OL women

[Inara]

Lyon beat Sarajevo 7-0. They have scored 29 goals in three games and conceded 0. They are group winners and progress to the next qualifying round.

[Breakwood]

After looking at some scores from that competition, the difference between the top womens teams and the bottom womens teams is laughable. Lyon wasn't the only team to steam roll all it's opponents, it seems that one team in each group thrashed the rest of the team.

[guignol]

After looking at some scores from that competition, the difference between the top womens teams and the bottom womens teams is laughable. Lyon wasn't the only team to steam roll all it's opponents, it seems that one team in each group thrashed the rest of the team.yes, the present format is idiotic: they seed five "top" teams into the final tournament regardless of what they did in the preceding season and chuck everybody else into prelims. why come up with something so capillotracté instead of just copying what the men do??? give all the best nations (not the same nations as for men's football of course) allotments of spots and have minnows only in the preliminaries.

[guignol]

some major good news: OL will host their group for the second round! (NB: to lower travel expenses and make scheduling easier for amateurs, also because some of these clubs may be low on infrastructure, the groups don't do home and away like in the CL)

here are the matches, exact locations to be named later.

Jeudi 11 octobre
Lyon (FRA) - Brøndby (DAN)
Kolbotn (NOR) - Sparta Prague (RTC)

Samedi 13 octobre
Lyon - Kolbotn
Sparta Prague - Brøndby

Mardi 16 octobre
Lyon - Sparta Prague
Kolbotn - Brøndby

[guignol]

i can't believe i haven't done anything on this thread recently, but better late than never.

our ladies are clearly in the big time now; a big change from cruising through the french league or going through their UEFA qualifiers with 29 scored and 0 allowed!

their big nemeses in the group are brondby (DEN) and kolbotn (NOR), both semifinalists last year.

in their first match lyon drew 0-0 with brondby, who had announced at the tournament's start that 2nd place in the group would suit them just fine, and played a very compact game; OL dominated and had half a dozen good chances, but was almost victim of the classic hold up: on 90' katia had to save off the line after keeper mainguy deflected brondby's only threat of the match onto the crossbar.

http://s.olweb.fr/ol/image/article/une/12/2349.jpg

the second match against kolbotn was more serene after camille abily combined with louise nécib to open the score after only 10', and Lyon could have won by more as katia forced the norwegian keeper into more than one fine save.

tomorrow lyon ladies could qualify for the quarters with a draw or win the group with a good score over last-place sparta prague, but caution is in order as the czechs were leading against brondby before giving up 2 second half scores, one an own goal.

who we could face after that depends on a match between defending champion arsenal ladies and italians bardolino, it will be one or the other.

[Inara]

Lyon beat Sparta Praha 2-1. Unfortunately, Brondby beat Kolbotn 1-0. Both clubs are not only equal in points, but also in goals scored and conceded. UEFA held a drawing to determine which club would be first and second. Unfortunately for OL, they were second, which means they face title holders Arsenal FC.

The first match will be at the Gerland on November 14. The return match will be at England on the 21st.

[guignol]

The first match will be at the Gerland on November 14...
http://s.olweb.fr/ol/image/article/une/12/2358.jpg

i couldn't think of a nicer birthday present than watching OL beat arsenal!

[THOMA GOL]

Yeah, I thought this was a pics thread, too.Damn :mad: .

Damn, I too got caught by the temptation bug as well. Oh well, back to the PSG -Lyon match

[guignol]

http://s.olweb.fr/ol/image/article/illustration/g/182/36382.jpg

today's the big day. the day we find out if OL ladies have what it takes to be championnes d'europe.

even though this is OL's first showing on the european scene, don't think this is a david and goliath match; these two squads comprise 80% of their respective national teams (FIFA ratings 9th for england, 7th for france, plus two 2nd ranked brazilians on OL). and these ladies know each other very well... they were in the same qualifying group for the WWC; england went through, france didn't, but the H2H results were 0-0 and 1-1.

the women have in common with the men that they've been playing with their n°2 keeper all year due to a longterm injury to véronique pons, and when émeline mainguy dislocated her shoulder last month they were down to n°3 for a while. but mainguy played this weekend against evreux, she'll be there. much worse news concerns the french player of the year the last two seasons: camille abily stretched a hamstring in practice last week; she has been resting since but may not play tonight and that would really hamper our chances.

ALLEZ LES FILLES!!

[Inara]

Arsenal.com: (http://www.arsenal.com/matchreport.asp?thisNav=fixtures&fxid=331651)


"A tough ask." That's Vic Akers' assessment of the challenge facing Arsenal Ladies when they continue the defence of their European crown tonight.

The Uefa Cup holders are in France to face Lyon in the first leg of their Quarter-Final tie and the Arsenal manager is concerned. Not because his players aren't up to the task, but because the French champions have enjoyed a far smoother preparation.

"It has been chaotic for us," Akers told Arsenal.com. "We've had a lot of disruption with people coming back from the World Cup, their minds have been somewhere else so it has been a difficult period for us. We have been playing twice a week.

"This game coming up now is dangerous for us. France didn't play at the World Cup and most of their players are French internationals. It's a tough ask because they will be better prepared than we will. Over two games it will be very difficult."

Lyon are debutants in the Uefa Women's Cup but proved their calibre by drawing 0-0 with perennial contenders Brondby in their qualifying group. As well as a strong French contingent, Arsenal opponents have a healthy dose of Brazilian flair. Lyon will pose a threat all over the pitch.

"They have two Brazilians, internationals in their own right," said Akers. "The girl up front is Katia and the one in midfield is Simone. They are decent players.

"They've also got the French captain, Sonia Bompastor, and Hoda Lattaf up front. They've got some very good Under-21 players in their group. They've got Laura Georges, who played in America, she plays centre back for them. They are going to be a good side.

"The only problem they've got is they have lost their goalkeeper to injury so, if she isn't fit, they might have less experience in that position. That could go in our favour and let's hope it does."

So what of Arsenal? The good news is that Julie Fleeting is expected to pass a fitness test before the match. The bad news is that the holders are not quite firing on all cylinders after a delayed and disruptive start to the season. Nonetheless, Akers is backing his players to take at least a draw into the return leg at Meadow Park.

"I think you need to take a draw away from here whatever you do and a win will be a bonus," he said. "If we get a draw we've got a good chance.

"I don't think we have got our rhythm yet. We have players missing week-in, week-out, you don't get to rest people. But when this group gets together and the challenge in front of them is that much stronger, they tend to respond. That's what I'm hoping for tonight."

[guignol]

akers said a draw would be a good result and he may have been right, because although the best chance of the first half was for arse, OL had the ball more, and in the second half they kept raising the pressure even without abily; and her coming in on the hour nearly did the trick, the last 10 minutes were wild.

as draws go, 0-0 is the best, and OL has kept alive their hopes, and above all proven to the world and themselves that they're not here by chance.

[Inara]

i couldn't think of a nicer birthday present than watching OL beat arsenal!


I didn't connect the dots till now...:o

HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY!!

http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/img/holidays/birthday/birthday-cake2.png

[guignol]

le jour de gloire est arrivé!

Our ladies are now in perfidious albion and in 3½ hours will walk onto the pitch at boreham wood for the biggest match in the team's short history.

according to fullback Sandrine Dusang, OL is confident, relaxed and motivated. although she was thrilled to have so much support for the home leg, she sees playing away as an advantage: Arsenal will have the burden of being favorites, and as outsiders lyon has nothing to lose, but they faced two of the best clubs in europe in their pool, and they've had a good look at the reigning champions, so there's no inferiority complex.

more, the 0-0 draw at home was the next best thing to a win; one score means arsenal must win to advance.

JMA will be in the stands cheering them on along with a handful of hex@gones

allez les filles!

[Catel]

2-3. :)

[guignol]

very nice article on the arse site about the match.

http://www.arsenal.com/matchreport.asp?thisNav=ladies&fxid=331652&cpid=703&clid=4433&title=UEFA+Cup:+Arsenal+2-3+Lyon+-+Report

surprised there were only 360 spectators, they've got a nice little park, and for the home leg at gerland there were reportedly 5000 people.

a familiar name was referee jenny palmqvist: i have a book about referees and she's the only woman in it... apparently she's women's soccer's collina.

[Inara]

BEST. POST. EVAR.


Statement: The real reason why Arsenal LFC is out of the UEFA Cup (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=626082&highlight=lyon)

Alright let me just cut to the chase here, since you guys so desperately want to get a response from the hand that's feeding you knowledge of the womens game. Lyons "victory" was a fluke. We were scrood out of the UEFA Cup and everyone knows it, Lyon did not beat us. Lyon, the referee and the linesmen beat us. Not just Lyon, fact. In total it took 14 people to beat us in the UEFA Cup and how ironic that it was a Swedish referee that had to take charge of the match and i would not be surprised if the linemen, who disallowed not one but two of our goals, were either Scandinavian, French or German.

Besides we were in no shape or form going into the match playing at the top of our game, we have played a large host of matches ever since most of our first team players who are England internationals cam from the World Cup, we have been playing 2 games per week, also France were not in the World Cup so they have had time to prepare. Just like us last year when we prepared properly, we came through the initial stages and we were ready and set to go after a good pre-season but this season hasn't been like that.

The FA boobed by having a fixture on the weekend when there shouldn’t have been one, We had to play tonight and we have suffered. We have accommodated when England VS Croatia was on TV and that is a reflection on the crowd.

One of the things that upset me is the lack of involvement in sport in general from women in England nowadays and that is something i blame on football stars like the Rooneys, Ronaldos and WAGs. Only a fifth of women in the UK are doing enough exercise to be healthy. The Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation wants a public debate on how to engage women in physical activity. It says many women currently feel under more pressure to be thin than healthy and are put off exercise from an early age, typically by school sport. And women in England desperately need greater sporting role models than the wives and girlfriends of football stars,.More than 80% of women are not doing enough exercise to benefit their health, and young women are only half as active as male counterparts. In my opinion i think the Government guidelines recommend 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week, but only one in five women currently reaches that target, a survey of over 350,000 people found last year.

Around 90% of women feel under pressure to be thin, and 25% say they "hate the way they look" when they exercise. Some 40% of girls as young as seven, meanwhile, do not want to be seen as sporty. WAGs are becoming the new sporting role models and that is depressing.We need the media to pay greater attention to female sporting achievements. And this is what pissed me off just as much or even most is that our players in the World Cup only got paid £40 a day for the five weeks in China by the FA. While the England mens team who didn't even qualify for the European champions got paid 6 figure sums, Mr "Captain fantastic" Steven Gerrard got paid the most with £150,000. For goodness sack, the female players are semi-professional, our players have jobs and are now suffering as they work extra hours to claw back wages lost from their jobs. Two months back from China, people are still working to recoup the money. Yet the FA spokesman said investment in the women's game had never been higher. Make me sick to my stomach.

But dispite all this we will recover and eventually win the domestic treble, qualify for Europe again and regain what is rightfully ours. Being a great team is not how long you remain at the top, it's how you bounce back when the going gets tough. And i can tell you all, no other team in the UEFA Cup has been through the tough times that we have experience. There is more respect for the womens game in Sweden, Germany and France, while here in England everyone wants to bring us down, look at us as less important and not financially worth it. The disband of Charlton womens set-up last season is a classic example of how little importance the womens game is in the eyes of the parent Clubs. In a recent Premier League match featuring Arsenal LFC and Watford, it had to be called off at half-time due to theft in the changing rooms and what did the security do about it? Nothing but use excuses to save thier backsides.

I can see FFC Frankfurt and Umea IK in the final, but the only reason why one of them will win it is becasue we won't be in the final, so enjoy your European adventure everyon, we will be back stonger and more prepared than this i promise you that. There is a reason why we have two players awared MBE's from the Queen, there is a reason why we were given the freedom of our own Borough, there is a reason why we are the 'Women of the Year'.It is only a matter of time before become full-time professionals and from there take over world football for the rest of it's existance, we will elimnate all competition ahead of us, we will be so dominant that football governing boards will be awarding us trophies insted of us beating oppositions for it.

[guignol]

son cas, il faut admettre, est grave. irrecuperable.

[Gnafron]

son cas, il faut admettre, est grave. irrecuperable.

Tâchons de ne point l'effrayer: nous tenons là un champion :D

[nordby1]

I just came across the following article L'OL est en contact avancé avec Bente Nordby ('http://www.olweb.fr/index.php?lng=fr&a=36693&pid=101002') posted at the Olympique Lyonnais website.

Unfortunately I don't understand French and was wondering if anyone who posts in this Forum either knows anything about this story or could perhaps post a brief English summary of the article?

Merci!

If anyone is interested in more background information about Bente Nordby, here is the direct link to the thread Nordby Decides To Play For Norway Again! ('http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46329') in the Women's International Forum.

[guignol]

i read that article this weekend. she was interviewed on OLTV about the possibility of her joining OL.

she said she hadn't made up her mind 100% yet. what she had really been planning on doing was retiring, but the possibility of discovering a new city and country (especially since both lyon and france are in the category of not at all horrible places to live) AND winning a european cup are very enticing.

she said it would be "either for 6 months or 18 months", which sounds like that may be the last bone of contention in the negotiations, although i can't say which party is asking for the longer contract. OL's n°1 keeper véronique pons is injured until the end of the season, and n°2 emeline mainguy is only 19... so they're looking for a replacement with topflight experience that can get them through this year's finals, but also may be hoping her long experience (she's 33) could impart something on our very promising youngsters (even véro is only 22).