, where we're going to be looking ahead to the next couple of days of fixtures,

as well as some of the big news stories as well. The biggest, biggest though the news that Alexia Puteas has been ruled out of the tournament having ruptured her ACL in Spain training just three days before their European campaign kicks off I mean Tom we were talking in our opening pod about the importance of Alexia Puteas and what this Spain team is with her in it. What are their prospects now and how gutting for her as a player? Isn't it just a massive shame for everyone really,

actually, who's looking to enjoy this tournament? You know, just one of the very, very best players, somebody who can really light up a tournament like this. And it's just really sad for her. It's sad for Spain. It's just such disappointing news for everyone. And, you know, on a sort of minor level, we had that in Austria as well

with a couple of players missing out. At the last moment, we were looking for Maria Platner to come and have a, you know, breakthrough tournament. And she's out at late notice. But, you know, to have probably the best player in the world

at the moment out of the tournament, maybe the only positive I can find in a sort of England biased way is that it perhaps slightly, you know, pushes England up towards the joint favourites, I guess, now with Spain. But, you know, Spain will react to this and they'll be disheartened a little bit. But I think they'll be really looking forward to getting their first game done and sort of do it for their teammate, really, won't they? What I think is that they listened to our opening episode of Guardian Women's Football Weekly and heard Susie Rapp completely writing off their chances and thinking, well, you know, perhaps not. But I mean, we were so excited to see the world's best player on a stage here in the UK.

I know I was certainly. So disappointing from that point of view. But what was already a group of death feels very, very open even more so now, Susie. Oh, yeah, totally. I mean, if the door wasn't open for it, yeah, it's been slammed off the hinges. It's crushing to see her out for so long um as well because like you know an ACL is not a quick recovery either um the World Cup's only a year away you know this could impact two tournaments potentially you know you hope she'll be back in time for that you look at the journey of Chloe Kelly uh back for this tournament and there's there's a signpost there

of how you can make the recovery quick but also then get match ready and get your form back very, very quickly. But yeah, I mean, real, real crushing blow and I think they're really going to struggle without her in the middle. No Jenny Hermoso either. They're not Barcelona. That's my biggest issue is the manager plays very differently. They don't quite have the attacking strength that Barcelona does have in the Spanish ranks.

And yeah, I think, you know, Denmark with Pernilla Harder playing the role that Puteus does are going to cause them big, big problems. And Spain were definitely listening to this podcast because Amaya Sarayeghi was called up after all the discussion that we ended up having. Third time lucky it seems for her and Nita. How does that impact a player being called into a tournament so late? Well, hopefully she's

excited. I mean, you know, to represent your national team is a huge deal and it doesn't always happen the same way for every player. And of course, if you don't get called up initially, you'll deal with all that disappointment early on. But to have the opportunity to come in at this stage knowing that you're needed and she's going to be a valued member of the squad is a really important thing for her coming into this side and as Tom mentioned before of course it's really devastating for the Spanish team and for all football fans to not have Piteas at the tournament it could do a lot to cajole the spirit of the team as a whole to play for her to give a bit more to you know to fight a bit more in every game that they play. It could actually benefit them in terms of their own team spirit in a way that we don't know.

So it could also allow the lights of Bon Mati to shine. Guijaro, perhaps, they're still a very talented team individually. So you just don't know what to expect with Spain. They are favourites, but they've never won a major tournament before either and that just shows you why they're rated so highly and that's because of the talent they have in their side so it's just such an opportunity for this young player to come in and who knows you know do something incredible a bit like Kaz Karni when she first came into the England side and you know just blew it up basically with her performances you know every player has to see it as that an

opportunity to just come and shine pressure off as well. There's a real chance for a hero isn't there you know with no Hermoso no Koteas there's a chance for a new hero in that Spain squad to really step up and and take it by the horns and what a story it would be if she comes in and is is that hero is the one to to at least you know kind of progress them uh to a decent stage of the competition you know even semi-final something for the first time ever you know that would be that'd be huge and for her to know I'm coming in to replace the Ballon d'Or winner is massive. I mean, that's credit to her as well. You know, the manager trusts in her to come in and fulfil this role essentially for the squad.

Yeah, no pressure. Everybody's been writing Finland off, Tom, haven't they? Because this is such a tough group to get out of. But they face Spain on Friday. They're surely going to feel as if this is a good opportunity to get a shock result. Yeah, if you think about Spain as perhaps wobbling is a very harsh word to use at this point. But you know, their preparations have been completely sidetracked now by what's happened. So Finland are probably looking at that as an opportunity. because when you look around the rest of the group calendar,

you know, they've got Germany and Denmark coming up soon. It doesn't get any easier, does it? I suppose, as opposed to, I'm going to refer this back to Austria, as I'll probably do for most things on this pod. But, you know, if Austria looked at the England game as the big starter, the Northern Ireland one's the one they have to win.

And then Norway's hopefully the sort of the crunch fixture that's going to decide things. For Finland, looking at Spain, Germany, Denmark, you know, they've just got to go out and give it everything in all of them and see what they can do. They can almost play that as a good position for themselves and just, you know, they've got a shot to nothing

and see how it goes. Could you imagine that upset? That's it, Susie Rack will be taking all the lottery numbers off you and everything else. There was definitely no fence sitting with your predictions in the first pod. That's for sure. So Spain aside, what match is everyone most looking forward to next? I mean, look, there's one that stands out, doesn't it? Immediately, Sweden, Netherlands on Saturday.

Feels like it could be a semi-final match, let alone an opening group game. But crucial for both of these teams, Anita. Yeah, it's a massive game. Sweden are going to meet the previous winners. So, you know, that's huge. But I think Sweden, you know, they're a solid outfit, really good balance in the team, good blend of youth and experience and, in my opinion, should have won the previous Olympics. You know, they've been together a long time. They've got a manager there really well established with them. The Netherlands are kind of in transition under a new manager.

I feel like they're still trying to find their style of play under him and their rhythm. They've also got some players returning from injury, like Van de Donk, for example, which is really good for them. But I don't know. I think I still have a feeling that Sweden might just edge them. What else are you looking forward to, Tom? Germany, Denmark's definitely one on my radar. You know, Denmark reaching the final last time

and they've looked pretty good in the build-up as well. So I'm excited for that one. As you said as well, that just is part of the sort of landscape of what's hopefully going to be a really, really exciting group and. As you said as well, that just is part of the sort of landscape of what's hopefully going to be a really, really exciting group and a very close group as well, where somebody is going to be out at the first hurdle

who really, really had a lot higher ambitions than that. But also Norway, Northern Ireland tonight, you know, huge ramifications for everyone else, obviously for England and Austria in that group too. So, you know, just seeing Adderhegerberg

back in tournament football for Norway, you know, it's an obvious one, but I can't say I'm not excited about that. Ada Hegerberg is just such a big game player. You know, she thrives on the biggest of occasions. Her being back makes me worry for England's chances of topping the group. Like she is that influential in the same way that we're talking about Fran Kirby earlier and, you know, a type of player that can be the difference of you winning or losing a competition if they're in your squad she is that for them she is just so powerful and uh the great thing is is norway have got the got the players that can deliver the ball into her um the only like downside is that their defense is not as strong as it once was maybe perhaps in like 2019

and prior uh forest dot yeah mara miyoda miyoda's obviously been in and out of it injured forest dot yeah he's got off the boil a little bit and still very good player but yeah they're not quite as strong as the back as they once were so that might be their undoing but with ada in the team i mean they are outsiders, but they've got a chance of getting far in this tournament. I do not want Adder to spoil England's party or my party because I'm supposed to be going to see the Prodigy at Brixton Academy on the 21st.

I don't want to have to see England paying because they finished second in the group. That would be very annoying. Right, we're joined by Sophie Downey, writer for the Guardians at Weekly Women's Football newsletter, Moving the Goalposts. Her piece this week is about her route through football writing, starting in 2012 at the Olympics.

It really is a beautiful piece of writing, Sophie, a love letter in some ways to football, and following it no matter what firstly how are you lovely to see you bumped into you in the fan park yesterday how did last night compare for you to some of the other international tournament competition openers of which you've been to many I think it was probably the best um just seeing that many people. We drove over by the fan park at the beginning and it was just completely packed out with fans. And I mean, I got rather emotional. It was one of those moments, I think, that will etch itself in my memory for a long time to come.

I had a stand-up row with my taxi driver when we did that exact same drive and you look over the fan park as you approach Old Trafford. And he said to me, oh, what's going on here? I went, the women's Euros. And he went, oh, I didn't know that. What, they're playing at Old Trafford? I said, yes. He said, oh, I'm not being funny, but, and I thought, oh, here we go. I don't really like women's football, but I don't really know why. So then I just went on a massive rant with him for ages as to why. And I just said, just do me a favour and watch the game tonight. he said there's no intensity I mean to be fair probably wasn't the best example last night to have shown him irritatingly to prove him wrong

however it was just watching how many people there were four hours before kickoff um Vuvuzelas everywhere it was absolutely incredible but when you see that how can you compare it to when you first started watching women's football I mean it's changed exponentially I don't think it is comparable I mean my first year was in 2013 we went to in a camper van to Sweden um and while there was a good group of hardcore England fans that came along, it was nowhere near the level that it was last night, just a different scale entirely. I think we have, as I said in my article, reached a different stratosphere to what it was back then.

And in the 10 years that I've been doing this, it's just a completely different level. And what are you expecting from this tournament? What are you most looking forward to? I'm just excited to see all of the crowds, all of the football. I mean, we're trying to do a game a day. So we're going to really consume all of the atmosphere, I think, and try and get it up and just see all of the growth as well and see all of the talent on show.

We've seen it in the WSL throughout the last couple of seasons. This is their stage. This is where they have to shine. And I fully expect them to do so. Talking about the stratosphere that women's football finds itself in now, it wasn't just the rainbow car, which I liked, you know, talking about things on the sideline or thinking about things that we saw, just part of the visions, the sights and the sounds of last night. Obviously the rainbow car stole the show. It's brilliant. That car, everyone loves it. But on the sidelines, I couldn't help noticing a lot that the hoardings, the banners that just kept saying women play football, not women's football. And, you know, thinking about

the taxi driver as well. When you're looking around Old Trafford, an atmosphere like that, almost 70,000 people, you know, there's just, there's no argument, is there? That is just, it's football. It's a big major tournament. It's summer, we're here to enjoy a tournament. And, you know, there is a top, top tournament going on right now. And I agree that it's a bit sad that not all of England's games are taking place in places that allow for the same kind of spectacle to be had every game, which potentially could have happened. That's an argument for another day, isn't it? But to celebrate yesterday, you know, it was really, really nice to see that.

Yeah, we did want to call this pod Football Weekly, but apparently there's one out there already. I don't know if any of you have heard it or not. I'm not entirely sure. Now, for those who are interested in signing up to this brilliant weekly newsletter, Soph, how can they do it? Through the Guardian website,

Moving the Girl post. Yeah, it comes out every week. I write every two weeks and Julia does the other one. So yeah, we try and keep you informed with everything that's going on in the game up to date and lots of features and sometimes we get a bit personal too, as you saw. I do urge you all to go and read it.

Honestly, I read it with a huge smile on my face and a few goose pimples on my arms. It really was beautifully, beautifully written. Right, that's it. We've run out of time already. Tom, an absolute pleasure. Listen, I am going to adopt Austria as my second team. It may be for prodigy reasons,

but I'll just say it's because you've been fantastic today and you have convinced me to support Austria. So thank you. Thanks a lot, Faye. We don't want Hegerberg ruining your prodigy party. We don't want Hegerberg ruining the Austria party at the Euros either. So, you know, fingers crossed for places in the knockouts for both of the teams that played in the opener. Sit on the bench, Ada Hegerberg ruining the Austria party at the Euros either. So, you know, fingers crossed for places in the knockouts

for both of the teams that played in the opener. Sit on the bench, Ada Hegerberg. Susie Rack, always a pleasure. Thanks for having me again. I forgot your charger last night, by the way. I promise I will bring it to Brighton. Sorry. Utterly useless human being.

Anita Asante, I shall see you pitch side very soon. Absolutely. It was a pleasure watching the game with you and it was great to talk to you today as well. Sophie Downey, I look forward to your next newsletter as well. Lovely to see you as always. We'll be back on Sunday to bring you reaction and analysis from all the upcoming games

in Group A, B and C, including the likes of the big hitters, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly is produced by Lucy Oliver and Jesse Parker Humphreys with additional help from Silas Gray and George Cooper. Music composition was by Laura Iredale and our executive producers are Chessie Bentz and Max Sanderson. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is supported by Visa. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit?

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