England conjure second-half magic against Ukraine in World Cup qualifier – Women’s Football Weekly

14:57Suzy Wrack:And to get a goal, to reduce the deficit to 2-1, I just think that was phenomenal. You could see how much joy there was in that moment. England are European champions. It's not like it's just any old team who's ranked above them. and there's a lot of heart to be taken from that first half and the resilience they showed in that and I think it shows that they'll cause Iceland problems in particular but also potentially cause Spain problems and they are not that easy to break down and there's a lot of joy to be taken from that and a lot of motivation going into the next games and obviously not being able to play at home, not having that sort of home advantage, not being able to settle in, having to travel to Antalya for the next game against Spain, those kind of things.

15:41Suzy Wrack:They're all huge issues, but also to a certain extent, like they're the kind of things that galvanise a group of people. People tend to come together in moments of adversity. And I think that was beautifully illustrated by their goal. And it would have been nicer if the margin was smaller. But I think the fact that they've come up to this league and got a goal and put in that first half performance that they did is a great reflection of the ambition of the side.

16:09Faye Carruthers:And this is where this is tricky and depends where you sit on the fence. But Sophie, the whole point of the Nations League was to avoid heavy scorelines and make games more competitive. I know that you have very strong views on it. How do you feel about its impact on qualification for major tournaments? The floor is yours.

16:30Emma Sanders:I will try and keep this short. Yeah, I am not a fan of the Nations League, especially how it feeds into qualifying. I think you could have two separate things. So you could have the Nations League and then you could have qualifying separately. My problem with the Nations League is that us generally stuck with the same opposition all the time. And that's being shown by England and Spain, right? And it was England and the Netherlands before. Yes, we have two new opponents this time around, just kind of by the fortune of it in terms of Ukraine and Iceland. but you know the gap between Spain and England and those two is quite considerable as well.

17:03Emma Sanders:I think the Nations League was built to try and develop women's football and give lower nations the chance of becoming more stable but we're seeing a lot of the time that you know they're going up from League A to League B you know bouncing around so they might get to League A and then they go straight back down to League B again. League C nations don't really have a chance at all to qualify. So the opportunities are still limited. When you think back to the old days of qualifying, I know people hated the 10-0 scores. But I think back to an interview I did with the head of women's football at North Macedonia and England went there.

17:36Emma Sanders:And that was their World Cup. You know, England coming into town, they got to play at the main stadium for the first time ever, were able to get in fans and market it on that stuff. They just launched a whole new strategy around women's football. The other problem as well is why on earth is only the winner of League A groups qualifying for the World Cup? When you have a group, as Emma said, like England, and it's not just this group, but when you have a group like England and Spain, we have a real risk then of one of those teams potentially not making it to the tournament. Can you imagine a World Cup without England and Spain?

18:09Emma Sanders:And that's not me saying that they have a divine right to be there, but they are the two of the best nations in world football at the moment. and for whoever comes second it's not easy yes they get an easy path through the first round of playoffs because they have to play a league c team but the second round of playoffs is not going to be easy at all because you could meet anyone so you could come up against i know a belgium you know england have traditionally had real problems against them and one wrong move you could suddenly be out of the running for qualification so i do think there are some problems and i don't think it's overly liked by coaches the way that's happening i've had a conversation with a couple of them.

18:43Emma Sanders:I don't think they feel that it's the right way to qualify for a major tournament necessarily.

18:48Faye Carruthers:You're right with the divine right point. But if we are growing the game, a World Cup really should have the top nations in it competing, you would think. Although, obviously, we know with the men's World Cup, pretty much it's hard not to qualify for a 48-team tournament. It's almost like pushing against it, isn't it? The opposite. Let's look ahead to Iceland, though. England faced them in Nottingham on Saturday, a sellout crowd, home comforts as well for the lionesses. What are you expecting from this one, Emma? Is it going to be as simple as it looks on paper?

19:18Sophie Downey:I would expect similar to what we saw with Ukraine, actually. I would expect Iceland to be fairly respectful of England's attacking quality and sitting in quite a secure and low block. I think England will have to break them down again. So I think it could be a very, very similar game plan. I think they would have seen what Ukraine did and think, okay, England do take a little bit of time maybe to get going. So the longer we can hold them out, maybe the better our chances are. And obviously, as we've discussed, they have been vulnerable on a couple of set pieces previously. It wasn't a one-off against Ukraine.

19:52Sophie Downey:So can they capitalize on that? Iceland are quite a physical team. They've got a lot of height advantage in the squad as well. So I think they'll try and use that. But England should be confident. England should be very, very confident. They have more than enough quality in the squad, which we've obviously discussed with the depth as well. So I'd be shocked if it wasn't another England win and I think they'll be looking to get some more goals on board just to improve that goal difference margin.

20:14Faye Carruthers:Yeah, obviously we will talk about that game on Tuesday's pod but that's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. In part two, we're going to look at how some of the other nations fared in qualifying and catch up on all things Asian Cup and WAFCON.

20:39Faye Carruthers:Welcome back to part two of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly. So England not the only team in action on Tuesday. Mixed results for the rest of the home nations who are all competing in League B. They can only qualify through the playoffs and they'll all need to finish as high up in their groups as possible if they're going to get a more favourable draw. Wales had to rely on a 93rd minute goal from Elyse Hughes to salvage a point away to Czech Republic. It was actually a real challenge for Rianne Wilkinson's side in the end. Finished 2-2. And they're going to be pretty disappointed, I would think, not to have been able to make a more emphatic start as they try and reach their first ever World Cup, Susie.

21:15Suzy Wrack:Yeah, although, I mean, Rianne Wilkinson's comments afterwards were actually quite positive because they were just really, really glad to get the point. You know, they're in that group up against Czech Republic as the two teams vying for progression from that group, really. Like, they're the two that are expected to top it. And the other two teams in that group are Albania and Montenegro. So there's real scope for them to do something. So to go away to the Czech Republic and take a point away from that against the run of play for the match, generally speaking, and with the Czech Republic taking the lead twice, they're actually pretty pleased.

21:49Suzy Wrack:And you can sort of see that in that context with the fact that that was the away game against the team that they are really rivaling the group for. So I think there's a lot of positives there. And the fact that they kept going and grabbed that equaliser, you know, in stoppage time, I think was significant. and they're playing for the first time in a major tournament qualifying without Jess Fishlock. So it's like a different look. Although Rianne Wilkinson had a very experienced starting XI out there, there's still a lot of pressure that comes with having to replace someone like Jess and her ability to grab a game by the scruff of its neck and make something happen when things aren't going your way.

22:27Suzy Wrack:And so I don't think all is lost necessarily with this draw, as long as they can build on this and get the results they need against the other two teams and then try and do something at home. I think they've got a good chance.

22:39Faye Carruthers:Yeah, they do. Northern Ireland have got a bit of an uphill battle. We always knew it was going to be a difficult opening game for them. It ended in a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland. First game under interim manager Chris Lindsay as well. How much is there a cause for concern, Soph, would you think? or will they actually kind of see it as a bit of a free hit because they've got easier opponents on paper anyway to come in terms of Turkey and Malta?

23:04Emma Sanders:I think my concern doesn't come from that game specifically around Northern Ireland, Switzerland. We saw what they did at the Euros there on and up, as it were. They were never expected to probably come away, especially from an away visit to Switzerland with the result. So I don't think you can worry too much about the result. My worry is behind the scenes a bit more. I really want to know what's going on with Northern Ireland football at the moment because they lost Tanya Oxby to Newcastle in October. That was her last game. They didn't call up a squad in the last window of last year. They had no friendlies organized.

23:36Emma Sanders:And that just doesn't shout of a team that's putting in resources and trying to get them to the next level. You have to use those windows. It was a really like, even if you went away for a week to the south of Spain, had a training camp and a behind closed doors friendly like the Republic Lick of Ireland did. That's real useful team time and they just didn't call up anyone. And they've got Chris Lindsay in as interim manager. He's interim for two games at the moment, I think. I imagine they'll probably extend him for a couple of bits, but I just really want to know what their goal is at the end of this because it's been such a tumultuous time, I think, for Northern Ireland since they qualified for their first major tournament.

24:14Emma Sanders:They had the major tournament, then it went down and then Tania came in and picked them up a bit and really started building something. But now you've lost her as well, lost her impetus and what is the next move because otherwise you could go years down the line without not making any progress at all.

24:29Faye Carruthers:Very good point. No such concerns for Scotland. Their campaign got off to a brilliant start with a 5-0 win over Luxembourg. They were always expected to win it, Emma, but let's talk about Caroline Weir. She always makes the headlines, doesn't she? First game officially as their new captain and she goes and scores a hat trick. I love talking about Caroline Weir.

24:47Sophie Downey:I think all three were from that magic left foot as well. No huge surprises, but you could see how happy she was, particularly after the first goal, because like you say, she's captain now. And I'd imagine that was quite a nice moment for her to be able to cap that first time with the armband on officially as the new captain and to score a hat-trick. So yeah, a fantastic goal. Well, fantastic goals, I should say. I think Scotland will have been not disappointed. Obviously, it was a great result, but they definitely could have added more. I think Kirsty Hansen had one ruled out for offside, didn't she?

25:20Sophie Downey:She hit the crossbar as well. They did have some other chances, so they weren't actually as clinical as I think they could have been, which I think shows that there's still more to come from the Scotland team. We've been saying that for years with the quality that they have in their squad. They'll be so, so desperate to capitalise on this generation. But yeah, it was a really good game. Obviously, Luxembourg, as you say, I think they're ranked 82 places lower, So it's one that Scotland would have been expected to dominate. But if they can maintain those standards and keep up that level, there's hopefully some exciting times for Scotland to come.

25:50Sophie Downey:But speaking to Jen Beatty, who obviously works with us at BBC, she seems very excited by the direction of this Scotland squad now. And behind the scenes, it sounds like the players are really on board with what's going on. So kind of in contrast to what Soph was saying about Northern Ireland, it feels like Scotland are starting to move forwards again after being in limbo for quite a few years and disappointing a little bit. But yeah, that would have been a really nice result to see for them.

26:14Faye Carruthers:Yeah, it feels like exciting times ahead for Scotland. One other result of note, Carla Ward's Republic of Ireland had a narrow defeat to France in their League A opener. Katie McKay put the hosts into the lead, but two goals in eight minutes from substitute Melvin Mallard turned the game on its head in the end. And obviously Ireland very disappointed, Soph, but what can they take positively from this performance?

26:38Emma Sanders:Yeah, they were clearly hurting, I think, because they put in a really good performance, especially in the first half. They created the same number of shots as France, but had more on target. So they had seven on target and France had two and they were the two goals. And that's kind of the difference, I guess, between the two sides at the moment. It's that clinical edge and being able to change things from the bench. Ireland played really well in the first half. Katie McCabe, I mean, she just like, of course she's going to score for Ireland. It's what she does. And it was a really nice move. There was a reverse pass from Emily Murphy to set her up and she just held her strength off Elise de Imelda and got the ball in and the celebrations were wild.

27:13Emma Sanders:But I think, yeah, it was just that straight from the bench from France. Melvin Mallard came on and scored within minutes and then scored within minutes again and just turned the game on its head. But I think it's a really tricky Ligue 1 group for Ireland, but they have really big ambitions. Carla Ward has really big ambitions and this is who they want to test themselves against. And for them to go toe-to-toe with France for much of that game will give them huge confidence going forward. they travel to the Netherlands for the second one on Saturday, which is crucial because the Netherlands dropped points against Poland.

27:42Emma Sanders:So if they could come away with a result there, whether it's a draw or a win, I think that could really set them up nicely for the rest of the campaign and bring in that confidence. But yeah, they'll be hurting today. I know Katie McCabe was really upset afterwards, I think really hurting from it. But I think when they reflect on it, when they have a bit of time, they'll see the positives and how much they are continuing to progress as a team under Carla Ward.

28:04Faye Carruthers:yeah you can see it for sure now listen last week we spoke about the Asian Cup with Jamie Spanger we also had a message in from Andrew Savage asking where we can watch the games he's messaged in again it looks like the Asian Cup games are being shown live and free on YouTube on the AFC Asian Cup channel so that is good news thanks for letting us know that Andrew things kicked off in Perth on Sunday Australia beat the Philippines 1-0 in front of 44 ,000 people look we mentioned it last week there have been relatively few surprises so far. Korea Republic, China, North Korea and Japan have all come through their opening fixtures relatively unscathed.

28:42Faye Carruthers:What have been your key highlights so far, Em?

28:44Sophie Downey:Yeah, I think obviously Sam Kerr scoring her first goal in 851 days for Australia was a lovely moment to see. The fact it's obviously in her hometown of Perth as well. It's a winning goal, gets Australia, the hosts off to a fantastic start. So that's definitely the highlight for me. Anytime you see Sam Kerr score with a head, it's always a joyful moment in women's football. But yeah, I think obviously Japan as well, one of the other big favourites for the tournament. They obviously got off to a good start with 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei as well. And obviously Kiko Sike, the Brighton player, getting a nice goal late on as well.

29:18Sophie Downey:So Japan are up and running and I love watching Japan. I've raved about them before. We obviously get to see a lot of their players in the WSL week in, week out now. And yeah, I love watching their national team come together in major tournaments. They always seem to turn it on. So very much looking forward to seeing how they progress throughout the tournament as well. And then there was obviously the powerful moment with the Iranian players when they didn't sing the national anthem. Obviously, we know what's been happening, the conflicts in the Middle East. It's a really difficult time for everyone out there at the moment.

29:45Sophie Downey:So that was quite a strong thing to see the women standing in a line and obviously quite clearly not singing the national anthem. I don't know if that's something that they've done before, but clearly in light of everything that's going on, that was something that I think stood out for us all to see.

29:57Faye Carruthers:Yeah, and we wish them the very best as well. Very difficult for them being so far away from home, watching what's going on in their home country for sure. Listen, we need to talk about WAFCON as well, because we mentioned it last week and that we were going to be covering the tournament and it's meant to kick off on the 17th of March. But there's actually serious doubt now that the tournament's even going to go ahead. We heard reports on Friday that the tournament had actually been postponed because Morocco had raised issues around its ability to host the tournament. Confederation of African Football still hasn't made an official announcement as we record the pod.

30:34Faye Carruthers:Teams are still continuing their preparations for a competition that is supposed to start in under a fortnight's time. It feels like such a mess, Susie. Whether the tournament actually goes ahead or not, the uncertainty and the lack of communication and everything else surrounding it surely could have been avoided and is creating a bigger problem.

30:53Suzy Wrack:Yeah, 100%. It's complete chaos. And I think that's going to be hugely frustrating when and if the tournament does kick off on the 17th, because that level of disruption and operating in the unknown can't be healthy for preparations. And, you know, you wonder about the extent to which countries are able to properly commit resources to it with it sort of hanging over their heads is a little bit of unknown. And I think it's complicated in that we had reports that a decision on whether it was going to be postponed or cancelled entirely or moved location to South Africa, potentially, were all on the cards.

31:29Suzy Wrack:And there's not been that much clear public communication from the Confederation of Africa Football about the future of it and either confirming or denying a lot of the stuff that's out and about and giving any sort of clear direction on whether it is definitively going ahead on the 17th or not. and that's a really difficult situation for those teams to be in. They're playing friendlies at the moment in this international window with that still a bit of an unknown unless they've been kept better informed than we have but that feels unlikely that it wouldn't significantly leak ahead of a decision like this.

32:01Suzy Wrack:But obviously it would cause chaos because this tournament is supposed to help determine qualification for the World Cup as well in 27 so they'd have to find some way to slot it in. So yeah, really difficult situation and I hope that we get some kind of answer sooner and hopefully this is a bit of a lesson to CAF that they need to be a little bit more organised. But as we know, the operation there isn't as slick as it is in some other places and that can be quite complicated. But I'm not sure you would see this happen to this extent in the men's game.

32:33Faye Carruthers:No, I was going to make that point. You can't guarantee that, but you would think not. Anyway, listen, it's been great catching up on all the international football. We will catch up on more next week with the second games. in the Nations League and beyond. We'll hopefully have more of a definitive answer on what's going on in Morocco additionally to that. But Em, it's been lovely to see you.

32:54Sophie Downey:Lovely to see you guys.

32:55Faye Carruthers:And I'm on a hendoo for the second England game, so have fun. Oh, well, you're going to have way more fun. I can't wait. What kind of hendoo is it likely to be though? Is it kind of, and sorry if there are any children in the car, any willy-waving straws or awful things like that? Or is it a bit classier? Please tell me it's classier.

33:11Sophie Downey:It will be classier, but this is a party one. 100 % a party one. It's not a low-key activity, fun-filled sports day. This is very much, we are there to enjoy lots of rum, is what I would say. Right.

33:23Faye Carruthers:Pink tutus and learner plates. Okay, that's probably where I should have started rather than the straws, I think.

33:29Sophie Downey:No, I enjoyed it.

33:30Emma Sanders:I enjoyed it.

33:31Faye Carruthers:Soph, lovely to see you.

33:32Emma Sanders:Great to see you. Thanks for having me on again.

33:34Faye Carruthers:Yes, always. Susie Rack, always lovely to see you. Take care.

33:38Suzy Wrack:Back at you. Have fun at Centre Parks. I look forward to seeing your recreation of the Magic Mirror.

33:43Faye Carruthers:yeah I'm missing out on the den building with Ted on Thursday because I've got to go and do something which is really that's what I'm mostly upset about I love building a den I love the den building we made a little sign it was great it was so good yeah well he will enjoy that and I will have to see the photos annoyingly right keep having your say send in your questions via x or email us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com until then this is also your regular reminder to sign up for our bi-weekly women's football newsletter all you need to do is search moving the goalposts sign up. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Ned Carter-Miles.

34:17Faye Carruthers:Music composition was by Laura Iredale. Our executive producer is Danielle Stephens.

34:29Emma Sanders:This is The Guardian.