As predicted, Cascarino is Player of the Match. I was watching players from OL's bench celebrating with their team-mates: apart from those who actually managed to enter the pitch becuse of the special 5-subs rule that was introduced for this tournament, we had Gallardo, Bacha, Carpenter, Henry, Cayman... Absolutely impressive. OL could basically deploy two full squads probably both able to challenge any other club for the title of Europe-Champions. The power of this team, that already made the history of women's football, can't really be denied!
Not sure why Ada Hegerberg isn't there with the rest of the team, but Kumagai is now wearing a #14 jersey with her name on it.
on paper, there is a reason why Lyon won. Going back to the Guardian top 100 players. This was Lyon's contribution to that list #2, 4,, 5, 9,1 0,1 3, 21, 31, 32, 43, 52, 64, 72 #4, 5 & 32(Ada, Henry & Parris) didn't play in the final) but lets look how Wolfsburg stacks up; #8, 23, 36, 73, 82, 83, 99 and can easily see why Lyon were favorites. Maybe by next year both Chelsea & Man City will step up to contend. Here are their rankings(keep in mind #2 & 8 are switching teams): Chelsea #1, 8, 39, 58, 68, 76, 77, 81, 89 Man City # 2, 7, 14, 38, 41, 47
Players of the game (for me) : Delphine Cascarino and Sakina Karchaoui. both players aren't even in 'The Guardian' top 70
Plus Maro and Harder were both pretty much a non-factor in the past 180 minutes ... Lyon was beatable as was Wolfsburg in their semi.
Cascarino has been inconsistent for years and years, while Karchaoui at MHSC did not have the same platform to express herself. And her last couple of appearance in the WCL with her old club were not great at all
Well, this doesn't change what I've said. IMO, this is just silly to value players' perfomance over the FAWSL-bias Top 100 women players. It sounds irrelevant to me. Star players sometimes have their bad days. Not so well-known players can have their moment of glory but at least these (often young) players bring their potential to the table on a higher level. Some trust to the fact that they can do it again...and again...until they reach consistency.
but they beat us once, on one of the stupidest hand balls ever by... Laura Georges, who was doing the color on the french telecast last night.
Maro hasn't put a foot right since the restart. but having her means keeping Bouhaddi so no complaints here.
Personally I feel Cascarino should be ranked much hire & probably will next time around. I’ve previously hyped her as having the ability to become the next Marta. But her performance still was helped by being on the most stacked club team in history; you got Lucy Bronze(Guardian’s #2) playing behind her. If Lucy wasn’t available, then what some consider the 2nd best right back in the world, Ellie Carpenter, would of stepped in. You got England’s #1 left back(Alex Greenwood)coming in if things didn’t go do smoothly for Sakia. As a 19 year old, FIFA voted Buchanan in on their top 10 list and on this club, she’s co-paired with the top CB in the world(I’ll let you figure out who that is) Helping Lyon too was that Wolfsburg’s style is made to order for them. WOB traditionally weakness been defending the flanks since they send their FB’s so high up(who are either pressing or attacking) but leaves a lot of space available for their opponents to counter. In similar vein, van de Sanden had a monster final against them few years back from that same right side wing position. Heck, it’s been now 4 straight losses to Lyon in the CL for WOB. btw Tuesday should be the date that Chelsea got formerly announces the signing of Pernille Harder. How will her performance improve stacked with Guardian’s #1 ranked player? Guess we’ll find out next year
I'll make it clear: Cascarino was absolutely great, by any point of view (physical, technical, strategical...), and her MVP trophy is totally deserved, but for sure Wolsfburg's line-up and particular choice of players on her side made it even easier for her...
This is a repost from another forum but I wanted to represent my country woman here as well. Following her career since she was 17 years old, I kind of welled up yesterday, I mean she is basically captain Iceland. Sorry about the repost. Two years ago Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir, then playing for Wolfsburg, became the first Icelandic women soccer player to play in the Champions league finals in a match between Lyon and Wolfsburg. Up until the 57th minute she had enjoyed a good game and was unlucky not to receive a penalty in the first half when she got sucker punched in the face by Sarah Bouhaddi. Then disaster struck. Her achilles tendon gave way and she had to leave the pitch. Her dream to become European champion crumbled. This was her first injury since she was fourteen. Then she was playing for Haukar in her hometown of Hafnafjörður. The doctor told her that she should turn to something else then football. Any other player would probably have listened to the doctor but not Sara. She was not about to give up her dream. None the less she had to wait one year for her operation and a year after that she returned back to the pitch. Age 17 Sara got her first call for the national team and later that summer she joined Breiðablik. Aged 19 she was a starter in the Icelandic national team when it played in the Euro finals in Finland. One British sportscaster described her aggressive playing style as shameful. Apparently female soccer players are supposed to be ballerinas. After that tournament she told the Icelandic press that it was her aim to become the best player in her position in the world. Now two years after that champions league final mentioned above, Sara played in her second final, this time with Lyon against her former teammates and like in a good fairy tale, this time around she not only played from start to finish (first Icelander to do so) but also scored the last goal of the match. Congratulation Sara. It was well deserved.
Don't feel sorry: the Icelandic thread is niche enough that it's likely that not everyone here on the women's board follows it. Gunnarsdottir's story was worth reposting. And her goal was beautiful and valuable.
Adding to this. Some people were surprised Lyon opted to sign 29 year old Gunnarsdóttir, but why not sign a winner? Four Damallsvenskan titles in Sweden and one cup title. Four Bundesliga titles in Germany and four cup titles. And now one cup title and one Champions league title with Lyon. Not a bad resume.
Ok, now my bias is showing but as an Icelander I wholeheartedly agree with this analysis. You guys just must understand, this is a huge deal for us Icelanders. https://theathletic.com/2033677/202...rsdottir-analysis/?source=user-shared-article
Van de Sanden was great, but if you think she was better than or lit things up more than Martens and Groenen, then we'll just agree to disagree.
The three of them were all excellent in that Euro, and Miedema came through in the big games as well. In the WC the Dutch played in a group that was very strong defensively--much stronger than some of the teams they faced in Euro17.
i was a little surprised especially since her signing came on the heels of the announced departure of Maro and they don't have anything like the same profile. I was really surprised she was allowed to play in the CL for us, since she had already participated in the competition for Wolfsburg that goes against every law of god and man. just having her out of wolves' lineup was a gain and certainly figured in the decision to sign her at the time.