The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - Red Flames melt Icelandic hearts as last eight complete – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

Faye Carruthers, Robyn Cowen, Alex Ibaceta and Moyo Abiona dissect the final games in Group C and D as the last eight takes shape. Plus, our correspondent from Austria, Tom Middler, shines a spotlight on one of the surprise packages to make the quarter-finals

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, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. The quarter finals are complete and Iceland become the first team to exit the Euros without losing a game.

Cue devastation from the pods' panellists. A tight Group C ends predictably with Sweden finishing top, while Group D's dramatic finale sees the Red Flames melt Iceland's hearts as Belgium make the knockout stages for the first time in their history. Karim Diakra walks into the last eight looking smug, Jonas Eidevall is looking sunburnt and the quarterfinal matchups are looking tantalising. We'll look ahead to them, dissect the final four group matches, take your questions and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is supported by Visa,

a proud sponsor of UEFA Women's Euro 2022. Visa knows competition is at its best when everyone truly has a chance to take part. Whether it's a player competing on a world stage or a small business taking control of their economic future, Visa recognises that we'll only see the best of all of us when everyone participates. Their technology and tools help entrepreneurs

turn small ideas into big businesses, wherever they are. Find out more at theguardian.com slash all hyphen win. What a pod panel we have today. Robin Cowan, fresh from commentating in severe heat, Switzerland versus Netherlands. God, that was intense for you. Yeah, it was. I think fresh is not the right word to describe that.

Gosh, yeah, it was close. The six-minute VAR check didn't help when you're kind of wanting it all to describe that. Gosh, yeah, it was close. The six minute VAR check didn't help when you're kind of wanting it all to be over. Yeah. Oh, my God. Painful. You almost, almost became the only person apart from Tom Midler to predict Austria getting out of Group A with England. But you backtracked when I pushed you because you were fence sitting. And I mean, we will talk in a second about your Group D predictions. While you're even on this pod, you've got zero credibility now, I'm afraid. Leaving the call.

Yeah, that's it. Robin exits the building. Alex Ibaseta, have you been on any more walks with the Orangi? That was what you were doing the last time we spoke. Yeah, I haven't actually, even though I probably sound like it a bit this time around too. But no, I haven't. I've been hopping around mainly with Spanish fans now, actually.

But yeah, I am kind of looking forward to the Netherlands hopefully getting through. I'm not going to predict that because that's probably going to be wrong too. I'm just looking at Wembley Way just being filled up with Oranje fans and that'll be the best part of the tournament.

I absolutely can't wait for that. Moyo Abiona, a debut from the Gold Diggers podcast. How's the Euros been going for you? It's been great. It's been really good. I think it's been everything I wanted. All the people I wanted to perform, I performed. So no letdowns on my end. But no, it's been good.

It's been good. Some exciting matches, some new people that I hadn't necessarily seen as well, mixing up with the big guys as well. So I've been enjoying it. Well, you wait until you start making predictions on this pod. They will all come back to haunt you, I promise. Now I'm panicking. Recorded and in history forever.

Right, let's start with Group group d because i think in the end this was group d for drama wasn't it france obviously already through but any of iceland italy and belgium could have joined them and in the end it's belgium into the last eight thanks to a one nil win over italy while iceland drew one all with france and weren't even given the opportunity to try and get the winner. Let's just touch on the fact Robin went for Italy and Iceland to get out of this group in our preview pod, which, you know, you said you were going to own it. Yeah, no, I hold my hands up for Italy. I think they've been probably the most underwhelming performance at the Euros. I think I probably overhyped them.

And when I really think about kind of exactly where they are as a nation, maybe we were, because they had such a good World Cup, that maybe we were kind of, yeah, overestimating them a little bit. But for Iceland, I really think that they just let this get away from them. When I look back at all their games, they missed a penalty in the first one, couldn't hold on against Italy and then yesterday they put in I know France made a lot of changes but they put in a really good performance against the French and as you said in your intro like going unbeaten not going through

I feel like it's a missed opportunity for them so what I'm saying is I'm trying to you know obviously brush over the facts I've got this completely wrong. Is that Iceland should have, I mean, they really should have gone through. They had the opportunities. They couldn't quite get there. They let you down, Robin. That's what they did. They let you personally down.

You and your credibility. I feel particularly affronted by them. The fastest goal of the Euros followed them by the latest goal of the Euros about 96 minutes later. It kind of was a game of beginnings and endings, wasn't it? Yeah, I mean, again, you think, oh, France is going to run away with this like they did in the first game. But, I mean, they had two goals ruled out, a handball on offside.

Yeah, I just still, after that first game for France, I'm just not sure about them still. They clearly have the firepower. I mean, the first goal was brilliant. You know, Mallard with a little flick and then the finish. And you just think, oh dear, this is going to be a long evening for Iceland. But yeah, I'm still unconvinced. And in terms of my prediction, I predicted the implosion a bit too early I'm pretty sure it's still coming and you're

going to click this up when they reach the final I'm sure but like it just there's still something just not quite right there for me but the thing is they're capable of winning the tournament because of the quality they have they really are it's just I don't know there's just something missing for me. But the thing is, they're capable of winning the tournament because of the quality they have. They really are. It's just, I don't know, there's just something missing for me. You were excited, Alex, on Twitter that Karim Diakra decided to start Melvin Mallard.

Obviously, earlier in the week, really awful news that Marianne Sweeney-Cototo has an ACL injury, so ruled out of the tournament. So gutting for her and for France as well. But Mallard made a pretty good case for being her replacement. Yeah, I celebrated that goal really, really hard. It's going back to, you know, the situation that we see in Spain also.

It's having these players that you know are capable of stepping into positions that are needed. And I'm not taking anything from Sara but when you look at the the way that Katoto plays she's been dropping in really deep when the midfield has been stuck behind she's been dropping in deep to collect and then making the run forward Sara is more of a she's a bit more static in terms of she waits to receive the ball and it's fine when you have wingers like France do you know she is going to get the ball quite often but But we saw it yesterday. As Robin said, for that goal that she did, she dropped in deep, gave a little flick off, got a 1-2 shot.

You know, it was a simple finish. It was a simple training ground finish into the bottom corner where the keeper couldn't get it. And it's just simple things like that. And when you look at Maladad she obviously plays for Lyon when Ada Hegerberg was out you know she was a player that stepped into an Ada Hegerberg role which is you know one of the most prolific goal scorers in in the world and she plays with you know as different as they are you know PSG and Lyon do play quite similar so when you have PSG wingers with you PSG midfielders mixed in with Lyon players as well.

You know, it makes sense to have her there because she's so used to playing with the style play of the players. She plays very similar to Catoto. So I was kind of really happy that kind of common sense prevailed in a sense, which doesn't happen every single time. But yeah, look, I think she proved herself. But I am worried that the reason why she started was because this was against Iceland. And that's not to take away from Iceland,

but I feel like Corinne Diac would probably have that reasoning. So I am curious to see who will start against Netherlands. She definitely won't start her, will she? No, I've accepted it. I was going to say, common sense and Corinne Diacra do not go hand in hand, do they? We got to see more of France's fringe players last night though, Moira, as Robin and Alex said. She's used 20 of her squad so far, Diacra, which is the most that France have ever used at a Euros.

But who were you most excited to get to see play that we perhaps haven't seen much of yet? I was really excited, to be fair. I wouldn't say that she's a fringe player, but I was really excited to see Sandy Baltimore. I mean, I was surprised that she hadn't started more of the games. I think going into Euros, I thought that she was going to be a proper integral part of the team. But it seems as though she's only really now been called upon now that there's been some injuries, which is interesting. But obviously obviously France have so many attacking players especially from wide that it's not really a surprise but at the same time it's interesting I think she brings exactly what Alex was just saying with Mallard as well is that she brings the link-up play that you want when she's part of the front three it seems extra

fluid as well I feel like she links up well with not only the fullback but also the striker so I think that she's just someone that's easy the fullback, but also the striker. So I think that she's just someone that's easy to play with. Another person I was really wanting to see because she's just come off a great season was just Salma Basher as well. She's been fantastic this whole year, to be honest. And I think coming off of that Champions League final, I expected her to start the first game as well. And she didn't. So I was thinking, OK, I hope that it's not something that's just she's shining in club level but she's not going to get the chance to shine uh with the national team but I was happy that she she put in a good performance yesterday I think with with Basho you know what you're

getting in terms of you know she can attack you know she's solid defensively you know she's got pace and I think the main thing for her is just to use her as an outlet as much as possible and that's what we got yesterday to be honest I think in the first half she was getting opportunities to to sort of bomb down the the wing but in the second half it seemed like it was a bit more reduced I don't know if it's because France started I feel like they took their foot off the gas a bit I don't know if it was intentional or not but it just it did seem as though the energy levels dropped but I guess it's hard to keep your energy levels up when you're really through if you've not been given an opportunity in the tournament though you know you're fighting for a starting place yeah no exactly I do feel like people there were a couple players that I could

feel like they could have made a claim a bit more so that they could actually you know strike up an idea in the manager's mind that okay I actually want to play but I think at the same time they kind of know that their manager pretty much knows who she wants to play already like I don't know how much like scope they've got to actually impress enough to enter a starting 11 and that's something that only they'll know because they've been working for for longer but um yeah no it was a good performance from the players that haven't necessarily started all the games I was impressed and that's probably where Iceland are going to be the most disappointed, Robin, aren't they? Because they were given an opportunity

against a weakened France side. And we all had so much affection for this Iceland team. Five mums in the squad. As we say, they've not lost a single game and yet they're still going home. It was just really gutting for them, all down on their haunches at the final whistle, which never actually

came did it is it still being played yeah um yeah no I think that was the thing and you know we all we all have a huge amount of affection for them and I think there is a wider thing here when you see that their kids on the pitch and you just think god can you imagine being like a sort of I don't know five six year old seeing your mum play a tournament like that? That must just be so awesome. And even though they're out, I just feel like that's so cool. And as I said, really gutted they're not through because I really feel like they, I think they were probably the second strongest team. And also looking ahead, without wanting to disrespect Belgium, I do think they would have given Sweden a tougher test just on the performances we've seen. They've got great wide players, obviously that trademark long throw, really tough physical, difficult to break down. They're just lacking that little bit of end product. But also, I mean, a shout out to that penalty. Wow. She took the roof off the net.

It was like a goal kick, wasn't it? Yeah, lovely to see the scenes afterwards with their kids. Yeah, I think Iceland and the supermarket are going to be devastated

they're out as well because they've had so much free publicity for the last couple of weeks as well with mums going to Iceland left, right and centre. Nice tweet from

Christian Radnidge. I'd love your opinion on. He said, which team's fans are the panel going to miss the most? Iceland and their Thunderclap. But Denmark's fans, in my opinion, were brilliant in their turnout. A mass bucket hat support. Who's the most missed, Moyo? Oh, I mean, the Thunderclap.

I mean, I actually do join in. Even when I'm at home, I have to join in. It's just a must, to be honest. When I do it, my sister just looks over at me like, what the hell is going on? But I have to, I have to. You clearly weren't too damaged by England's exit in 2016 in that case, because I just get shivers down my spine every time I hear the thunderclap. I think Robin might do the same. Yeah, whenever I see an Iceland player winding up for a long throw, I just can't. Just, yeah, flashbacks. Horrible flashbacks. So the team who Iceland missed out to are Belgium, who beat Italy thanks to a wonderful Tina de Cagny strike. She was the top scorer overall in qualification, so it only seemed fair that she got on the score sheet at some point.

Are they the most surprising team, Alex? Belgium are a tough one to describe, I think. I mean, within right reason. They've been around European football for quite a long time. When you compare them to the likes of Iceland and Italy, they've consistently been not exactly at the top, but within these tournaments and always getting into the last tournaments. And they have players that, you know, Janice Kamen, Tessa Voilard, for example.

You know, these are big game players that have played at elite level for quite a long time. And for some reason, I get this really big confidence around Belgium. They know what they're capable of and they've been there long enough that they will think we are this team and we should be winning these kinds of games. And that's kind of the feeling that I get around them. And look, they do try to play, you know, really good football. And, you know, for that Janis Keeman goal against France, that was a really good play, but they can't do that consistently. So they'll have these moments of brilliance where you see the qualities of these players but they can't keep that up for the entirety of the match

which is what gets me sometimes and just kind of okay you know you're better than this go on and just do it but yeah like when you look at I think it was more down to Iceland and Italy disappointing rather than Belgium kind of getting it through. And obviously they did win against Italy. But Italy, I would say, probably had more chances to finish off the game than Belgium did. And they simply didn't. And the same for Iceland. You know, Iceland, they weren't kind of just sitting back and defending against France. They were going at it and they had a lot of good chances.

I think they probably could have easily put away two goals. But then again, France did get two goals called off. So it could have gone either way. But yeah, Belgium are interesting in the sense that their confidence is really, really high. But whether or not that's going to stick after the Sweden game, I don't know. We'll discuss the Sweden game in a second. But let's touch on Italy, Robin you know you and Alex have both mentioned that they've been disappointing and after the game the Italian coach Milena Bertolini rocking that

suit in steering temperatures only an Italian could do that in the dugout unbelievable no sweat patches either yeah the only concession she made for that she rolled her sleeves up a little yeah yeah oh to allow a little breeze I think tiny I mean style over comfort I mean you got it you know fair play to her I didn't see it not not a drop of sweat on her I mean I'd have been absolutely dying same same there would have been nothing nothing classy about me on the touchline that's for sure she did imply, afterwards that the expectations around her side have been a bit too high, but I think we are all in agreement that they've just been disappointing.

I think it's a bit of both, actually. As I said before, I do think possibly we were overhyping them because of their good World Cup and also Juventus did well at the Champions League. Maybe it's a slight parallel with Spain that you kind of transfer that club, the kind of biggest club in the domestic league to how you feel like they should perform in a tournament. I think they had a really, obviously, they had a really tough first game. And there's also parallels with Norway and Denmark as well.

You kind of have a really, one of your games goes really badly. And I just think it was really hard to recover from that. They were 5-0 down at halftime, weren't they, in that first game? And it's just, I can't imagine what, you know, you just think, all players say, oh, we just got to put it aside. But that must be really hard. It's not as easy said than done, isn't it? Well, we saw it with Norway, didn't we?

8-0 and they just couldn't then get over the line against Austria. Moyo, Alex has touched upon Sweden as Belgium's next opponents and Jonas Eidevall could barely contain his delight that they were going to be the opponents in the quarterfinals. But they perhaps should be a bit wary of the Belgians. As Alex said, they have got quality when they decide to turn it on. Yeah, I think one thing with the Belgian team that we can see is that they've got, it seems that they've got a real big sense of self-awareness.

So they know when a team is better than them in certain positions. So they're not going to overdo it. They're not the kind of team that's just going to leave like the whole back line exposed when they know that the opposition team is better than them and I think some Sweden fans potentially think that it's just going to be like all alleyways are open and they're just going to run through like with Sweden's attacking line that's going to get through every single time but I think obviously Belgium are going to take that game as Sweden have superior opposition players to us how best can we how best can we contain them first I think it's going to be a sense of containment first and foremost before actually attacking

and the aim is definitely going to be to frustrate Sweden because I think we've seen that Sweden can get frustrated when things aren't necessarily going their way and I think if Belgium can do that for as long as possible, they'll definitely put themselves in good stead with a chance. What I would say is they've got no pressure on them at all. Yeah, nothing to lose at this point. Literally no one thinks they're going to beat Sweden. So I think that could work in their favour. I don't think Sweden will take them lightly.

I don't think their manager will let them. But they've definitely got the kindest quarterfinal, I'd say, Sweden. Yeah, the kindest. That's a nice way to look at it. That's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly is supported by Visa, who as well as being a proud sponsor of UEFA Women's Euro 2022, are helping support its growth through a number of different global initiatives. One of those has been taking place in one of this summer's host cities, Southampton, where Utilita have been running football camps with support from Visa.

Southampton midfielder Shannon Sivright's been helping with the camps as part of her role as Inclusion Coordinator at the Saints Foundation. Shannon, lovely to see you. Can you tell us a bit more about what your role actually involves? So part of it is looking at our female engagement across all of our charitable projects. Other elements to my role is managing and overseeing our disability provision at the foundation and then some community-based open access sessions for individuals to get involved in football and sport.

That sounds absolutely incredible. The football camps that Southampton have been running with support from Visa, why did Southampton want to set these up in the first place? What was the idea behind them? I think it's just an incredible opportunity for individuals in our local community to engage in football engage in like Southampton Football Club because football can be obviously so important for like social development as well I think Southampton Football Club like holds that like really important

to them. Yeah what kind of feedback do you get from the youngsters? I know the girls that were involved in the recent football camp absolutely loved it you should see their like doorstep when you say that you'll be able to like train at the Samantha Football Club training ground. And one player in particular is going to be gaining more than more than most because they're going to have the chance to watch an England match how important is it for young girls to have the opportunity to discover and play football and be able to watch it on the European stage as they will? I think it's incredibly important to expose individuals in our community with that opportunity. Because it's so important for young people to have positive role models. And I think they certainly can see that more so in women's football now.

And certainly with the England game as well being hosted at St Mary's Stadium, what an opportunity for our local community to be able to watch that. Shannon, thank you so much for sharing with us how Southampton and Visa are helping support the women's game. And now back to the show. Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Plenty of goals in Group C, although maybe not as much chaos perhaps as we would have liked. Sweden and the Netherlands progressing from this group in first and second respectively,

which is pretty much what we all guessed before a ball was kicked. But we had some twists and turns to get there, didn't we? You were at Switzerland won the Netherlands for Robin and there was a point here where it looked like perhaps Switzerland would be able to knock the Dutch out I mean that miss from Sal at one all looks particularly bad now yeah although I would qualify that was actually really good goalkeeping from Van Domslo's had an incredible tournament what What a story, you know, coming in, barely had it. I think she only had one cap and then she comes in.

She's been absolutely unbelievable. So yeah, I mean, I think it's a bit like what Alex said about Belgium. Like Switzerland, when they were on top, they were all over them. They had all these chances. They didn't take them. And then actually, as soon as Leo Volty went off injured, that's when the Netherlands started scoring loads of goals. So 4-1 really doesn't reflect that game at all.

The Netherlands have a lot of issues and I understand they've had a difficult tournament with COVID injuries, but they were not convincing at all. Alex, the Netherlands kind of decided in the last five minutes of the game that they really wanted to have a go at Sweden's goal difference. Three goals from the 84th minute onwards, thanks to their substitutes. How impressed have you been with them when they have brought on their younger players? You know, we've seen their substitute making effects immediately. We saw against Sweden, you know, when a Victoria Pilova came on to the right wing, immediately she was outrunning, you know, a person like, say, a Hannah Glass or a Magda Eriksson,

you know, that's not easy. And she was getting right by the touchline. She was making those crosses. She made an effect immediately. And we've seen it, you know, the goal scorers have been the substitutes, have been the young players. You know, we go back to the keeper. She is a player that hasn't gone to the opportunity yet and look she's thriving

under the pressure of kind of stepping into that role and that doesn't even begin to say that the youngsters that have been left on the bench that haven't been used much um i'm a big fan of esme brutz i think she's a brilliant young talent and she hasn't been able to play that much you know she came on yesterday but you haven't really been able to see her but the Netherlands are that team that have their experienced players that you know are always going to start ahead of the youngsters you know no one's going to start over a Sharia Spitzer, a Vivian Miedema, you know Likke Martens which is you know fair because they are really amazing players. But I think the Netherlands were perhaps not underrated, but because a lot of people don't really know their own players, you know, me included,

I still don't know quite a few of them. You don't really see them having a deep bench. But then when you look at the effect that these substitutes have on the pitch, it is really impressive. And that could be, you know, a big advantage going forward because you have these players that nobody really knows about. And they're obviously good enough to make an impression at a big tournament already. We were discussing that actually after the game, like as pull over, I feel like she's probably been their best player,

like in terms of, I know she's not started a game, but she's come on and impacted. But then you can't, politically, you can't really drop Lika Martens even though she's not she's not really performed they might have Vivian Miedema back can't really drop Jill Roard or Banda Donk so it's actually it's it's just there's basically just no space for her but I feel for her because she's been really she looks very very sharp good to come off the bench I guess. Isn't that where you need a Serena Wiegman perhaps and Mark Parsons might need to channel his the former coach's

energy with that? You know what though, Serena Wiegman was not that manager with the Netherlands I must say that because she was still kind of an old timer in terms of those players you know Joe Ward even struggled to get a lot of playing time under Serena Wiegman I think the point is that she likes a consistent team, doesn't she?

And yeah, I'm not sure what Mark Parsons will do, but I can't see him starting, say, a Broids or a Luchter, just because they performed well when they came on. I just think they really miss Miedema, don't they? And I don't know what state she's in, but if she's not fit for against France that's a huge huge blow it felt at times that Netherlands were playing

as if they still thought Viv was up there some of the balls they were putting in it was as though they thought they had more of like a target number nine up there you definitely can't play that way with Berenstain up front I think the best we've seen of berenstein is when she's getting the ball in quickly and in behind and they weren't really doing that yesterday and what i've seen that's funny this year as well is that it seems as though sometimes like

the team starts playing the way the original like the starting 11 want to play once the starting 11 players are off so like i've seen it with england as well like sometimes they're putting in loads of crosses when like russo's not on the pitch for example and then when Russo is on the pitch they're not putting in as many crosses it's similar to that and I think it's just like being able to adapt quicker on the pitch of like okay this is who's playing in front of me this is how they like to receive the ball and I feel like Netherlands didn't necessarily do that in the first half that's a really good point because actually they could have had a penalty. It was rightly overturned.

But that was the one time they went long to her. And she's so rapid that, you know, that caused them problems. So, yeah, no, that's a really good point. Sweden 5, Portugal 0. I mean, it was a pretty simple win in the end for Sweden. Portugal conceding more goals from set pieces. Seven of the 10 goals they've conceded at the tournament came that way. Francisco Neto, Alex, dropped Ines Pereira for this game.

But, I mean, it doesn't really seem like the problem had anything to do with her height, perhaps. No, I think, look, if you look at the way Portugal have defended set pieces this entire group match, you understand why they're conceding so much. It's a mess in the box. They're committing five players to the front post for whatever reason that may be. And yes, maybe the height does have to do with the difficulties of going up for a hand. But just do what I do, just pull their kit down by the waist or something you know it's not that bad but their defensive mess on set pieces is the answer that you need so the reason why they've conceded so much they i don't know if if it's just not prepared or if the players don't really know what to do or if the players just aren't you know that's just their biggest weakness who knows

that's not how to defend set pieces against, you know, the likes of Sweden, for example, who are Scandinavian goddesses that are tall. Scandinavian goddesses that are tall. Best way to describe Swedes. Sweden finally got going, it felt, in this game, albeit for different reasons. Do you feel like they've just been warming up this whole time, Robin?

Quite possibly, yeah. They were very much hyped. A lot of women's football journalists who follow the game were tipping them to win because they've come so close into the two previous tournaments. So I think everyone was a little bit underwhelmed with their first two performances. But again, it's like England. You look at their depth their attacking quality they've got really good solid defence as well although obviously Portugal weren't the most difficult opposition to break down especially from those set pieces yeah I think that's a statement win for them definitely. I feel like in the Switzerland game especially, before Benison scored that goal,

they were very underwhelming. I thought Switzerland sort of acquitted themselves well and it didn't seem as though there was much of a difference between the level of Switzerland and the level of Sweden. And I think something you want with a team like Sweden is for them to impose themselves on every game. So no matter if the opposition they're playing isn't as good as them you want them to put their foot down and say this is Sweden and this is how we play and I felt as though they were just going

with the flow in games almost. Jonas Eidevang like alluded to it after one of the games I think it was a Switzerland game and he was like yes like Sweden have won but don't be deceived like that was not a good performance and that performance isn't going to be enough to carry them through. So I think they were trying to sort of make things right in that Sweden-Portugal game. They've been such good fun, though. I'm going to miss Portugal as much as I'm going to miss Iceland, I have to say. They've done themselves a lot of favours in this tournament. But we do have all our quarterfinals set. England versus Spain, France against the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and then Germany, Austria.

So, of course, we had to get our favourite Austrian correspondent back on to have a quick chat about them making the quarterfinals. Tom Midler, lovely to see you. Hello. What a delight to be back. That means Austria have done well. I'm so proud. Well, listen, you predicted that they were going to go through. Robin almost did, but she backtracked on it and she's regretting that now. But it kind of, for the rest of us, perhaps, was a little bit unexpected. But that win over Norway felt comfortable. Yeah, I think the only thing I was a bit uncomfortable with was the fact that they were sort of labeled by some as favorites because of the Norway England result. And I don't think that was ever the truth, really. You know, obviously, Norway did fail to recover from that in time.

But I thought it was really brave from Irina Fuhrman to basically say, look, we're not the favorites, but we're going to go out and play to win because we deserve this. And we believe that we can beat them. And true to her word, as she was in all three group games, they went out and played the way they wanted to play. And they got the result at the end of the day with what I thought was a fantastic quality goal probably the best goal that Austria have scored in this Euros for sure. How much of a and apologies if I'm being really ignorant and just looking at proximity but how much of a derby is Germany Austria? Massive it's the absolutely ideal draw here it's the the comparison I would give is like Scotland v England.

You know, it's not going to be easy for Austria. Everyone knows that you're always the outsider when you're Austria and you're playing against Germany. But it also is great for the sort of casual public as well, because I think the casual public will tune into this one a lot more. Now, it's, you know, if it was Austria v Spain, something like that, the odds would be stacked against them in a similar way. But against Germany, it just means more. It's something very different and it has the the potential to be a very very memorable game you know anytime that Austria have defeated Germany in in men's football it's gone down you know it's etched in history uh in the Austrian football annals basically so if they do it again this time it's a chance for the women to write some history and and that's what

you want at a major tournament isn't it just to be in these games it's really interesting isn't it because I think most people having looked at the Germans have said they're favorites for the for the tournament overall but because it's a derby if you like there's an extra edge to it could they cause a really big upset I really think they could yeah I'm not saying that they will or they should but I think they could you know they've been so honest so far in a way I think I mean you can hear I'm a bit hoarse actually because I've been you know screaming my way through the group stages supporting them and the Norway game especially was a good one but what I really like about this Austria team is that everything they've said that they wanted to do they've gone and done it they played I would term it as pretty much the perfect group stage and it's

hard to explain that to people obviously as they lost to England that's not exactly what you want but they played a game of percentages there and they're never going to be favourites against England but if you play that game 10 times maybe they come away with a couple of one-all draws maybe they sneak a one-nil win once or twice and there's nothing else that you can ask for when you play against a bigger team like that and I'm sure they'll set up in the same way against Germany they've been fantastic at winning balls back their problem has continually been turning that into dangerous opportunities. But everybody's having that trouble, really, or most teams are having that trouble, not England so much. But I like that they brought in players, you know, Irina Fuhrman said, let's bring on Hickelsberger Fuller and she's good at running

against opponents. Let's see what it does. Straight away, early on in the game against Northern Ireland, those runs had led to a free kick, which led to the goal. So it seems like the pieces are kind of falling into place for Austria at the moment. Is it right to say, Tom, that a lot of them play in the German league, don't they? So I guess that could play to their advantage a little bit. They kind of know almost what to expect from some of the individuals they might be up against. Yeah, that's very much the case. There was a bit of that sort of spice in the England game as well, actually, with players like Manuela Zinsberger, you know,

lots of Arsenal teammates in there. But now, if we just say, let's pick out Sarah Zadradzil, who plays for Bayern Munich. I think she's got six Bayern Munich teammates who are in this Germany side. So they know how they play,

you know, they're good friends. And that does add an extra layer to this kind of game. And who knows, you know, sometimes that can be a bit of an advantage as well,

can't it? Obviously it works both ways, but probably the underdogs gain more from that than the favourites, I would argue. I find it quite fascinating that in the opening game against England, everybody was talking about how poor England were, as opposed to the fact that Austria nullified their chances quite a lot. And it just shows actually what this Austria side can do against bigger teams. Yeah, they'll definitely be

looking to do it the same way I think I mentioned the last time I was on it's a little bit risky when you play this kind of passive game of lining up against your opponents trying to nullify their threats it means you can lose your identity but Austria seem to have a way of doing that without kind of losing their identity because they're not an all-out gung-ho attacking team anyway so it's not like they stifle that side. And if they can get that balance right, I really think they will be dangerous. And honestly, you know, obviously when you win your group,

you win the group of death like Germany have, you play against the second place team, of course. But I think they would have probably not been too happy to see Austria sneak into that second spot. And, you know, the Norway game was also a good test, playing against a team with a lot of good quality players and having to go and do it your way. And I'm glad that, you know, they didn't scrape over the line. I thought they really outplayed Norway

and were well worthy of the win. And people keep forgetting that they made the semifinals in 2017 as well. I've also seen you on Twitter in a Spain shirt, Tom. We need to discuss this. Are you backing them against England? Absolutely not. Actually, for those who know know me I'm a massive football shirt collector and I've got a huge amount of football shirts on I'm wearing an Austria shirt right now and yeah I've got a

massive collection at home the Spain one hadn't been worn for a while I've got my England women's shirt ready for Wednesday so don't have a go at me for that one I promise it meant nothing I feel like Pierre Luigi Colina when he tried on that AC Milan shirt a few years ago. There was nothing in it, I promise. Brilliant stuff. Listen, we wish you the best of luck

and we hope after the quarterfinals that we'll have you back on to discuss it. I'm sure we'll have you back on regardless. Tom, thank you very much. Thanks very much.

Cheers. Wonderful stuff. Tom Midler there. Right. What do we all think about the quarterfinals then? Who's making it to the last four I mean that potential Germany France matchup could be very tasty Moyo you're

nodding your head as if to say yes bring me all of that action yes because to be honest that side of the draw especially has the teams that I thought were the biggest threats to England winning the Euros. So the fact that they're going to be out, England can only get one of those teams if they make it to the final. I think that's good for England. I think those games are going to be really tough. I think whichever team doesn't make it to the final is going to be extremely disappointed. I think with France, they're going to be disappointed, not because they feel like they've been playing to the level is going to be extremely disappointed I think with France they're going to be disappointed not because they feel like they've been playing to the level that deserves to be in the final but I think France as a nation expects to be winning major honours and I think

with Germany I feel as though they think they're playing at the level that should be winning major tournaments so one of them's more about form and one of them's more about like the history of of the team it's going to be a good game I think the one that I find most fascinating is is France Netherlands in particular because when you talk about form versus history you're talking about a France side that have never gone past the quarterfinal stage and a Netherlands side who aren't playing at their best at the moment and are under a little bit of a revolution under Mark Parsons, but won it in 2017 and have great history in major tournaments getting to the final of the 2019 World Cup. So for me, could that be another, almost an upset, Robin? Yeah, I think you've put that put that perfectly because yeah I think possibly

from the outside France will be seen as favorites but when you do look at their history it's so poor in knockout stages so poor I think on paper they should win this but then a bit like you know when Netherlands faced Portugal they were struggling and then van der Donk spanked one into the top corner so they can they have that they can have you know they can just do that out of nowhere this one is really hard to predict because they both clearly as we've seen have flaws but they also have incredible attacks and a lot of quality so I guess it's who limits the mistakes the most and constant has the kind of most consistent back line I suppose so yeah it's this is going to be really interesting because I don't really think there is a clear favorite from that one actually I feel as if that one could go

to penalties so I'm waiting for that prediction to bite me in the backside and France win 5-0. I mean, Netherlands don't really like a penalty shootout, to be honest. Very, very true. Listen, Alex, bear in mind that you are on the pod with three England fans, but England, Spain. Spain have, you have to say, been a bit disappointing, but England have to be wary of them. Yeah, it's a hard one to call in the sense that it's again you know it's form against maybe club level history perhaps

when you look at obviously England are have been consistent and they've they're I mean they're a beast right now it's really hard to think about something that could stop them but then you look at Spain and the players that they have and you know that a lot of the players on the England team have lost to these players in a big you know fashion you know Chelsea players have lost to Barcelona in the final Man City lost to Barcelona and then to Real Madrid in the Champions League you know consecutive years so you have that kind of I don't know if it will be more of a ballistic factor of a mental factor of you know a Millie Bright coming up against a Mariona or a Naitana and Patri and you know maybe getting a little bit of PTSD there

and it sounds stupid to say but England's strengths go to Spain's weaknesses and Spain's strengths go to England's weaknesses I think now the biggest challenge that England are going to have is, you know, they've gone under Serena Wigman and now they're keeping possession a bit more than they used to. And, you know, we see Spain, as little as they create, they're still getting 70% possession against their opponents. So how England react to that is going to be important. And I think going off of what

I've just said, England might have the edge because of, yes, they don't have possession. You know, Lauren Hemp is going to be high pressing. Beth Mead is going to be high pressing. Ellen White is going to be there for the top end. So I think England have the strength to be able to pull it off against Spain. But Spain then again, have the ability to pull something out of nothing at the end of the day all but one of their goals in the group stages came from headers that's not Spain that's not Spain's players it doesn't make any sense and I think from the qualifications leading up to the tournament I think it was just like a seven percent of all their goals came from headers you know Spain haven't really clicked in the sense of what they know.

And I think that's not their fault. I think that's more down to selection. But yeah, it's going to be an interesting one. And I sadly do have to give the edge to England, mostly because of the confidence that these players are filled in and they know that these players can cause problems. And I think England will have the confidence to kind of brush that aside and just get the job done. Alex wrote a really good piece for the analyst about sort of analysing

Spain and kind of where they're going wrong a little bit and Alex I think the main takeaway was that the manager's kind of been not really like rotating personnel that much but actually just their positions hasn't he and not trying to fill that massive puteus shaped hole in this team which is it's kind of struggling to do that which is fair enough yeah no but it just there's just different solutions and it is it is funny because david minayo from marca spanish newspaper he asked you know jorge villa all these questions that were you you know, why aren't you playing Amayor Serrelli? Why are you doing three different lineups? And he dodged all the questions because I don't even think he knows what he's doing wrong.

So his answer to that question was, no matter who's in that position, they're going to be doing the same thing. And if you're taking that approach to fill in a gap that Alexia Poteas has filled behind, that's probably not the right approach that you should be taking. You should probably be taking the approach to finding your player strengths, which obviously he doesn't necessarily do. But yeah, you know, Spain have, and it's a shame to see because Spain have the potential and they have the young players unlike any other team.

You know, we saw against Denmark at halftime when Olga Carmona came on, when Marta Cardona came on. Leila Wahabi had a good tournament and Olga Carmona got a shot on goal within the first minute or two that she came on. So there's players there to live up to the Spain potential, but they're just not being used right and And we're seeing kind of this flop. Gosh. Well, that means bearing in mind what our predictions are like on this pod, that Spain are going to knock England out at this rate, I think. Moyo, which quarterfinals are

you going to see? I'm going to the England game. I think I'm going to France-Neverland. Like it. Two cracking games, hopefully. Robinin what are you going to be commentating on well england and i just need to apologize immediately to alex because she sent me a nice voice note of all the spanish names but i'm going to absolutely butcher them well i mean there's one reason to be grateful that iceland are out i would i would suggest yeah i didn't want to say that but yeah I would have done it for them if England get to the finals I presume you would be on commentary duty for that have you thought

about your they think it's all over line if they were going to win it oh no no no as I say I'm being a footballer one game at a time I'm Millie Brighton this one game at a time because I think this is the thing right England will be favorites going into this but Spain haven't clicked yet and it's very possible they will click and it will be very difficult to stop them I'm not saying that means they'll win but they haven't shown what they can do yet so wait and see we'll wait and see because that yeah I do there's there's so much more that and I can imagine Alex this is the frustration that she knows how good the potential is and haven't seen it at all yet save it for the world cup don't get it out here don't ruin our euros

right listen it's been an absolute delight Moyo well done on your debut great to have you with us thanks for having me thanks for having me really enjoyed it alex i'd love to say good luck spain but you know where my allegiances lie i'll say good luck to myself i need it yeah robin always a pleasure uh pull those splinters out never i've learned my lesson from making predictions never again no for none of us that's all for today's Women's Football Weekly

we'll be back on Friday as we find out who our first semi-finalists are The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly is produced by Lucy Oliver

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