Anyway, now that I think about, having two teams in Europa Cup should give Italy an higher chance to win that trophy.
wow Roma screwed up, missed most of it and just saw glimpses thru game, but it looked like Roma kinda dominated, but was weak in front of goal? And then a classic mental collapse in the end. You could see Sporting sensed the smell of blood and fear and went for the win. My fav Corelli didn't seem to do much either... Not a good result for Serie A fem and also with Inter out. Now Juve maybe are the only hope for Italy. Sad result. Btw I think the risk for upsets at this stage of the season is bigger than later, not that this is a huge upsets. You see this pattern time after time, with smaller teams doing upsets at the early stage of the season.
Yes, as I have mentioned at HT, they should have scored another goal when they were in control of the game, but they decided to choke in the final minutes instead. Well, don't forget that, despite the fact that I and @Lohmann are acting like the sky has already fallen, there is anyway a return-match. Roma can try to win in Lisbona next week: easier said than done, of course, but in the end they have the personal to try to upset the upsetters, don't they? Anyway, I agree that this is a very bad moment of the season for Italian teams to play crucial WCL games.
I hate being a doomsayer. anyway, I would have posted highlights of Roma-Sporting, but they didn't appear on AS Roma's YouTube channel so far: apparently they're not in a hurry to show their fans this failure. Should the highlights finally surface, I'll post them along with the Women's Cup's ones from this week-end.
Despite what @Lohmann correctly noticed, the first two games of the last match-day of this group stage were played today. Lazio quite easily dispatched Parma and had a perfect record of three wins in three matches at group stage. I've got the feeling that the club from Roma could be a contender in the highest positions of the rankings in Serie A Femminile, this season: they have some relevant NT members along with players who were often considered second strings but who are actually borderline international-level too; they could give themselves a treat by playing in a carefree mood. Today's Lazo's goals were a very well-taken FK by Flaminia Simonetti, a stubborn personal action by Martina Piemonte and a tap-in by Elisabetta Oliviero. English winger Lucy Ashworth-Clifford looked very good with crosses and Francesca Durante had a pair good saves before being replaced at 77' by 21 yo Finnish Kerttu Karresmaa (I didn't see the full match so I am not sure if it was an injury or just the wish to give some playing time to the young reserve-GK at the end of the group stage ), who didn't look flawless in the action of Parma's lonely goal, an header from CK action by English DF Danielle Cox. Parma's GK Matilde Copetti didn't look too much to blame instead, since two of the goals were perfectly aimed at the top corner while the third was a fast tap-in from a rebound: maybe, though, being 1,80 m tall, she could work on furtherly powering her jumping skills to actually fully cover the goal, top corners included. Juventus had no choice but winning today's match, and winning it big, to try to catch the last spot for the semifinals by becoming the best 2nd-placed team of the three groups: they did what they had to do by posting a 4-0 score and now they are surely ahead of Group C's contenders (Sassuolo will have less points than Juventus unless they manage to beat Roma tomorrow, but in that case Roma would become the 2nd-placed team and, since their goal difference is worse than Juve's already, it wouldn't get a chance to become better), so they just have to hope that Fiorentina don't beat Genoa by 5-0 or more (or that Inter lose to Como). Today's goals were scored by Norwegian Emma Stølen Godø and by Cristiana Girelli from FK (caused by a blunder by Beatrice Beretta and Cameron Brooks) in the 1st Half; in the 2nd Half it was recently-signed Tatiana Pinto who stole the show with a brace and with a funny and very Italian way to celebrate her last goal at 90'+5'. Napoli looked quite hopeless and the impression is that they don't have much to show apart from Marija Banusic. Today's matches: Lazio 3-1 Parma Juventus 4-0 Napoli Today's highlights: Final Standings of Group A Lazio 9 points (goal difference: 6-2) Juventus 6 points (goal difference: 6-1) Parma 1 point (goal difference: 3-7) Napoli 1 point (goal difference: 3-8)
Last day of the group stage of the Women's Cup was played today. Fiorentina found the win they needed vs Genoa, but not with the score they needed. Just two goals were scored by them, one at the end of the 1st Half with Iris Omarsdottir (it looks like @Bauser was right in seeing her as a legitimate goal-threat! ) and another at the beginning of the 2nd Half with captain Emma Severini from PK. In the last half hour, though, Genoa gained the upper hand: they scored with Norma Cinotti and they were close to the equalizer, by even hitting the crossbar in the last minutes. This score (combined with Inter's one, that anyway prevented Fiorentina from winning group B) allows Juventus to advance to the semifinals, since Fiorentina would have needed a 5-0 win to become the best 2nd-placed team at their place. Actually, I am not sure if the tie-breaker for the positioning in the groups of this Women's Cup was the direct clash (in this case Inter had already won Group B regardless) or the goal difference (if it was, Inter just squeezed in for one single goal): I suspect it was the former, as in Serie A Femminile, and not the latter, or it would be difficult to imagine Inter playing so carelessly and with so little urgency if they hadn't been already qualified for the semifinals. Anyway, not only they didn't manage to score, but they were even caught by a late goal by Alisha Lehmann at 78'. Would have she been able to score without a crucial deflection by Elisa Bartoli? Who knows. Anyway, this goal allowed us to see the Swiss player's particular form of celebration (was she mimicking a fishing rod? ). Women's Cup's YouTube channel didn't have the highlights of this game, so I used the ones from Inter's channel. Sassuolo still had a chance to reach the semifinal with a win, but Roma dominated them for all of the game and forgot about the bad performance vs Sporting from Thursday. Giada Greggi, in exceptional form, assisted Rinsola Babajide for the first goal of the game (also the first one for the Nigerian striker with her new team) and then scored one of her own just before HT. Alayah Pilgrim rounded up a 3-0 score in the 2nd Half. Everything looked quite easy and all of Roma's new pieces seem to be falling together: let's see if they will do it in time for UEFA WCL's return-match in Portugal. Milan-Ternana had nothing at stake. Ternana anyway went ahead in the 1st half with a good header by veteran (36 yo) Valeria Pirone. Milan managed to reverse the score in the 2nd Half: Ternana's complains about Milan's 1st goal, easily scored by Kayleigh Van Dooren from a rebound, frankly look justified at first sight, since the player looks off-side; there's not a clear angle in highlights, though, that actually allows to assess her position. The winning-goal, instead, didn't raise any doubt: it was a middle-range low shot by 17 yo Karen Appiah, who's Italian, born in Brescia, despite her family name reminding of her Ghanaian descent, and who's a brilliant product of Milan's youth team. This win isn't anyway even enough for Milan to catch the 2nd-place. The scores: Fiorentina 2-1 Genoa Inter 0-1 Como Roma 3-0 Sassuolo Milan 2-1 Ternana The highlights: Final Rankings of Group B Inter 6 points (goal difference: 5-3) Fiorentina 6 points (goal difference: 5-4) Como 4 point (goal difference: 2-3) Genoa 1 point (goal difference: 3-5) Final Rankings of Group C Roma 9 points (goal difference: 8-2) Sassuolo 4 points (goal difference: 3-4) Milan 3 points (goal difference: 2-4) Ternana 1 point (goal difference: 4-7) The pairings of the semifinals (that will be played on the 23rd and the 24th of September on the neutral ground of Castellamare di Stabia) will be determined by a draw, that will happen on Tuesday the 16th of September at 14:00.
Not sure, but actually I haven't read anything about avoiding the pairing of the best 2nd-placed team with the winners of their group. Of course it would be lame if it would happen, so maybe they indeed inserted a clause, but I didn't find anything about it.
Italy gets a two-header clash with USA in the FIFA window at the end of November / beginning of December, at their home (in Florida: Orlando and Fort Lauderdale). It's a lot these two teams weren't meeting, so it will be quite exciting to face the #2 team in the world (and former #1 for long).
I'm looking forward to the matches. From our perspective, it will be interesting to see if we bring our full team, including European based players, just domestic based players, or some combo. And a really big question for me is about A Thompson. She had been a primary player over the summer, but now that she is in Europe, if Hayes calls in just domestic players, who will replace her?
I hope Italy will have their best line up instead. Of the Euro roster players, Annamaria Serturini is now out with a ruptured ACL, but she anyway was kind of a fringe player at international level. Rest of the team seems quite healthy, although some of them didn't actually have much rest this summer, and it showed in the first Champions' League's games.
Maybe. By the way, how is she faring? (I just watched some highlights' videos, not full matches, so I would like to know from people who actually see her play week in week out).
Hibernian-Inter going to start in less than an hour: Inter's website says that they're going to broadcast the match. Judging by the official starting line-ups, it looks like Tessa Wullaert is finally back. INTER: Rúnarsdóttir; Robustellini, Pleidrup, Milinković, Ivana Andrés; Vilhjálmsdóttir, Csiszár, Magull, Schough; Wullaert, Bugeja. Chiara Robustellini is the only Italian on the pitch.
Only available in certain countries. (Not in Germany). Why didn't you told us about the Cup draw? (Roma derby) I hope you are more interested in this article: https://www.calciofemminileitaliano...con-il-milan-ringrazio-club-staff-e-compagne/ A bit late this article
Inter are dominating the game in the first 35' minutes, but their defense in shaky on the few Hibernian's direct plays. A different team from the Scottish one of today could have punished Inter's carelessness and I fear that for their future in this competition.
You are right, I've been really busy at work in these two days! The two semifinals, both to be played on the neutral ground of Castellammare di Stabia (as the subsequent final match) are: - Roma-Lazio (on the 23th of September, 20:30) - Inter-Juventus (on the 24th of September, 18:30) Somehow, Laura Giuliani's 100th matches are always acknowledged a little late.
Lina Magull had to be subbed-out just out the hour mark for an injury, that I missed but I don't think it's too serious, since, after using the ice, she tried to anyway keep playing for about 5-10 minutes. Still 0-0: Inter don't seem to try hard of to look for more than that. Yawn.
Benedetta Glionna, subbed-in just before 80', revitalized this game a little: she jumped on a wrong backpass by Hibernian's midfield and she was grabbed by their GK Noa Schumacher just outside the box, forcing a direct Red Card to her. Nothing from the subsequent FK, but the Scottish team will have to play the last minutes of the game with one player down.
...And Inter finally scores, at 90'+2', with another 2nd Half sub, young Montenegrin Maša Tomašević (18 yo and one month), with her first goal for Inter and in an European competition. Soon after, final whistle. Hibernian 0-1 Inter, FT (1-5 aggregate score). It was a quite forgettable game, but one can't say that Inter didn't deserve winning it. The draw for the next round will be two days from now, on the 19th.