The Guardian's Women's Football Weekly - WSL leaders stay perfect, plus World Cup draw – Women’s Football Weekly

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Sophie Downey and Chris Paouros discuss the latest news, matches and Rainbow Laces

This is The Guardian. 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. Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Just call her Marnum PI. Has Frieda solved Arsenal's midfield? Should Brighton and Chelsea have played in boats or maybe just not played at all? Has anyone decided to mark Dagny Brynner's dot here yet?

And is anyone still waiting for the Women's World Cup draw to take place? I do think it's finally finished, so we'll take a look at England's group, ask all those questions, plus take yours, and that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Susie Rack, it's your cue. Susie Rack, it's your cue. Are you ready? Susie Rack? What? Yeah, yeah. Chris has got it. Chris understands what I'm saying I don't sorry

it's just a lot of love for the wonderful Ian Wright who missed his cue on the Women's World Cup draw and came out going is it me I'm so sorry

Susie Rack it's you oh that's hilarious because I missed the World Cup draw entirely and slept in because I was running on three hours sleep

so you totally missed your cue wowza I like the idea of Susie being the Ian Wright of this podcast. I would take that all day long. Absolutely. That's the wonderful voice of Chris Poweros. It's a delight to have you on. How are you doing? Really well, thank you. Lovely to be here. And Sophie Downey completes our trio. How are you doing? I'm good, thank you. A little tired, but good. Okay, let's kick things off, shall we, at Prenton Park.

Liverpool 0, Arsenal 2. Susie, obviously a very good week for Arsenal. Try not to look too smug. The 5-1 win against Lyon in the Champions League and then another clean sheet in the WSL. I think that's 10 in a row now, which is insane. 2-0 win over Liverpool. Goals here from Leo Valti. Only a second ever for Arsenal, which when I read that's 10 in a row now, which is insane. 2-0 win over Liverpool. Goals here from Leah Vaulty.

Only her second ever for Arsenal, which when I read that, I couldn't quite believe. And of course, the woman of the moment, Frida Mahnum. By the way, nod to Jesse Parker-Humphreys,

one of our producers who wrote that intro of Mahnum P.I., which tickled me. How pivotal has she been this week for for Arsenal not just this week but this season oh brilliant I mean it's uh it's really exciting when you see players come in and get their chance and really grab it by the horns give the manager a massive headache it's nice to see you know she's not looked particularly delighted at being sat on the bench as anyone would look so yeah like to come in and and do

what she's done this week has been pretty impressive it's been great to see some of the fringe players get a little bit of time on the pitch for Arsenal I was a bit surprised that there were so few changes for the game against Liverpool I expected more after that Lyon win although like I can understand why you would want to keep momentum Serena Wiegmann style going through some big games but when you compare say Arsenal to Chelsea, Chelsea changed seven players and Arsenal kept the same lineup I don't know what's better Arsenal looked slicker and kept their momentum better, but Chelsea rested some really important legs. They also had an extra day though, didn't they, Arsenal to Chelsea? I think Chelsea literally

arrived back early Friday morning, which we'll talk about in a second, but they had like one day training. So I kind of get that. Yeah, no, I think it's a good thing that you make loads of changes ahead of the next game when you've got a short turnaround of three games a week obviously we could see at the end the likes of Miedema and Ibucci not looking too happy in different ways and Chelsea won't have that problem with you know the likes of Beth England getting on the pitch for the first time in however long and Canardannerard, whose name I can't really pronounce, looking really excellent for Chelsea. So I think that Arsenal causing themselves trouble by not mixing up a little bit more.

But at the same time, they kept the momentum on the pitch really, really well, which was effective. I saw a TikTok last night, actually, of a post huddle at the Arsenal game. And it looked like Frida was crying and Miedema threw her water bottle down and Jonas Eidevall was trying to bring it all together. I don't know who it was particularly. It just turned up on my For You page. But I was like, that's weird.

Well, is it weird after a 2-0 win? But as you say, when you've got players who are vying for positions and want to play, but it's surprising that you play that out in public in that way. I just think your professional players get on with it and he's selected the team, he's in charge of it. But Chris makes a good point, Sophie. Where does it leave Vivian Miedemaer? Can he justify leaving her out for much longer? Well, I think you've now got the possibility of playing her in two positions,

whereas she was probably a number 10 before whereas now you've got Friedemann and who's playing in the form of her life at the moment it's only been two games but she's looked very very smart whereas you know Viv can play up front and if Dina Blatsteinis doesn't keep firing on all cylinders I don't know how you can bench Viv Miedema for that number nine role either. So he has options out there, definitely in terms of rotation. I do think, you know, there was a bit of angst after the game, but I think it does sort of subside after the game. I think they'll get back on that coach with that 2-0 win away from home and sort of, you know, everything is all right with the world

after everything's calmed down a bit. I think it's in the game kind of 90 minutes just after 90 minutes kind of emotions maybe whereas you know they're on a such a ridiculously good run of form but I don't think it's worth reading too much into the afters of that game maybe I do hate to say it but they look really good they do don't they it's brilliant uh they look, but they look really good. They do, don't they? It's brilliant. They look really slick. They look really slick against Lyon. I mean, that performance in the first half against Lyon was crazy good. And I mean, yes, you automatically want to compare them to Chelsea and Chelsea do not look that slick.

So it is worrying for the opposition, I think. Yeah, and cue smug Susie two times because Tottenham nil, Manchester City three. Sorry, Chris, to bring this up, but it looked potentially as if it could have been a banana skin for City, bearing in mind the start of the season that they've had. But that's now two wins back to back, seven goals scored as well. Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp on the score sheet in this one. But from a Tottenham perspective, Chris, you look at kind of wins against Leicester and Liverpool, but then fairly comprehensive

losses to Arsenal and Manchester City this season. Where do you see your team as standing at the minute? I think if you watch Rhiann Skinner after the game, she was actually quite pleased with the performance. And I think actually, particularly, we started all right that first goal like bunny sure is on good form and you know when she scores one she scores more as they say and she did but I think our problem is we can't get the ball in the net there isn't you know so we had someone else up front on Saturday and she was injured within two minutes. I felt really sorry for her, actually. And I think she's got a persistent knee injury and it seemed to be her knee because we saw her on crutches at full time.

I think our issue really is about strength and depth. There are only six subs on the bench and one of those is a goalkeeper. And as far as I understand it, it's only Reading that have gone out with only six subs. And look, we made a load of signings in the summer, but we've got a litany of injuries. We've got three ACLs. Rosella Ayan broke her foot in the first away game. We haven't seen Ramona Petzlberger since the 24th of September. Esther Morgan's got a long-term injury.

I know that Keris Harrop's on her way back. And we played a couple of players, I think, that weren't really fit in the end on Saturday because Chomo Mbogagu has only been, had a ban. Jess Naz, I don't think is completely fit, but had to basically play the full game. So, you know, I think, look, I can see that Rhian wants to make us hard to beat. And I actually think we will be. I know that sounds weird having had those two losses but you know the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City who continue to beat us at home I don't feel so bad about it because I always feel like we're still playing catch-up having only been professional for like three full seasons and I think what Rhiann's doing there is pretty fantastic and actually I visited their new training facility last week and honestly

it's so impressive like they've you know they've got that properly their own space their own pitches you know they're building their kind of team culture and it's everywhere to see and the team look really happy there I think it's just a question of like when things click I think they're really going to click and you know picking up points against the likes of Liverpool and Leicester etc that's what we need to be doing and and actually what happens against both Manchester City and Arsenal I think is you know you hold your own you concede and then things don't go the way you want really there was a chance at the end of the first half actually if we'd gone in 1-1 I think it would have been different but But, you know, that's football, isn't it? It's all ifs and buts.

Ifs, buts and maybes, I'm afraid, especially from a Tottenham perspective. And we do wish Ellie Brazil the very best because that looked like a really nasty injury. And of course, as Chris said, she's suffered from those before. You did mention Bunny Shaw, though. And Susie, she's top of the WSL goal-scoring charts right now.

Five goals in four games. Her second one particularly good as well possibly the most informed player in the league would you say yeah and like considering the trouble that city have had with like slow start to the season going out the champions league and stuff like she's really kind of stepped up to the plate for them more recently. And I do think whilst I was quite surprised about Ellen White retiring from football entirely and stepping back from the domestic game as well as international football, it's helped Bunny Shaw quite a bit, I think. It was a bit of a difficult situation last season where neither of them got a decent run of games. They were both in and out, taking in turns to lead the line and neither of them could build up any rhythm. And I did think that was part of City's problem is they weren't really sure who their number nine was.

And yeah, phenomenal form. Both goals taken really nicely both at really important times you know right at the end of the first half right at the start of the second half she's like not just a poacher she holds up the ball really well she was pressing really hard she forced the second goal you know it's real smart intelligent play and she's a really great footballer to watch it's kind of sad that Jamaica have got a tough world cup draw because she's pretty responsible for for guiding that team through to uh major tournaments now and it's a shame really that we're not probably going to see her at the knockout stages because they keep getting drawn in very very tough groups every four years I was just going to say she's a perfect target woman isn't she I mean she scores the goals and, you know,

when you have Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly providing those balls around the wings, I think it does kind of bail you out quite a lot to the problems that are happening elsewhere in the pitch. And I don't think we should forget about that. I don't think Gareth Taylor necessarily knows what he's doing in the midfield or defensive areas at times. I think attackers of that quality is absolutely right. So, I mean, Lauren Hebb, I just feel like she puts the burners on.

You literally see it happening. Like she starts somewhere and then suddenly it's like, going to start running now. And she just went, whoosh, like on so many occasions. It was like, you know, like in a cartoon where you've got like fire coming out of someone's boots. That's what it felt like at times. And the other thing I just

wanted to add was you know it's wonderful in the women's game how much time the players give to the fans afterwards but honestly watching some of those like young girls at Brisbane Road particularly with the Lionesses you know and how exciting that was for the Spurs fans as well as the away fans it was great because there were so many young girls shouting at Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly and Esme Morgan. And it was really nice to see. And they all took their time to do that, which was wonderful. Steph Horton, on the other hand, didn't look very happy.

But I guess that's another story. Yeah, I would say so. Brighton 0, Chelsea Chelsea two the kind of traditional banana skin fixture at Crawley wasn't without incident torrential rain meant it was perhaps closer to a water polo match than a football match but it was a two nil win for Chelsea Bethany England and Pernilla Harder on the score sheet and as we mentioned a few changes as well for Chelsea. But there was, Sophie, a bit of a debate raging on Twitter

over whether or not this should have even gone ahead. Where did you stand on it? For me, it's proper football. You know, playing on a big puddle. That's what it's about. Old school style. Yes, I understand that, you know, there's player safety involved. But I mean, yes, it was bubbly and splashy,

but it didn't look all that, you know, dangerous in a way. There weren't that many sliding tackles that I saw flying in. Couldn't get the speed up to do that. Yeah. But I mean, you know, it is what it is. It's, you know, football is meant to be played in different conditions. You can't have the slickest of surfaces all the time. and Brighton had to get over it as much as Chelsea did I know they're more dogged in in terms of their style but you know they still had to contend with the ball

not going the way that they they thought it would go or you know adjusting to the the weight of passes yes it disrupted Chelsea's you know pre-flowing football but actually they haven't been playing that for a little while anyway. So I don't think it necessarily made all that much difference. And that's a good point, actually, Susie, isn't it? Because they had a really good win midweek away at Paris Saint-Germain. It has been a bumpy start to the season. We mentioned that they made that many changes because they barely had any time to train for this game.

So it feels as if they are starting to find some good form. Yeah, I'm not worried about Chelsea at all. I think that, if anything, this shows the sort of machine that they are in that they've got through these games whilst not playing particularly beautiful football. Would Arsenal be doing the same if you know things weren't quite as slick on the pitch that's the real test of a team conditions obviously play a part as well but I agree with Soph it's one of the things that you love about football right is all the variables and one of the variables is the weather and like whether whether a team can adapt to and adjust to their surroundings and stuff

is one of the highlights of watching it. But yeah, it's not worrying to see Chelsea not put together the perfect performance yet. Because obviously Emma's out. And we don't know when she's going to be back after emergency hysterectomy. They've had tricky back-to-back fixtures. Frank Kirby is out. It's not quite clicking perfectly, but they're still winning.

And that's the sign of a team that knows what they're doing. Yeah, disjointed, I think, is a good phrase maybe to sum it up for Chelsea so far this season. And maybe this next match was a bit disjointed in terms of entertainment.

That's for sure. Leicester 0, Manchester United 1. Not a classic, but United continuing their winning streak. Nikita Paris on the score sheet with a header from a Katie Zellum free kick. This is a tweet from Natalie. Mark Skinner said he brought new attacking players to find ways to beat different types of opposition, yet he's saying it's a positive, beating bottom of the table Leicester 1-0 with over 300 passes in their own half. Do you think Manchester United, Chris,

are finishing fourth again? What are you rating their chances of finishing in the top three? I don't think they're going to finish in the top three. I think, look, they're good and I don't think you can underestimate the impact of their Euros winners, but Alessia russo is out at the moment i certainly can't see them breaking past arthur and chelsea we've talked about them quite a lot today

and you know once he put sort of a few runs together and i think like that attacking sort of the front three of city are the thing that are going to make a big difference even if he's not sure what he's doing with his midfield and his defence and I don't think look I watched Mark Skinner's post-match interview as well maybe this is what Natalie's referring to and I wasn't convinced by him and look it might be that I don't need to be convinced by him it's like what happens on the pitch but I don't you know I think fourth would be good for them this season. I really like Mark Skinner um I've liked him for a long time from when he was at Birmingham. And I remember saying that to some Man United fans who were a little bit

disgruntled when he arrived and they weren't too impressed with the way the team were playing. They couldn't see a vision for what they were doing and stuff. I was like, give him a little bit of time. He's a decent manager. If you just give him a little bit of time he's he's a decent manager if you just give him a little bit of time and Alessia Russo is a big miss I mean it's the equivalent of Bunny Shaw being out or of a Vietnamese being out given the form she was in during the Euros when she comes back and I think we're looking at quite a different United side they don't really have a focal point without her up top um Nikita Paris getting on the score sheet i think is really good like i've felt sorry for her very very like she's a like lovely person great player um and has really struggled to sort of recreate her city form since going to leon then arsenal

not really got regular game time she's not really getting that at man united either she really really needs a run of games and then I think she could refine her her scoring form quite quickly potentially so seeing her get on the score sheet is a massive positive but I do think United will be up there I don't think they'll disrupt Arsenal and Chelsea although I do think they could cause a little bit of an upset in some of those head-to-head games with those teams get a draw or two here or there possibly even a win against one of them. But yeah, I don't think they'll disrupt that one too. But I do think they could beat City to fourth.

I think they were really, really stung by how close they came last season. And there's a real desire to not have that happen again. That said, their second half performances are where the worry is, big time, because they're really not putting their foot on the gas i mean you look at the stats from yesterday's game you know i think we had like close to 70 possession 69 but same number of shots same number of shots on target and that's not really good enough when you're dominating a game like that and really putting a team at the

bottom of the table under pressure so they do do need to make the most of their chances. And yeah, I mean, another one. 275 passes to 613. The discrepancy between these two sides was so huge. Yeah, it was nine shots to 10 on goal and five to five on target. Like, that's not good enough. But you bring Alessia Russo back into the team and you've got a very very different uh Man United but obviously the depth up front in

terms of like elite level quality isn't quite there it's not like you know Chelsea where they've got Pernilla Hard who can play up there Sam Kerr who can play up there Bethany England who can play up there who are all sort of Aless-year-or-so level players. They've not quite got that level of talent there to back them up when she's out. One team that are taking their chances at the minute, though, are West Ham. They beat Reading by three goals to two

and racing into a three-goal lead within the opening 30 minutes as well, thanks to Dagny Brynäs-Dottir and Vivian Assay before Charlie Welling's screamer and then Trollsguard's penalty pegged it back and made it a nervy end. It's the second week in a row West Ham have got an early buffer Sophie but we talked about Manchester United there kind of not having a particularly effective second half and it was exactly the same with West Ham. Again, they were hanging on. They feel like an exciting team,

but one that can't necessarily take full control of a game. Would that be fair to say? I think so. I mean, it was the quintessential game of two halves, that game. And it was the same as when they played Villa the last week. You know, they get that really quick lead. I was there and I was saying to someone in the press box, if you hold them out for 20, 30 minutes, you've got a game on your hands.

You just need to, you know, hold off their really fast attack early on. But yeah, they look good. Yes, Dagny, Brindges, Dottie in the box. She's just ridiculously good. I think she just needs to stand there and just sort of direct the ball on goal and it more or less goes in every single time. I also think that teams need to work out how to mark her perhaps because it's not the first time that she's scored in the first five minutes of a game in that exact position. Yeah I had my head in my hands because she was unmarked as well and I was just like what are you doing like you cannot leave her of all people

without a marker on but I mean it is a worry for them. I think their second half performances, and it hasn't been just this season, it was last year as well, you knew that if you could hold them off, you had a chance in that second half. And Reading really did take it to them in that second half. Reading have the opposite problem where they start super slow and then they eventually come into life in the second half and then it's just a bit too late for them to, you know, recover the mountain that they have to climb.

So positives for Reading, I think. But at the same time, you can't be starting game after game that slowly. Yeah, absolutely. Finally for the weekend, Chris, Aston Villa 0, Everton 1. A great finish at the far post from Lucy Graham to give Everton the win. Two losses on the bounce for Aston Villa. What has happened to that amazing start that they had? I don't know, to be honest.

But I think what Everton are doing is showing us, I think they're looking like what we thought they would look like. My missus is a blue nose, so there's a happy household here for that. And actually, you know, look, I think Everton might be an interesting surprise package this season talking of Manchester United I mean are they going to be pushing for for fourth I don't think for third but they might be pushing for fourth and as for Villa I don't know they're a bit of an up and down team anyway so I'd be interested to hear others thoughts on them because

I'm not really you know I can't I imagine Villa will be sort of there or you know they won't be terrible but they're not going to be great either is kind of how there's the sense I got from them I'm not really, you know, I imagine Villa will be sort of there, you know, they won't be terrible, but they're not going to be great either is kind of how the sense I got from them. And as I say, I think Everton just look like they're going to be, you know, what we thought they would be last season. They're starting to sort of like figure out their identity, I suppose. I think they're both wanting to play really possession based football. That's their identity. Brian Sorensen has talked about it a lot before the season and doing it about trying to make sure his team go out with a clear idea of what they're doing and you can really see that from both sides on the pitch you know that first half was ridiculous

it was up and down quite a lot they were both just like trading possession phases or like blocks of time where they would just hammer each other's goals and for me the first the first goal in that game was always going to be the decider. It always felt like it was going to be the winner. It could have gone for either side, but it just happened to go for Everton. I'm not too worried about Aston Villa. I think their lack of clinical nature in front of goal is a worry, especially Rachel Daly picked up a knock at the end of the game,

which could be a problem for them. But they are creating the chances, and I would be more worried if they weren't creating chances. Yeah, and actually, that's a good point. It does feel as if quite a few of the Lionesses are picking up knocks left, right and centre. And actually, I remember after the men's Euros, it was exactly the same, a load of the England players.

There's a lot of football to play after a major tournament, particularly when you go all the way through to the final. So they're going to need to be monitored. Right, that's all for part one of the guardian women's football weekly we'll be back in part two to talk about the world cup the fa cup and the importance of rainbow laces 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. England as favourites for next summer's World Cup? I'll get you all to answer that in a second, because England have found out who they're going to face at the group stage in 2023. They were drawn in Group D, which will play all of their games in Australia. They kick off against the winner of the Group B playoff, which could either be Chile, Haiti or Senegal. First game in Brisbane on the 22nd of July. Second game will be against Denmark in Sydney on the 28th. And then they finish off against China in Adelaide on the 1st of August. I'm going to ask you Navdeep's question, Susie Rack, first of all, are they favourites?

Well, technically, no, because they're not number one in the world but yeah like for me they're the informed team the ones to beat the only other team that I think could really trouble them on their day is Germany you know obviously we saw them play out against each other in the final of the Euros but you know with Alex Pop getting injured early on they they're sort of turned things around very, very quickly at Germany. I think we're going to see them as a really developed, well-oiled team at the World Cup. Yeah, on form at the moment, England are favourites. Chris, you're nodding?

Yeah, I mean, I think Susie's got it spot on there. I mean, I'd always worry about the Americans in the World Cup just because I think they know how to play tournament football and they've got all of that experience. I was impressed by Serena Vigman after the draw where she basically said, given our standard, we should get out of the group. There was no sort of equivocating of like,

well, you know what tournaments are like or whatever. She was like, given our standard, yes, of course, we're going to get out of the group. And that's what you want to hear. And I imagine as a player, that's what you want to hear as well. And a big shout out to Adelaide. I've got loads of family in Adelaide. I'm not planning on going.

I mean, I'd love to go. But if I do, I can stay with them. And if anyone is going, like, I can introduce you to loads of my cousins. Oh, I love that. Right. Party at Chris's cousin's house. Sophie, are they favourites? I think for me, yes. I think I just can't bet against Serena Wiegman at the moment.

Whatever she does turns to gold. And I think England are very, very lucky that they still have her in charge and will do for the foreseeable. And even down to almost jinxing her former side in the Netherlands, getting USA in their group, which is, you know, as you say, everything she touches turns to gold and everything else turns to ash. Susie, it's kind of not the best group, not the worst group. I don't know. How do you view it? I was quite pleased with it. Yeah, it's fine. I mean, it could have been a lot worse, even just the way things are falling in the group, avoiding the trip to Perth is huge. It's such a horrible journey to have to make.

And there's a few that are having to make it in this tournament, including two games being played in that group over in Perth. There's some nicer groups. I think the New Zealand ones are all a little bit nicer because everything is not much closer, but a little bit closer. And I think the weather might be a little bit kinder. But in terms of the teams in it, you know, Denmark, probably the best team in there, but China are a decent side as well.

But then they're just nowhere near England's level um I think Serena's right I think you need that in a manager to have that like we are going to win attitude I think that's what we saw from the US at the World Cup like when they were we went into overdrive when some of their staff were scouting out the England hotel ahead of the semi-final because that was where they would be for the final and like doing their recce to like prep for when they got to the final but like that's what you want right you want a team that believes and the people around the team to genuinely believe you're getting there and to do all of the preparation to make it perfect that you get there so it's right that everyone not just Serena but everyone around the team is expecting to reach the final and is preparing for as if they are reaching the final, regardless of what the little dark thoughts might say in the back of their head.

I think that's a really important piece of psychology that the US have done very, very well for a long time. So, yeah yeah good group it's quite funny isn't it how that kind of works because you don't want to say yeah you want to give your opponents respect but sometimes i feel as if too much respect is given and a little bit more realism is needed but at the same time i think in the past maybe people have been worried about having egg on their face by saying yeah we're going to absolutely storm it and then get beaten by a on paper lesser team if you like and I'm a bit of a geek as I know everyone in this podcast is as well and not to loop you into my little my little geek world but um if England were to top their group I love going through a tournament

and uh and doing it on form we're going through the seedings right and it it could potentially mean a round of 16 match against australia if it goes to form or canada which would also be really tough but you missed my if it goes to form because i would say canada are going to top the group in bev priestman they trust and australia will finish second and obviously have all the momentum as co-hosts quarterfinal matchup against Germany semi-final against France final against against USA but it's not going to be plain sailing yeah job done yeah absolutely win not going to be that easy though Sophie is it even if they do come out on top of the group it's a tricky path to the final it is I think that's how you want to win a tournament though because there'll be no questions

levelled at you that you got the easy route. Yes, you have a pretty simple group. Maybe Denmark can throw up a problem here and there, but I think they should top it. And then, yeah, once you get down to the latter stages,

beating those teams. I honestly believe England are good enough to beat any one of those teams on their day. And if everything goes perfectly like it did this summer, then why not? I do think they have also, I don't think the travel thing should be underestimated either.

You know, yes, they have to go down to Adelaide for their last great game. But then their end of the tournament run is all on the East Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Brisbane, Sydney. Yes, Australia is a huge country, it's still a long distance. But, you know, that could have it's still a long distance but you know that could have been a lot worse and um you know you could have gone over to New Zealand there would have been a lot more travel involved whereas they've actually got it quite nicely in terms of the travel which I think is the main thing that will take things out of people's legs it's having to do those air miles as it were. Isn't it nice isn't really, really nice to be looking at that very intimidating potential knockout stage and thinking, yeah, like, that's cool. And England have a real chance of doing it. I've never felt I've never looked at a route like that and thought, come on, bring it on. This is that's a really fun feeling. I absolutely love it. And the travel is really important, Chris. And actually, you said you might not be coming over to Australia. I'm hoping that everybody on this think the earliest is like 9.30 in the morning and then

there's a midday and then a 10.30. Although, you know, my geekdom did go into overload, but my maths is terrible because I tried to work it out and there's too many Australians have their own Eastern Standard Time. We've got British Summer Time to add on to that and I got myself in a right pickle. And anyway, the times that I came up with in my head are not the actual times but thankfully somebody else who's much more intelligent than me did work it out and they're very kind for the time obviously it'll be in school holidays as well people hopefully be able to watch it at work and not have to set their alarms at four o'clock in the morning I think the thing this Australia is such a big country though it's like it's the massive variation of time so like adelaide could be like eight and a half hours

and then auckland could be 12 so i think it's just going to be confusing to figure out like what time of the game is depending on where they're playing across australia new zealand but look you know it's a world cup that's as it should be. You know, like some of my favourite World Cup memories have been of like silly times of the day and night, particularly as a kid. You know, and I think that's the other amazing thing

for like loads of young girls now having got like really excited by the Euros of just that feeling of like being up late or getting up really early or watching football at an unusual time. And those are those memories that always stay with you and I just think that's going to be really exciting

as well. Pubs opening at 7am 2002 South Korea and Japan World Cup it was a blur for many beery reasons from the World Cup to the FA Cup the preliminary rounds wrapping up this

weekend, some fantastic stories as well. Frampton Rangers beating AFC St Austell, who are two divisions above them. That was a 1-0 win for them. Aylesford going 4-0 up and looks to be cruising into their first ever first round proper. But a late comeback from Wickham Wanderers caused some nerves. They did manage to get through eventually, though, with a 4-3 win. Aylesford will be meeting Dulwich Hamlet,

also debutants in the first round proper. Isn't that Salon's team? Dulwich? Yes. It is. Well done Salon, Andy Hickman.

I thought it was. They beat Winchester Flyers 3-0 and there was a win for your old team, Chris, as well. Hackney Women's FC. Tell us about that.

Yes. The mighty Hackney Women's Football Club. Playing with pride since 1986. Look, they're really excited. So I was manager of Hackney in the early 2000s. We never made the first round proper while I was the manager, although we did win two promotions, I just want to point out,

and lost two cup finals. And they're all really excited. We're all in a WhatsApp group now, current players and loads of the oldies. It's about 150 women in there now. And they're really excited. They've drawn the London Bees, who are obviously, you know, a tier two team.

They're worrying about facilities. They're thinking they might have to reverse the fixture because they can't find a pitch that meets requirements. And I know it's another conversation, but they're also worrying about where they're training because, you know, there's block bookings from men's teams and they can't get decent training facilities. But look, they're really excited. I'm sure they'll do all sorts of things because actually one of the beautiful things, as I'm sure you all know about grassroots football, is just how much love there is amongst the team.

And I wouldn't put it past them that they'll like literally turn up in suits in the morning because it's their proper fa cup oh white suits please let it be white suits why not absolutely i'll suggest that to them for sure and if there are i'll make sure i share the pictures oh i love that good luck i just want to shout out swindon town as well that who like smashed their record crowd 720 people for their 10-0 defeat of Porton Rovers. You talk about the magic of the cup and stuff, but there's a real love for this tournament, right low down in these early rounds, that really bring community together in a way

that you don't necessarily see at other times. There is a real magic of it at this stage. And that's what's great about it. But, yes, 720 people to watch that game is, like, phenomenal. That's exactly it, though, Sophie, isn't it? I mean, we always, particularly on this pod, and whenever we discuss women's football, because we always have a limited time,

we always end up focusing on the WSL, the Champions League as well, and internationals but the top levels of football are great but competitions like the FA Cup really shine a light on grassroots football and looking at the top tier the encouragement down the pyramid is huge and it's it's so vital to keep talking about what's going on lower down absolutely I mean it's the bread and butter isn't it's where the future stars of tomorrow will come from eventually I mean I guess it's being truly English to have a deep love deep-rooted love for that tournament from the early stages right through to the final it always catches the eye there's always results here there and

everywhere there's you know will surprise or shock. Even once you get into the third, fourth round, there's always a result that will shock you. And it's great that these clubs who don't often get put in the limelight are being talked about. And it is their moment to be talked about. There's a lot of great things happening down the pyramid. Some of the crowds that are coming in in the National League every week um newcastle are getting quite a lot of uh high numbers i think it's peterborough united got a huge crowd the other week you know stuff is happening down the pyramid that's not talked about all that much because there's just so much other stuff going on so it's a really good

moment for those clubs to get their their moment. Got to love some of those names as well, haven't you? Like the Norton and Stockton Ancients and the CLS Amazons FC and Waterbridge War Memorial LFC. And I just, I love the Sporting Cows are Women FC. I love some of the names. You can't beat a long, unusual name in the FA Cup early rounds right before we finish up we need to talk a bit about Rainbow Laces which has been getting underway this weekend

running through to next weekend as well and for anyone who doesn't know Chris tell us a little bit more about the campaign and and of course why it matters sure so it's an inclusion campaign football for the lgbtq plus community and obviously it matters because we know that health outcomes are really kind of tied up with being included in sport and for a long time the lgbtq plus community haven't felt included in sport so rainbow laces is a really sort of simple sort of visibility campaign if you like it's it started with some laces but obviously you probably saw across the Premier League and the WSL, and I'm sure across the Championship as well, lots of different displays of support for the campaign.

I usually say rainbow laces for life and not just for Christmas, but it's been changed this time because of the World Cup. So I can't say that this time. But I think what's important is that, the campaign slogan was inclusion has no off season and i think that's really important to say actually we have to ensure lgbtq plus inclusion in sport particularly in football all year round and i think it's interesting in the

wsl because obviously you have lots of out players which you don't have in men's football i think there are players who are out but there are also many women footballers across the game who don't need to be out because they were never in which is really great and that matters I think for all the little girls who are figuring out who they are and for all the women many of them lesbians who've blazed a trail before them and I think the other important thing now is if you look at the Home Office's latest hate crime statistics hate crime is on the rise and you know i think the last lot we saw a 41 rise in hate crime of sexual orientation a 56 rise in trans hate crime and when you couple that with today's report from girl guiding that um showed that nearly one in five so 19 of girls and young women don't feel

safe in school and blame that fear for sexual harassment and then more than a quarter said gender stereotyping was holding them back then that problem was particularly acute amongst lgbtq plus girls and young women with almost two in five so 37 complaining about gender stereotyping that's why this stuff is important so we can throw those gender stereotypes out of the window and i think one thing that women's football is really good at is exactly that um because actually so many women footballers don't conform to those gender stereotypes whether it's because they're playing football or because they are from the LGBTQ plus community and they confound what people think women from the LGBTQ plus community look like or sometimes they don't and all of that is great so you know I'm really pleased that the um you

know the the professional football in this country as well as all the grassroots has sort of embraced the campaign and I want to see more of it because I think it's really important for people who are either struggling or who want to be part of football and feel like they can't be. I think we always go on about how visibility is key and we do have that in the women's game you know it is a safe inclusive space and it makes you feel comfortable to be who you are and who you want to be and I certainly have found that whereas you haven't always found that you still don't in the men's side of the game I think it's really important that the two strands do come together on campaigns campaigns like this

it brings football together it shows that we might not be there yet on the men's side but that's where we're aiming to be and to show all those as you say Chris all of those young girls that you know you can be exactly who you who you want to be and yes you're figuring it out at times and coming out is never a never easy process it should be but it isn't but actually you have role models that you can look up to in a space you can be in where you can be yourself for 90 minutes or you know three hours or whatever I think it's super important yeah it shouldn't just be for 90 minutes or three hours though should it should be 365 days a year Susie yeah like football in theory should be the most inclusive of places right like you can't understate the power

of collectively celebrating something together and and what that does for the relationship with the person next to you who you know nothing about like it's a place where you just enjoy a moment with everyone and that should be the most inviting and inclusive of spaces where where everything is left outside all of um like your your differences and stuff you know it's all about the collective emotion in what you're watching on the pitch and yet it's not um and that's that's a real problem because in broader society there's so many divisions there's no need for them to be in football because it is a place of unity and of shared collective enjoyment so it's mad really that you you've got you know this this whole community feeling like they don't have a place

in sport for so so long I think one of the things that I really loved during Euros was seeing Beth Mead the golden ball golden boot winner uh Euro who's champion like just casually after the final sat on the lap of Vivian Medema holding the trophy having not come out about their relationship at all in any real way you know the first sighting of it was me and them wearing an england shirt in the crowd an england game after the netherlands had been knocked out and it was just like so refreshingly uplifting to see the best player at the tournament being who they are so authentically and i don't think you can underestimate the power of that and the imagery of that I just it's like I just can't even begin to imagine what it's like for young

girls who are struggling with their identity and their sexuality to see that on the biggest of stages in such a small powerfully done way as well you know it didn't have to be a big a big article or a statement about coming out and and and what it's meant to them although that is also extremely important as well we shouldn't belittle that in any way obviously it's you know people choose their own route to to celebrating their their sexuality and being open about how they want to live their life. But to have it be so completely normalised was just very, very moving. Yeah, very powerful in every single level. Right, that's everything from us this week. Susie, what have you got planned coming up? Busy one?

Just the back-to-back Champions League games again. Oh, your life is so hard. It's really difficult, isn't it? When I was moaning about the trip to Lyon and then the trip to Paris the next day before flying home at like seven in the morning or whatever it was, I suddenly sort of stepped back and thought, hang on a second. I really cannot get away with complaining about this. What is my life?

Living the life, as does Sophie Downey, every single week, always travelling around and about. Any trips in the works this week, Soph? Same as Susie, I'm doing the two Champions League games and then back to the league at the weekend. And look, no moaning about that, Susie. Take lesson. I don't know why she was moaning.

She got to spend the two days with me, so, you know. Well, there you go. She'll be celebrating that. That was there you go you should be celebrating that that was the best bit to be fair that was the best bit it was more coming home at 7am and having to do the school run kind of vibes yeah I can feel you on that Spurs away at Brighton next weekend Chris are you going to be going down to Crawley I sure am I've Crawley on Sunday but I'm going to Bournemouth on Saturday for the men's game as well so it's a it's a weekend on the south coast but I'm going to Bournemouth on Saturday for the men's game as well. So it's a weekend on the South Coast, but I'm going to come back to London. It'll be fine. It's only a bit of a drive, isn't it? Oh no, you should just stay on the South Coast. I think it's supposed to be nice weather.

Well, you know, no place like home and all that. Hoping to come back with six points. Well, we shall find out. We'll be telling you all next Tuesday, rounding up everything from the weekend's WSL action. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Lucy Oliver and Jesse Parker-Humphrey. His music composition was by Laura Iredale. Our executive producer is The Guardian. 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.