No doubt Empoli was expected to lose this game and it totally made sense that they bunkered after going ahead, since it anyway was a 2nd-placed team vs 9th-placed/relegation-zone team clash. They had anyway almost managed to take home at least a draw. Yes, it looks like Angel City will have a quite impressive roster, for being a new expansion team in NWSL.
Beata is basically the same height and size of Swaby, but I've never perceived her to be an imposing player. Intimidation is not her primary tool, rather her smartness and finesse (if you can say that about a back). She isn't as fast as she used to be but she makes up for this with her experience and location. She's a good passer and loves to start the attack. She did a really good job in Häcken's last three CL matches given that she was more of less right out of her ACL rehabilition, partnered with a center-back colleague (Luna Gewitz) who has a tendency to pass right into the gape of opposing forwards and that Häcken was massively outgunned by the opposition (well, maybe not by Benfica). She really hasn't played that many matches since coming back from her injury, so I think were going to have to see how she does. I must say I was a little surprised at the signing since Beata who is 29 now has been more or less an institution at Häcken/KGFC (coming there a teenager).
Well, maybe she though it was now or never, if she wanted to try an experience abroad before the end of her career. And/or Roma's offer was particularly enticing.
Second part of 12th match-day of Serie A Femminile, with some predictable results and some less predictable ones. Juventus easily got rid of Pomigliano with a 0-5 score, despite missing two PKs (!). Not sure if it's a record for the Italian Women's League, but Pomigliano's Gaia Apicella, who was subbed-in at 72', just needed two minutes to be sent-off for DOGSO by the ref while conceding the second PK to Juventus at 74'. Hint: this was a very predictable result. Fiorentina-Sassuolo was a much more interesting match: the purple team scored after just 2 minutes, with Serie A's top-scorer Daniela Sabatino assisted by newly signed Vero Boquete. It was looking like an awesome beginning of the match for the home-team and like Fiorentina's impressive mid-season market-campaign was going to pay in gold. But Sassuolo kept playing with perfect composure and equalized at the end of 1st Half with Scot striker Lena Clelland, who didn't celebrate the goal because she's a former Fiorentina's player. Well, Fiorentina was anyway in the game until that moment and, after HT, they even subbed-in the second big signing of the moment coming from Milan, Valentina Giacinti, but 2nd Half was shockingly going to be a complete nightmare for them. It was very difficult for Lena Clelland to keep her resolution of not exulting vs her former team, because she ended up scoring 4 goals (or a "poker", as we call it here in Italy: I know @sbahnhof will appreciate ) and Sassuolo ended up winning by 1-6! (Check up in particular Sofia Cantore's back-heel assist to Davina Philtjens for 5th goal ; Clelland 2nd goal from FK and Kamila Dubcová's final lob were also neat, but they benefitted from Fiorentina's atrocious defending! ). So, Sassuolo keep Roma's pace from yesterday and join them again at 2nd-place: it was not as their win was unpredictable, but no-one could have figured it was going to be so easy for them and Fiorentina was going to be humiliated this way at home after their monstrous market-campaign! Could it be seen as a Maurizio Ganz's secret victory? Milan's coach got rid of the players who had questioned him, Boquete and Giacinti: after that, his team ended up winning by 0-6 in Verona, while Boquete and Giacinti lost by 1-6 at home with their new team... Of course Verona and Sassuolo can't be compared, so it's very early to make such evaluations and it could still easily happen that Milan crash down and Fiorentina go on a winning streak... Finally, Napoli pick up a golden point in Milan, equalizing Inter's initial advantage with a goal by newly signed Claudia Mauri, coming to Napoli from Milan, where she wasn't basically finding any playing time anymore. Napoli subsequently hit the crossbar twice, but on the other hand Inter wasted an incredible opportunity at 88', so the draw is probably a fair result. Inter lose contact with the top-positions of the league (a Champions' League spot is now at a 5 points distance) while Napoli makes a lil step forward: since the teams immediately ahead of them (Fiorentina, Pomigliano and especially Empoli) all lost in this match-day, this point gives them some kind of a lifeline, but the closest rivals keep being 4 points ahead of them. The results... Pomigliano 0-5 Juventus Fiorentina 1-6 Sassuolo Inter 1-1 Napoli ..the rankings... Juventus 36 Sassuolo 28 Roma 28 Milan 25 Inter 23 Sampdoria 19 Fiorentina 13 Pomigliano 13 Empoli 12 Napoli 8 Lazio 3 Hellas Verona 1 ...and the highlights:
Yeah that was a quality backheel. Fiorentina need a keeper. I was about to say Pomigliano do too but that penalty save was just ridiculous. Wow. But not as ridiculous as the red card. Unless she kicked her off camera or something. The call looked so amateur. Do they have any female referees? Couldn't be much worse than that. She just sat there and said what the hell but in a men's game they would go mental. We've always called four goals a haul but I like poker a lot better.
Sara Cetinja, Pomigliano's GK, is just 21, but she's already the 2nd GK in her National Team, Serbia. Ok, Serbia is sure no powerhouse in women's football, but anyway Cetinja recently started two qualifier games for WWC 2023, including a clean sheet in a 2-0 win vs Turkey. The 1st PK she saved today was just badly taken by Martina Rosucci, but the 2nd one vs Annahita Zamanian was actually a miraculous save. Of course, she also awkwardly allowed Valentina Cernoia's cross to go in, but I am inclined to cut her some slack: she's very young, yet very promising. The day women players will go mental will probably be the day I stop following women's football: their lack of teatrics and whining is probably up there in the list of the top-three reasons why I follow women's football. Anyway, the RC looks harsh, but maybe not completely unreasonable: it can be clearly seen that Andrea Stašková's jersey was pulled and Gaia Apicella was indeed the last DF between her and the goal apart from the GK. Of course, the pulling was minimal and apparently not enough to knock down a powerful 1.80 m (= 6 ft) player as Stašková, who probably flopped (or anyway stopped resisting the pull) when she saw that the GK had blocked her. But maybe, just maybe, the call could somehow be defended.
Definitely if she's young she will improve, especially if she's in a national program. I've known some really high quality coaches from all over the ex-Yugoslavia and have been really impressed. The ball over her head looked like it was just a fluke and you get the feeling she's one to not make the same mistake twice. Good eyes. I completely missed the shirt pull and just replayed it on a bigger screen and saw it. Makes total sense now, he had little choice but to pull the card. The day women players will go mental will probably be the day I stop following women's football... That was about 20 years ago and the Brazilian women's youth team in Edmonton. Thankfully haven't really seen a game like that since. I think they even had a coach behind the net tossed.
Luckily I wasn't following women's football 20 years ago, so I missed that. And it's not like there weren't exceptions to women's fair-play in these last years (Abby Wambach counting the seconds in the ref's ear at London 2012 comes to mind; or Cameroon-England at WWC 2019), but anyway we're still still talking something annoying almost always happening in the men's game vs some minor incidents very seldom happening in the women's game. Too much money injected into the women's game could still make the trick and ruin it, but we're still quite far from that and I believe it would anyway remain different, even with more money on the line.
Wonderfully put. The past few decades have been incredible watching the journey from humble beginnings (I think our first national team had a bag of balls and uniforms) to watching women become national heroes and household names. And supporting themselves doing what they love. Those pioneers should feel a lot of pride at what their sacrifices have created for women today. We can only dream of where things are in another 50 years.
It was the second match of the day, but it sure was the most important one: Juventus-Fiorentina 2-2!!!! After 36 consecutive wins in Serie A Femminile, finally Juventus has lost some points. And it could have been worse, since Fiorentina had gone ahead by 2-0 in 1st-Half, with their new signings Valentina Giacinti (who scored a good lob, although from a GK's blunder) and Vero Boquete finally making the difference. Valentina Cernoia and Arianna Caruso lately leveled the score for Juventus, but they couldn't go beyond a draw. Now, it's not really as the fight for the title was re-opened, since Sassuolo, who also won today, remain 6 points behind Juve, but anyway it's something a little different for a change. Talking about Sassuolo, Lana Clelland, who had scored 4 goals last week, this time settled for "just" 2. Along with 2 other goals by her team-mates and with some crossbars, they're more than enough to demolish hopeless Hellas Verona, still stuck at 1 point (at least they hit the crossbar too with their only ray of hope Lineth Cedeño). A key-match for the relegation brawl, Empoli-Pomigliano, ended 1-2 for the "Panthers" team: Empoli had took the lead in 1st half with their striker Asia Bragonzi, but in the 2nd Half Pomigliano's bunch of players from overseas came to rescue: Argentinian Dalila Ippólito made a brilliant assist for Swedish Marija Banusic, who equalized; later young American Tori Dellaperuta, who had her debut in Serie A Femminile as a sub, scored the winner for her new team. Pomigliano can now look down at the relegation zone from the height of an 8 points advantage. Empoli could be in trouble instead, should Napoli make some point vs Roma tomorrow (not very likely, but who knows? ). Result of today: Sassuolo 4-0 Hellas Verona Juventus 2-2 Fiorentina Empoli 1-2 Pomigliano Highlights:
I saw that Linda Sembrant was back in the lineup. That's positive news for the Swedish NT and I guess for Juve as well.
Yes, she just sat on the bench for this match, but it was mentioned multiple times in these last weeks that her recovery from the ACL is by now complete and that she can gradually get back to being part of the group. In the end, if Juventus didn't sign any other CB to replace Cecilia Salvai (who took Sembrant's place as the ACL-injured absentee ), it's indeed because they count on Sembrant getting back to full form.
It looks like, when about one month ago I wrote that Emilie Haavi's signing could have been compared to Ajara Nchout Njoya's one for its weight, I wasn't wrong at all: Roma managed to grab two very complicated late wins in the last two weeks and Haavi was key in both games; vs Empoli as an assist-woman, today vs Napoli as the lonely goal-scorer at 80'. An interesting sub-plot of the match was the fight between Napoli's GK Rachele Baldi and her former team-mates (Baldi was Roma's 2nd GK, but she was given on loan to Napoli in this last winter market-window): she made some superb saves, but she had to give up to a scramble in the box following her save of a Benedetta Glionna's FK, that was resolved by Haavi with an header. Napoli went very close to gaining one point, but they finally had to give up: Empoli, who had lost yesterday, will have a sigh of relief. So nothing changes in the relegation zone, and nothing changes in the Champions' League zone either, since Roma caught up again with Sassuolo at 2nd-place (and both gained two points over Juventus, who anyway's still sitting 6 points ahead ). Talking about the all-influential winter-market (the teams were changed enough going into this 2nd leg of the season, that it will remain the main subject of this thread at least for some weeks), one could have figured that Milan was going to suffer the loss of Vero Boquete and especially Valentina Giacinti; instead, in this January, they reached the final of the Supercoppa that they only lost to Juventus at 88' and they won the subsequent two games of the league by scoring a total of 10 goals and taking 0. Of course, last week's win in Verona was an easy one, but today they were facing 6th-placed Sampdoria, who had won their last two games, and they anyway disciplined them with a smooth 4-0 win! There is a secret, and it lies in the winter-market too. It's called Alia Guagni, who had today 3 almost identical assists from the Right-Side for the first three goals. She had been one of the top-player of Italy NT at WWC 2019, then she had two injury-tormented seasons at Atlético Madrid and maybe someone thought that, at 34, she was at the end of her career. Wrong. She's in full form and such a powerful and impressive winger/full-back can help both Milan and Italy to reach their respective targets. Her recent signing was a very good deal for Milan (the additional bonus is that now that Valentina Bergamaschi is less needed on the wing, she can be recycled in an offensive role, and she showed that she can score, as she was used to do during her stint in Switzerland some years ago). Another new player for Milan who spent in Spain part of her career is Martina Piemonte. She was a good young prospect some years ago, but she had seemed to have lost her way. Now, of course she's no Giacinti, but she anyway showed that she can score. So, despite the rumours about Icelandic FW Svava Rós Guðmundsdóttir being going to transfer from Bordeaux to Milan, it looks like Milan at the moment is doing fine in the scoring department (even Lindsey Thomas, who had looked off-target for most of the 1st leg of the league, is finding the net more and more often, as seen today with her brace). The teams ahead of Milan are not losing point, so at the moment they have to settle for 4th-place, but they're only 3 points behind Roma and Sassuolo and the season is long... Finally, Inter only won vs one-to-last-ranked Lazio in the final minutes of the game, after having gone behind in 1st Half and after having run the risk of taking another goal in 2nd half. They have to thank their international talents (Cameroonian Ajara Nchout Njoya and Spanish Macarena Portales with the assists, Hungarian Henrietta Csiszár with the goal that put them ahead again, Icelandic Anna Björk Kristjánsdóttir with a miraculous defensive action that save the most dangerous chance for Lazio in 2nd Half), but they especially have to thank another player that, as Alia Guagni, was coming from the Fiorentina team that had won the league in 2017 and subsequently had seemed to have lost herself in Atlético Madrid: Tatiana Bonetti, who scored a brace today. Results of today: Napoli 0-1 Roma Milan 4-0 Sampdoria Lazio 1-3 Inter The new rankings: Juventus 37 Sassuolo 31 Roma 31 Milan 28 Inter 26 Sampdoria 19 Pomigliano 16 Fiorentina 14 Empoli 12 Napoli 8 Lazio 3 Hellas Verona 1 Highlights:
These are amazing. The Italian league for me has always been a mystery and starting to get the feel of it. Many thanks for all your great summaries.
Not yet the striker they are looking for on the international market, but it looks like Milan managed to futherly shore up their midfield by signing US Celeste Boureille, a 27 y.o. NWSL veteran, who played different roles in her career but is apparently mostly known as an holding midfielder (waiting for additional insight from the US boards ). It's not official, but the source seems reliable.
I had already mentioned Fiorentina was going to sign Norwegian 21 y.o. Defender Malin Sunde, from Brøndby, but it actually wasn't official yet: now it is.
This week-end the league was on break to play the 1st leg matches of Coppa Italia's quarter-finals (2nd leg on Saturday the 12th of February). On Saturday, Roma won by 0-3 an away game vs the team currently leading Serie B (2nd Division), Como, who had eliminated Sassuolo in the previous round and is managed by excellent Argentinian coach Sebastian De La Fuente (who had already guided Inter to promotion to Serie A in 2019 with an almost perfect record of 19 wins and 1 draw). Roma has to thank Spanish striker Paloma Lázaro, who scored a brace, and once again Norwegian Emilie Haavi, who scored the other goal. A personal memory: Como play their home games in Ponte Lambro, on a field neighboring a railway-line (you can see the train pass in the background towards the end of the video, just before the 2nd goal by Lázaro). Several years ago (I guess it had to be 2012 or 2013), I had traveled from Milan to Ponte Lambro on that railway to watch a Como-Napoli match featuring a young Valentina Giacinti and old Japanese veteran Emi Yamamoto (who had signed an autograph to me and had allowed me a photo opportunity) playing for Napoli. Good old times. Also on Saturday, Empoli and Fiorentina played to a 0-0 draw (not particularly impressed by the highlights of this game... ). The action of today, instead, included a Sampdoria-Milan clash that ended with a spectacular 1-4 Milan's win. By now it's clear that Milan winter-market was really a winning one, since new signing Alia Guagni and Martina Piemonte not only scored again but also posted another solid performance (the winter-market also infuenced the fact that it was in general a game full of "former players": Sampdoria's Giorgia Spinelli and Federica Rizza came from Milan, Rizza being a loan from this winter; Dutch GK Selena Babb transferred from Milan to Sampdoria last summer and then back to Milan a few weeks ago). Christy Grimshaw, despite not being after all so short, seems not to believe that she can score from an header. A side-note: I normally don't like VAR at all, but there are exceptions: had it been used in Coppa Italia Femminile, instead of a PK against Milan in 1st Half and Yellow Card to Laura Fusetti, we would have had a Yellow Card to Veronica Battelani for her shameless diving! No real harm, since Milan won by a large margin anyway and shouldn't have any problems in the 2nd leg, but... Finally, Juventus showcased once again their incredible resilience, by equalizing at 93' with Lisa Boattin (directly from CK) the goal that had being scored 20 minutes before by usual suspect Ajara Nchout Njoya. So, coach Rita Guarino can't take her revenge against her former team and sees the win disappear at the last possible moment. In this season Juventus has showed so much character on multiple occasions that I start thinking (heresy?) that a win in the Champions' League quarter-final vs Olympique Lyonnais could be not beyond the realm of possible: in the end, OL have just lost by 1-0 to PSG yesterday; they are no more so "unbeatable" and they miss several key-players, some of them possibly still out or not perfectly fit by the time the WCL games will be played in March. Daydreaming? Who knows? Recap: Como 0-3 Roma Empoli 0-0 Fiorentina Sampdoria 1-4 Milan Inter 1-1 Juventus Highlights:
Oh, come on! GKs blunders are part of the game, but that CK was anyway meanly-taken and what I meant is things happen only if you put yourself in a position to make them happen. Too many times, this season, Juventus scored key goals in the dying minutes of a game (Girelli, anyone? Does it remind you of anything, @Lohmann? ) for it to be dismissed as "just a concidence".
Also: I had forgot to mention that Inter didn't play this Coppa Italia's match with their usual starting GK Francesca Durante (who in the past had a solid career in Italy's Youth National Teams and recently received some calls as 3rd GK for Senior Team's training camps or matches); Rita Guarino chose instead to play young 2nd GK Astrid Gilardi (she's going to soon turn 19 in mid-February), probably to give her some playing time, some experience, some confidence by selecting her for this competition. Gilardi made some good saves during the game, but of course the gamble of throwing a so young and unexperienced GK on the pitch is that you have to take into account the chance of a blunder.
From Lisa Boattin's interview on Juventus' website: "My goal? A little luck was needed. I am very happy!". In other news, Milan's announced signing of US midfielder Celeste Boureille from Portland Thorns has been now finalized:
Last shudders of the winter-market with some signings from abroad. I suspect Russian DF Alina Miagkova shouldn't change very much the situation at Hellas Verona, a team that's already doomed and is probably already building a roster for the next season in 2nd Division. Much more interesting could be the fact that another Norwegian player joines Emilie Haavi and Mina Bergersen at AS Roma, since the team just finalized the signing of Sophie Roman Haug (from the same team as Haavi, LSK-Kvinner), here shown with Betty Bavagnoli (former Roma's coach, who led the club to the win of Coppa Italia last season and now it's the team's market-manager, being apparently as good at that as she was at coaching ): I'm going to ask insiders on The Norway Thread what's the relevance of this signing, but I already expect it could be quite high (although not as much as Haavi's, I guess).