The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Lionesses lose thriller and Bonmatí wins Ballon d’Or – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Emma Sanders and Ameé Ruszkai to discuss the Ballon d’Or and latest international action

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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. A seven-goal thriller ends in defeat for the leaky Lionesses, but was a plateau inevitable? Do players deserve better? Silly question, of course they do. There's Northern Ireland question conditions in Croatia.

We'll look at how they and the other home nations got on in the Euro 2025 playoffs. Our focus also turns to the next round of fixtures. We'll discuss Monday night's Ballon d'Or as well. Plus, we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. What a panel we have today. What a week, Susie Rack. How are you? Good.

Sort of glad international football's back, but it's tiring work. It's relentless, isn't it? It's like being on a little treadmill, like a hamster. But they like it. We like it. Hopefully. Maybe.

I don't know. Really weird analogy to start the pod with. Don't know why I did that. Emma Sanders, long time no see. Have you been busy up in Cov getting all big time nowadays? Oh, God. You said you were going to do that off air and i thought i thought surely she's not actually going to say that on air of course i'm going to say it

yeah it's been fun i'm currently freezing in my hotel room i was just saying to producer silas off air that i've had to i've had to turn on the heating full blast because i'm in a premier inn in coventry so i have had better mornings oh that is that is that is the epitome that to me sums up international week you're a premier in in Coventry with some wonderful wall art behind you thank you you know could hang in the tate uh Amy Rushkey it's also been ages how are you doing I'm good thank you I thought you know when you were texting asking if I could come on the show I thought god nobody else must be available. I get my debut for the season.

Unbelievable. That is not true at all. We're only into the seventh pod of the season, the seventh week. Where's the time going? And you've both been on the list and I'm delighted to have you with us today. There's only one place to start.

It's with the Lionesses or the leaky lionesses as suzy named them in her match report i'm gonna hope that that moniker doesn't stick uh they really need to do something to to make sure it doesn't and they secured their spot obviously at euro 2025 back in july and kicked off uh the new international season with a friendly against germany on friday night 45 000 at webley treated to a seven-goal thriller. It finished England three, Germany four. But the Germans, under a new manager, stormed into a three-goal lead thanks to a brace from Bayern Munich's Julia Gwynne

and a strike from her Bundesliga team-mate Clara Bull. England dug deep. They pulled two back before the break. Georgia Stanway with a penalty and then a lovely finish just three minutes later. But then Sarah de Brits converted from the spot in the second half, extending Germany's lead before Lucy Bronze added another for the Lionesses. Listen, it was only a friendly, Susie, but I think it's fair to say England will be disappointed and frustrated, especially by their defensive performance. What did you make of the game? Yeah, I mean, first off, Leaky Lionesses is not me. It's in the headline and we don't write the headlines.

I wouldn't come up with something that crap. Wow, have you just literally thrown the headline makers of The Guardian right under the bus and rolled over? No, to be fair, it's a good headline, isn't it? But like written in a piece would be weird. And it's factually accurate. So, you know, it's short. It will fit in the headline box in the paper and that kind of thing.

No, it was a weird game, right? Like it was, I mean, if you were sat there as a neutral it was a lot of fun just you know crazy crazy game i like i can't think of any other way to describe it other than like frankly ridiculous i mean defensively appalling from both teams kind of the legacy of what happens if you like put out a starting 11 based on experience and longevity in the team over who's in form at the moment. It's been obvious for quite a while that Leah Williamson just does not look herself at the moment.

I don't think she really completely has. She's had some good games here and there, but I don't think she's looked properly herself since she came back from her acl injury and i think that's a sign that there's you know perhaps more going on there and that you know maybe not enough care is being taken to sort of kind of get her back to best before they bring her back um which is a real shame but i don't mean you know don't know what's going on behind the scenes there that that means that you know there's kind of this desire to keep playing her despite

her not looking at her best um and I don't think that's her fault um but yeah why you're not playing Alex Greenwood particularly when Millie Bright and Chelsea I'd say haven't defensively looked that incredible this season um it just feels really really kind of short-sighted but I think that was the case across the pitch as well. Yeah look there's been a lot of fascinating debate about it. The starting lineup raised a few eyebrows. The Trident tested 11 rather than giving newer faces perhaps we've been on better form a chance. You mentioned Alex Greenwood there. Leah Williamson started instead. Ella Toon as well started instead of Jessess park who was on the bench um the counter argument to that though is that hannah hampton obviously got the nod

over mary erp's in goal and we'll discuss that in a minute but this is what serena vigman said about her post-match selection we're playing germany that's a high level team players are knocking on the door competing for minutes and i'm not going to make changes just for the sake of it. I'm going to start getting ready for July the 2nd. All of my decisions are based on that. July the 2nd, obviously, when the European Championships kick off. What did you make of her decisions, Amy? Yeah, I thought it was weird.

And I know we're going to talk about the USA later, but I was looking at some of the stuff that, you know, Emma Hayes has been doing with those friendlies, which obviously don't mean anything. I know they don't have a major tournament next summer, but off the back of an Olympic, she's wheeling out all the player pool, giving everybody a good look, giving them a chance. And it just felt like you know this XI that you've put out, like the back of your hand.

Even Hannah Hampton's had quite a lot of starts this season she's not an unknown player you know this 11 like the back of your hand and you're playing a friendly like do you need to put out a team that you know everything about can you not give somebody else a chance and I think what creates a bit more of a problem is that I think against South Africa tonight, you're probably going to see a heavily rotated team, right? So the likes of Jess Park might get a go, Aggie Beaver Jones, Alex Greenwood, but it's about putting them into your XI, not having an A team and a B team because then when you actually want to put Greenwood in,

you needed to have the partnership. When you put Park in, you needed to have the partnership with Walsh and Stanway yada yada yada so I think having them so separate you know you can say at the end of the window look she gave chances

to players but you know when they then come into the proper XI further down the line they're probably not going to have those partnerships and that's kind of the wider issue

I think for me when I look at it There must be a reason for it because I go back to the criticism that Gareth Southgate was receiving going into the men's Euros this year. And it was very similar. You've got all these fantastic players on the bench. Why aren't you kind of, you know, trying them from the start, moving them about a bit?

I mean, they're using them as subs, obviously, and to, you know, in a good way. But for some reason, it's just I don't understand for the same reason, but none of us are coaches. But what I do understand is exactly as Susie said, defensively, both sides were awful. Germany looked equally as vulnerable at the back. It was quite a worry, Emma, wasn't it, for both sides, how easily they were able to be cut open at times?

Yeah, it was a concern. And I asked Serena afterwards in the post-match press conference if she was concerned by how easy it was in terms of, you know, Germany being able to exploit their weaknesses. And I know she said beforehand that that's what she wanted. She wanted to be able to see where they were weak so that obviously they could work on that in time for the Euros. But she sort of, like, kind of dodged the question, She wanted to be able to see where they were weak so that obviously they could work on that in time for the Euros.

But she sort of like kind of dodged the question, almost said in a way she wasn't really that concerned without really saying it, which in itself to me was I just felt, you know, even a year ago, maybe two years ago, she probably would have fronted that and said, yes, we weren't good enough. We need to be better on the ball but I think in recent times the the answer tends to be well other teams are improving as opposed to really sort of taking it on the head that actually England were just poor and for me that's been maybe a bit of a shift in mentality with this England team that yes other teams have improved that is a fact you know she isn't lying there that's 100% true but at one point England were the team to beat and I

don't think they are now and I think that sort of kind of lack of accountability maybe is almost just going into teams and allowing teams like Germany to come to Wembley and to play against England and really take their game. Where, you know, two years ago, it was the other way around. It was England taking their game to Germany at Wembley. So for me, there has just been a shift in mentality where perhaps England aren't seen as these invincibles anymore. They're not seen as the peak of European football. And they don't look like a team that looks confident when they're defending the ball.

There were positives. I think there were a few positives to take actually you know me I'm a glass half full kind of person but certainly you know some of the performances of the front line Susie Lauren Hem, Pellessia Russo, Beth Mead all looked really dangerous I mean I'm nervous to say it was the best attacking display we've seen from England in a while because I think there were so many other fallibilities that it has to be a whole team attacking performance really and that means defensively as well, weird as that sounds. But what did you think of the front line? Could they have done more? Are we seeing them back at their potent best or not?

I mean, they're getting there. I thought Alessia Russo in particular was really impressive relative to sort of performance we've seen of her of late for England and Arsenal and I think having Meads and Hemp either side of her works really well because they're both players that like to come inside so where she likes to kind of drift deep a little bit or kind of move out wide they're able to sort of rotate into the middle and that like helps that because like quite often at Arsenal you see her sort of drift wide and there's no one in the box there's no one for her to put the ball into so

like I think that dynamism basically up front was was really really nice to see um solid performance offensively um that we've not like england have been winning games here and there but it's not necessarily been a particularly convinced it's it's often felt quite labored recently um and this these like goals felt a little bit less labored in a weird way despite the fact that they're obviously three nil down in 30 minutes and chasing the game from the start but like yeah it did feel like that was a positive um but yeah i mean i agree with all of the points on uh like rotation and stuff and like why why don't they do it like i just don't you know you mentioned gareth southgate not doing it as well i just don't understand why you wouldn't make those those tweaks I like there

must be a reason that's that's why I brought it up there must there must be a reason that we as coaches therefore don't know um I always try and use the caveat behind the scenes that you don't know about injuries behind the scenes what minutes players need where they are mentally for example there are so many other you know nuances that we don't necessarily ever think about because we look at what we think is the best starting 11 but we've not been privy to watching a full morning's training we get 15 minutes to kind of you know work out what we think is best and you know we've always said on this pod in Serena we trust but you know I think it is right to to hold a mirror up and say I'm not sure about that

yeah one of the things Georgia Stanway said yesterday that I thought was interesting was she said something about them needing to find their unpredictability again not in those exact words but it was something along those lines and like how do you best do that right like you bring in players that teams don't know like they teams understand these players now, like they've been playing together for long enough and against teams for long enough that they've worked them out. You know, teams are able to sort of share the blueprint as to how you kind of get around this England side. They understand the players, they understand how they're going to move. And there was a little bit of unpredictability to England at the Euros last time out that I think was really really like exciting particularly off the bench you know Russo and Tuna are a little bit

unknown and that provided that kind of yeah unpredictable energy that they needed but now they're known right they're really known they're known so well so I feel like that's why they need it but who knows I'm just a journo well you are a journo and a very important journo and this is what you wrote in your um article that that Georgia Stanway said post-match uh when the expectation is continuous we're probably not able to live up to it it's inevitable that at some point you're going to plateau we've been with Serena for four years now so we'll get to a point where we can't continuously win because teams will figure us out and are getting better. That's where we have to work together to reinvent ourselves and change a little bit of tactics,

change a bit here and there and get the one up on the opposition again. As much as teams are evolving, we also have to evolve. We have to continue to make little tweaks to get that one up. That's exactly right, isn't it, Amy? It's, you know, time has moved on since that 2022 final, which, of course, they played against Germany. Yeah, and I completely understand everything that Georgia says and, like, you know, I get where she's coming from and it makes sense.

But, again, I just can't help but go back to, but when you're reinventing yourself as a team there is so much fresh blood to bring in like you can evolve you know she's talking about kind of evolving as players and things like that but the team can evolve like I don't think you know there were seven players in that team on Friday that started the Euro final as well as starting this game and like it just feels like you know if I don't know again I'm just a bit like well why why is there not more changes it's not like England don't have players sat there on the bench who are ready to play Grace Clinton no one scored more goals than WSL Jess Park's been on

fire you know I've been really impressed with Aggie Beaver-Jones I'm surprised she didn't get on Alex Greenwell we've talked about it just feels so strange to be like, this team has the ability to evolve a little bit here and there with new players, and for some reason, it's just not happening. And I think as well, the fact that you put out such a regular team, that's what made the defensive performance

so much more concerning. I know we've talked about Williamson's form, and that's a whole strand of that. But if you put out a team that plays together so often, you would expect familiarity. You would expect them to understand each other. You would expect them to all be on the same page. And at times they just did not look like they're on the same page. And that was probably the most concerning thing about it.

Yeah, you're right. And I tell you what, the theme of going through this match has been, we all seem a little bit perplexed because we know it's all in there and I'm sure Serena Wiegmann and the players do as well. There was more referee and controversy, Emma. Alessio Russo punished in the box, a decision that ultimately led to Germany's winner. Are England right to feel aggrieved about that?

Are you surprised VAR didn't call the referee over to have a look at it? I think they're certainly right to feel aggrieved. Serena Wiegmann was actually quite strong on that afterwards saying, you know, she didn't think it was a penalty. When I first saw it, I didn't think it was a penalty. I was really surprised that it had been given. I think when you see the replay, she goes in with a high boot, but she is quite a way off the player and then quite comfortably gets the ball afterwards and the boot comes down. So I thought it was really, really, really harsh.

But, you know, one, it's a friendly anyway. But secondly, I think in the grand scheme of things, Germany deserved to win that game. So I think it would have been more of a talking point had it really been the decider. I know it was in terms of the school line, but Germany deserved to win that game. And really, they should have been, you know, maybe four or five nil up after half an hour. So I don't think it really had any significant bearings in terms of, you know, changing the performance,

changing the outcome, changing the reaction to the match. All it might have done is obviously got a draw and people would have still been asking the same questions. Why have England conceded four goals and why has there been a lack of rotation? Yeah. Listen, before we move on to looking at tonight's game, which we'll only do very briefly

because if you're listening to the pod this afternoon, great. Brilliant preview. If you're listening to the pod tomorrow, everything that we say will be out of date. I just want to kind of gauge from all of you, bearing in mind the Euros

is just nine months away and that nine months is going to absolutely fly by. Do you feel as if there's any reason to worry? And are there any European teams that are standing out in particular right now?

Or is everybody just having this you know lull into a major tournament Susie? Yeah I think there are reasons to worry I think Amy made a really good point about the defence like looking like it's not played together when it's a really really experienced back line, I think that is significant cause for concern. I mean, there's time to bring in some of these young players still and we'll see what happens. But that is obvious cause for concern if your more experienced players aren't clicking

in the way that they have done in recent seasons. In terms of other teams, no one is set on the world of light at the moment, but they're not necessarily playing difficult teams. Netherlands beating Indonesia 15-0, France 3-0 over Jamaica. I mean, Spain probably had the toughest. They had a one-all draw in Canada the other day. Like no one is kind of setting the world alight,

playing top level opposition. So yeah, like there's issues everywhere, but there's something about the issues at England that do concern me. Amy? I think the left back position is still a concern for me like because you know I know that Niamh Charles would have played if she'd have been fit but the fact that Alex Greenwood's not playing means that you've got an entirely right footed defence as well it means you know that has all the implications on the build-up and just playing out from the back and so on so on so far depth in midfield concerns me beyond Walsh and Stanway there's nobody else there certainly nobody that's getting a go but I think again you know I think on other teams you probably over the

next the you over tonight's games and then over the next international break, when all the major teams in Europe are playing friendlies, that's where you're going to find out who's going to stand out. Like Susie says, everybody's got issues, and this is the time to address them, and it's who emerges from that November, December window, having fixed most of their issues, that's the priority.

And at the moment, England don't. I know it's only one game out of the four, but you don't look particularly close to ironing out the issues, and other teams will. Em? Yeah, similar sentiments to kind of what everyone else has said

in terms of obviously the defensive concerns. But just to play devil's advocate, I suppose, the talent pool that we've been discussing that's available is obviously available so I'm kind of less concerned in a way because there's obviously you know there's players there with serious quality serious talent that if England do sort of use these games and actually learn from them so let's say you know they put into practice kind of all all of the issues that they that was quite clearly exploited against Germany and they deal with that come I don't know let's say February then I think you know they're in a really strong position in

terms of the options that England have certainly certainly in this within a starting 11 I think it's where maybe the squad depth concerns me a little bit more when you look at the likes of Spain and the options that they have and even Germany now like they've got quite a young squad obviously with a new manager and they look pretty pretty solid under new management there so you know the overall depth concerns me a little bit but certainly from a starting 11 point of view I think england have enough there so it's just about trying to put that together in time and i think there is still plenty of time um it's just making sure that they they deal with that asap i think yeah um well they get a chance although it's against very different opposition um tonight

tuesday uh they're in Coventry hosting South Africa. Obviously, we're recording on a Tuesday morning, so we're not going to put too much focus on this game because it will be out of date. But are you expecting a much changed side, Susie? Serena Wiegmann's pretty much told us that there will be. Yeah, I mean, she said that we're going to see changes. I mean, I would like to see some of those young players tested against or less experienced players tested against a team like Germany

over South Africa. I think that would be a more interesting test of how ready they are for the Euros in a way. But yeah, it's a very different type of game and it's going to be interesting to see how the defence handle it as well based on the performance the other day they lost five nil to denmark um on friday was it i think so in theory it should be a fairly straightforward game for a team of england's quality but as we've seen like you know things

aren't that straightforward at the moment what's she going to be looking for emma from her side what key things i think she just wants consistency and that's mainly out of possession as well as in possessions she's spoken a lot about the timing of the high press recently which i think has been interesting so she's talking about almost defending from the front and getting that right and the gaps between like the front line the midfield and then the defense against defence against Germany was absolutely horrendous. So I think it's making sure that structurally they're consistent for the whole 90 minutes. I think that's what she wants to see.

And what do we expect from South Africa, Amy? Susie mentioned there they were beaten 5-0 the other day. It should be a straightforward win. But equally, how important is it for England to actually come up against non-European opposition? Yeah, I'm quite interested by the game. I watched South Africa a little bit at the World Cup last year and I was really impressed by them.

Obviously, they got through to the knockout stages for the first time. They've got some really dangerous players on the counter. I think I'm particularly interested in what the defence comes out and looks like, you know, what kind of defence Wigman picks, but also, like, some of the similar challenges are going to exist in this game that existed on Friday because they are going to try and, you know,

just slice through England at the back. Yeah, that's probably the most interesting thing about it, I think, in terms of the attack. You know, you expect South Africa to kind of sit back and make it difficult for England and it'll be a little bit like an attack v defence at times. But I'm particularly intrigued to see

if they look better in transition defensively than they do on Friday. And I don't think they can look much worse, surely. Right. Well, we shall find out later on. That's it for part one.

In part two, we'll look ahead at the Euro 2025 hopes of the home nations and the weekly so round one of the euro 2025 playoffs kicked off on friday to decide the final seven spots at next summer's championships it's been a year of change for Wales as they look to qualify for their first ever major tournament. Rhiann Wilkinson was appointed head coach back in February and helped guide her side to the top of League B Group 4,

securing promotion for the next edition of the Nations League. But their hopes of reaching Euro 2025 suffered a big blow in the first leg away to Slovakia as they fell to a 2-1 defeat in Poprad. Wales were a little bit disjointed. They went two goals down until Bristol City's Fionn Morgan

halved the deficit in the closing minutes. Rhian Wilkinson described it as her team's worst performance. Susie, how much do they need to improve ahead of the second leg? And was it as bad as Rhian said? I mean, it was pretty bad. Like, they were really poor. And I thought Slovakia were excellent, particularly Martina Sanofska.

They found her really, really difficult to play against. She could have had three or four goals by the end of the match, really. It shouldn't be as tight as it is going into the second leg at all. The Slovakia are ranked 22 places below Wales. Like this is, you know, a game they should be winning. I think they also had won in four games prior as well.

So like the big worry for me is that they didn't get the goal back until they had the likes of Fiona Morgan and Jess Fishlock on the pitch. And once Fishlock was on you saw the impact that she has creatively and like created a couple of chances before the goal so like that's the worry for me is like she's coming towards the end of her career realistically and yeah and she's been injured like she's rushed back to make this fix these two fixtures but they're still relying on her to be the difference in big games like this. Yet they are, on paper, a far superior side.

So that is concerning. And there's a lot to work on defensively. They conceded two goals from set pieces, one from a corner that was sort of cleared and then put back in, and then the other from a free kick but beyond defending set pieces they were just carved open again and again and again and again I think that's really concerning going into second game that said that Morgan goal is like a lifeline for them right like hopefully they can take that and the fact that it was such a poor performance is a little

bit of a like we know we can play better. But yeah, it's a tough ask. I thought Slovakia were really, really brilliant. Yeah, Jess Fischlach only fit enough to play for 25 minutes. They've got really big injury problems at the moment. They're obviously already without Sophie Ingle, who's out with an ACL injury. How much is it affecting them, Emma? Yeah, I think it's affecting them a lot and as Susie said a hundred percent Jess Fischlach came on and made made the difference and you know having her not

fully fit for that you know that first hour or so was was just really really difficult for them they are a hundred percent being affected by the injuries obviously Sophie Ingle really important player for them she controls a lot of you know that midfield her leadership her experience in these games is just invaluable but I do agree with what Susie said there at the end where you know the fact they can almost play so poorly and still come home and be within a goal I think is actually really encouraging because they know that even if they just up their their level by five ten percent you know they should have enough and they have a real opportunity here to qualify for the Euros because is it Georgia and the Republic of Ireland that they would face if they get through

to round two so you would look at those fixtures and think okay Wales would fancy themselves you know they would think we've got a real chance here so they need to keep those key players fit they need Jess Fishlott to get through these playoffs 100% it's just beyond that then I then worry about them let's say they do get through and they do qualify for the tournament yeah I just worry will they have enough kind of depth and will they have enough experience within the squad then eight months time another kind of eight months for Jess Fishlock to sorry to say it but to age age is probably not a good thing. No, that home advantage, though, Amy, could be really key for the return leg on Tuesday night at the Cardiff City Stadium. Big crowd expected. Is that going to help them progress to round two? Yeah, I mean, I think the way that they should be approaching that game is that, look, we were awful in the first leg.

All we need to do is, you know, win this game 2-0. And, you know, we're into the next round. We've got all these fans come out to watch us. We've got the home advantage. You know, everybody's on our side and we just need to go out there and show that we're the better team. And, you know, I think if you approach it in a way like that, I think, you know, how could you not be fired up for that game,

if you're Wales? Like, I think they should be fired up for it to show everybody what they're about. They'll want to put wrongs right and go out and do it. And I have to say as well, the Slovakia free kick, if you've not seen it,

go and watch it because it's fantastic. The way she hits the ball, it's just no nonsense. Just flies over the wall and in. Honestly, I saw it and I was like, that is such a good free kick. I loved it. I'll check that one out for sure.

Scotland, let's have a look at Scotland. Desperate not to miss out, obviously, on a major tournament for the third time in a row. That would be brutal, wouldn't it? They kicked off their playoffs with a 1-0 win over Hungary in Budapest. A 60th-minute strike from Martha Thomas was the difference between the two sides. It was a sixth consecutive competitive win for Pedro Martinez-Losa's side. But how convincing are they looking, Susie?

Or are they flattering to deceive? I don't think they've looked totally convincing under Pedro Martinez-Losa since he came in, to be honest. And again, I mean, the gap between the two sides, like on paper or in the FIFA rankings, is similar to the big gap between Wales and Slovakia, right? Like this should be a game that they're winning comfortably. And I would have liked to have seen a few more goals.

I think like the first half in particular, there was only that Caroline Weir effort that really kind of had any chance of them sort of creating anything in that first half and hungry friends like um dora zeller missed an open goal that obviously were pretty convincing uh going through the sort of like group b league b i can't remember what how the thing works but the the second slot of groups uh it's complicated it's always complicated exactly they got through that fairly straightforwardly like that was fairly convincing but this performance didn't really match the performances they'd shown there that said like martha thomas's goal was lovely i thought it was really really nice uh really really nice goal but

um yeah like in theory this should be um uh like a tie that they finish off fairly comfortably you would like to think but yeah they've not quite got the best out of weir and cuff but and you know sam kerr as in scottish sam kerr not australian sam kerr obviously um for me they've not quite got the best out of those midfield players um and yeah, like that sort of is what needs to happen if they're going to step up again. Yeah, they have had some of their players back, though, in stark contrast even to Wales, Emma and Caroline Weir, arguably the most important of all of those. And it will take her a little bit of time to get back into full form. 100%. A fit and firing Caroline Weir

is one of the best weapons you can have in international football. She will be crucial for them. We saw her come back in the Champions League and look really strong there. She's done pretty well, I would say, in her early stages of her return. She's looked quite sharp to me.

Obviously, there is still some way to go, but I think for me that's the difference between you know Scotland and perhaps Wales who we were obviously talking about before where they they're maybe reliant upon kind of you know their older more experienced players I think Scotland don't get me wrong Caroline Ware is obviously an experienced player but Scotland for me just seem to have you know a few more match winners within the team and they're not necessarily relying on kind of one or two. There are real areas of quality throughout the pitch. I do think, you know, they maybe lack a little bit of depth, you know, when you look beyond that kind of starting XI. But certainly when you've got like Martha Thomas, who can pop up with match winning goals.

You've got Caroline Weir in there. You've got Aaron Cuthbert in there. There's a lot of players in that Scotland team that I think, you know, can step up in the big moments. So I think they have enough to get through these playoffs. It's, you know, but as Susie says, they need to put in more convincing performances because when they come up against, you know, the stronger sides or the more ruthless sides, then they are going to get found out if they're not playing to their to their maximum potential but yeah Caroline Ware just so important for them yep she is and will be tonight uh second leg kicks off at 7 35 up at Easter Road uh Northern Ireland salvaged a draw

away to Croatia with an unwitting star in Isabella Loinana scoring for both sides at the start and the end of the game a bookend of goals if you like the first after four minutes for her own side and then a 92nd minute own goal meaning it finished Croatia 1, Northern Ireland 1. Tanya Rocks to beside remain firmly in the tie

they head back to Windsor Park tonight it was a really gritty performance Amy, we had Tanya on the pod the other day. How important could that late goal prove to be? They also, like Wales and Scotland, have home advantage tonight. Yeah, it's so important. It's kind of like the Wales goal. It just gives you such a less daunting prospect for the second leg,

you know, and the home advantage and, you know, the experience that Northern Ireland have in that squad and, you know, some of the talent that's coming through as well. Like, I think they should be absolutely backing themselves at home to, you know, all they're going to do is win the game. You know, it doesn't matter by what scoreline, they're just going to win the game. And I think that, you know, obviously't matter by what's going on they're just going to win the game and I think that you know I'm obviously uh Tanya Ruxford talking about some of the the facilities and

all the the situation around the game as well and you know I think you know at home with your facilities and your you know everything that you can control there should be no excuse really for them to go out and win that game I think they they can do it. Yeah. Emma, you reported on Sunday that Northern Ireland had to cancel a training session while they were out in Croatia because of substandard pitches. Tanya Rock's to be questioned the lack of professional courtesy after the floodlights weren't turned on in time for a training session the night before that first leg.

What's the update on this? She said that her players deserve better and it's hard to argue with that. Yeah, that first leg. What's the update on this? She said that her players deserve better and it's hard to argue with that. Yeah, that's right. Our BBC Northern Ireland team spoke to Tanya Rotts-Tobie and some of the players, including the captain, Simone McGill, at their media day before the game. And they sort of reiterated that response,

that they were disappointed by the facilities, disappointed by the general treatment. But I think there was a feeling that now that they are back on, obviously, Northern Ireland soil, it's OK, that's past us now and we're in a position where they can control the controllables, as coaches like to say in football. So, like Amy says, I think just being back on home turf is an advantage for them.

But, yeah, I think it was a really frustrating story to report on, actually, when you're hearing these issues still happening in international football. I just don't think it's good enough. And I spoke to the Croatian FA, who said that they treat all of their teams with courtesy and said that the facilities were used by the men's Premier League team. But, you know, floodlights coming on half an hour after training sessions due to be starting, that's not great. And that's the night before a crucial, you know, Euro

2025 playoff. I don't think that would happen in the men's game. No, not acceptable. Right, let's round things up with Republic of Ireland. There were comprehensive victories amongst the other playoff ties as well, by the way. Sweden beat Luxembourg 4-0.

Czech Republic put eight past Belarus. But there was a really convincing win in Tbilisi as the Republic of Ireland cruised past Georgia, scoring six goals without reply. It was a comprehensive victory. Susie leaves them with one foot firmly in round two. That kind of scoreline, what does it show about Eileen Gleeson's side? Yeah, it's really exciting.

You know, it shows they're ready to kick on from having reached a first major tournament at the World Cup in 2023 in Australia. So, like, you know, they've never qualified for a Euro, so this is a big ask. And they were put in a really, really difficult qualifying group. Obviously, we know it well with England, Sweden and France, you know, really, really difficult group to get anything out of at all.

So the fact that they've been able to sort of bounce off the back of that, get in a win in their final group game against France, 3-1, and then, you know, kind of go into playoffs with heads up and like, you know, knowing that they can compete against those big sides, right? The worst scoreline in the group stage was 3-0, lost to Sweden. The rest of the games were all 1-0s, 2-0s, 2-1s. They were tight. So the fact that they can do that against some of the biggest teams in the world

shows that they should be kind of comfortably beating teams like Georgia and obviously lots of familiar faces on the score sheet as well but yeah it shows real progression from their World Cup campaign and real like a real desire to get back into a major tournament and be competing at the top end of the game like and the quality of players they've got in that squad now I think there's a little bit more depth than they've maybe had before. You know, there's some really, really good players playing across the Women's Super League, but also in the NWSL and stuff as well. And yeah, it's exciting to see that many players sort of kind of taking advantage of building up a big scoreline ahead of the second leg i mean you know scoring in

the 97th and the like 100th minute of that game shows that they really really wanted to make their mark yeah big night tonight um just a reminder the second leg's all taking place on tuesday evening the winners then progressed around two in the nove-December international window. Let's head across the pond. Emma Hayes USA have played Iceland in a doubleheader. They won 3-1 on both occasions and it gave Hayes the perfect opportunity to start broadening the player pool available. Of the 26 players she called up, six were uncapped while 14 have fewer than 20 caps amongst the newly capped players a standout was Emma Sears who got an assist and a goal on her debut um it's a perfect opportunity Amy for Emma Hayes to refresh the squad bring a new crop of players through especially bearing in mind their

recent resurgence at under 17 and under 20 level as well yeah and i think that the federation did a really good job to schedule three games in this window as well they got argentina um i can't remember with the time difference whether it's tonight or tomorrow night or whichever way but um just to get those fixtures kind of on a roll and sort of give her almost like no option but to rotate right okay show us the full depth and breadth of this player pool and you know there were a lot of players in there you know you mentioned emma sears and you know players that are kind of really new to the environment but there are players in there that you're like oh god yeah they've got them as well so you know jayden shaw who didn't play at the olympics really I don't think she played at all. If not, she played a little bit off the bench because she was injured.

Only 19 or 20 now and is impressed. Alyssa Thompson, who went to the World Cup last year as a teenager, has come in. She's not really been around it as much lately. She's come in after some decent form in the league and showing what she can do. And you add that to Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith and they're going to have Mia Fishel back and they're going to get Kairina Macario back and they've got Lynn Williams like you know it's really really really exciting I think if you're a fan of the US and they've got quite a

nice little window here to really move the team forward like Emma here's you know boxed off that gold medal within a few weeks and now she's got like a massive massive gap to really build for the next world cup and you know i think you know maybe we there's been a lot of questions about the us in recent years is their kind of power dwindling you know are the european teams catching up this feels like a really good opportunity a really big run up to the world cup. And, you know, it feels like they've got no excuse but to be really, really good there. And I can't see any reason why they won't be.

No, they're a frightening prospect ahead of the World Cup in three years time. There was also an opportunity to say goodbye to a stalwart of the US women's national team, Kelly O'Hara, three-time Olympian double world cup winner she had her send-off in Nashville hanging up her boots after 13 years and 160 caps which is quite incredible statistics Emma. Yeah it is and I think you know we've we've become a little bit accustomed to seeing quite a lot of US legends sort of hang their boots in the last year or two and I think just touching on what kind of Amy's saying there about that just really exciting crop of players that are coming through for this kind of new Emma Hayes era at the USA it feels like

part of that is also the transition of a lot of these kind of legends that are that are leaving the game and it felt very much like a transitional World Cup for them in Australia and New Zealand. And, you know, inevitably, that was why it was a disappointing campaign. They sort of had a lot of young players that were inexperienced and then a lot of the older players who had kind of played their time. And it feels like we're now in that golden age of the happy medium. So, yeah, an incredible career, incredible stats to play for your country that many times is just absolutely phenomenal. And at the level that she has. So, yeah, nice to see her celebrated. Yeah. And we mentioned there the under 17s and under 20s for the USA.

But the Lionesses under 17s are doing brilliant stuff because the Under-17 World Cup is continuing. The semi-final line-up is being set. And Natalie Henderson's England reached the Final Four for the first time since 2008. It was a dramatic penalty shootout win over Japan on Sunday night. Meaning, uh-oh, they face Spain for a place in the final. The USA will take on North Korea. Producer Sophie is jumping on with us. You've just got back from the Dominican Republic. Nice tan.

How have England been shaping up over the tournament? What are their chances on Thursday? It's been a really exciting time, I think, for this under-17 group. They've had their problems at times. They've not always played their best but they I would say that with this group that Natalie Henderson has they have a group of young players who have an extraordinary character extraordinary resilience to dig in there's a lot of quality as well there um they just maybe sometimes struggle to play

their best at times but they're finding a way to win games. And they came through a ridiculous game against Mexico about a week ago in the group stages. They were behind, they were a player down, they came back and won it 4-2. And I think that just is kind of emblematic of kind of the character that's built through this England side. And they did the same against Japan the other night. They weren't down to 10 players, but they were 2-1 down.

They came back twice from a goal down and then got to a penalty shootout. Bought on Rebecca Dowsett for the penalty shootout just for like two minutes before the penalty shootout. And she stands up and saves two penalties. So I think that just shows that it's a super, yeah, very exciting time for this team. They have bundles of character and they will take the game to Spain.

They played Spain in the European final in May in the championships. They lost there, but they learned a lot in that second half. And I wouldn't be surprised from what I know about this team. They learned very, very quickly. And I think it will be a much, much closer game on Thursday. Wonderful. Well, I hope. I assume that the final is going to be on Sunday if they make the final?

Okay. So hopefully on Tuesday's pod, we will be discussing the world champions. Fingers crossed. Thank you very much, Soph. Right. So here we go again. The 2024 Ballon d'Or Awards took place in Paris last night. Aitana Bonmati made it back-to-back wins,

taking home the Ballon d'Or Féminine. Emma Hayes was named Coach of the Year after her successes with both Chelsea and the USA. Barcelona were named Club of the Year, while Jenny Hermoso picked up the Socrates Award for her humanitarian work off the pitch. Let's discuss the timing of the event afterwards. Let's first discuss with Susie whether there are any real surprises, whether that was about right,

because that's usually the question mark that we have over these awards, don't they? They're not our favourites. I don't think it's a terrible top 10, to be honest. I think it's a pretty solid top 10. I don't think it's a terrible top 10 to be honest i think it's a pretty solid top 10 i don't think there's any huge surprises i think the biggest surprise um and amy has been banging this drum for a very long time is that caroline graham hansen hasn't been on the short list for like ever until this year and uh like i mean i'd say she could have a shout for winning it this year. She's been so, so superb. Arguably, Barcelona's standout player.

So yeah, that is the only thing I would say, is other than overwhelmingly being a pretty strong top 10, that Caroline Graham Hansen could have pipped Bonmati potentially. Yeah, yeah. But the timing of the event is what always raises eyebrows. I feel a little bit of deja vu going on, to be honest, because I'm pretty sure we spoke about this exactly a year ago because the timing of the event is problematic.

It always falls in the middle of International Week for the women. Many female players not injured can't attend because they're playing for their countries. This is what Serena Wiegmann had to say. She was nominated for coach of the year, by the way. It's really disappointing. It's a moment to celebrate women's football and to come together as a whole community in the women's football game and the whole football world. You want to be there, but we have a job to do and we're here. It would be really helpful. She means Coventry slash St. George's Park. It would be really helpful if and that could be planned on another date.

Nag has sent us a message on social media. When will the people at the Ballon d'Or care enough about women's football to have the ceremony at a time when female footballers can attend? Amy Rushki discuss. I would be more surprised if they moved it than if they didn't is how I feel and that's a bit of a crap way to feel but that's just how I feel honestly. I think it's a bit crap that you have to be injured

to attend a Ballon d'Or ceremony as a women's football player. You know I think was it Beth Mead and Vivian Mead and I went last year which is great but they both went because they're both out with ACL injuries, which is not great. I don't know. You could have it on a Thursday.

I don't know why they have to have it on a Monday. Nobody does anything on a Monday. That's why they close all the restaurants and stuff. People don't go out. Do you know what I mean? Put it on a Thursday or something. I don't know. I think there's a way to do it.

I don't think they'll do it. It's just one of them rubbish things, isn't it? And, you know, it's hard to know what else to say about it, really. Yeah, I'm with you. Although it is important to note that Spain always allow their nominated players to go, even if they are due to be playing. Norway also allowed Caroline Graham-Hanson to go as well. It doesn't excuse the timing in the slightest,

but it's important to point out that some nations approach it differently and perhaps this is England's choice to do it. Is it that important that the players needed to be preparing for South Africa in terms of team ethics? Yes, 100% team culture, but these are friendlies, so maybe they could have been allowed um that the three England players that were nominated Lauren James obviously who's injured Lauren Hemp and Lucy Bronze but anyway uh we did have a couple of emails but we're going to read

them out uh next week because they relate to uh the WSL so thank you, Mamouaji, and to Tamsin as well. We have senior emails on Women's Football Weekly at theguardian.com, but we will answer them next week, I promise. Panel,

I absolutely love that. It was brilliant. Amy, so lovely to see you. We won't leave it as long next time. I feel like the seventh choice centre-back or something.

No! I'm working hard to move up the pecking order. I'm putting effort in and I'm doing my homework and I'm doing my best and I'll move up the pecking order. You are our star player. Star player, 100%. Emma Sanders, Billy Big Time. I'm only joking.

It's only because you said it. You said it. I never said that. You said it at the beginning of the pod and I then latched onto it and have ruined beginning of the pod and I then latched onto it and have ruined you with it so I'm sorry for that but it's so lovely to see you

well it was lovely until you called Amy the star player so what does that make me the second star player well I don't know I'm just gonna have to put you on the subs bench for now no no no listen listen this pod has room for more than one star. I promise you it's a team effort every time.

There's no star in team. That's well, it depends if you're Watford. There's an asterisk there. So you could argue that that's a star. Susie, it's just a delight to see you as always. But I need to see you in the flesh. It's a delight to see you as always, but I need to see you in the flesh. It's a pleasure to see you always. Pleasure for you to be listening and taking part as well. Keep having your say.

Send in your questions via X or email us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com. And as ever, a reminder to sign up for our bi-weekly women's football newsletter. All you need to do is search Moving the Goalposts Sign Up. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray.

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