Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 43

Heartbreak for England as Spain lift World Cup – Women’s Football Weekly

Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Jonathan Liew and Marva Kreel reflect on Spain’s World Cup final triumph over England

On today’s pod: England fall at the final hurdle as they’re beaten 1-0 by a superior Spain in Sydney to see their hopes of a first-ever Women’s World Cup triumph dashed.

We take a deep dive into the major talking points, chances, decisions, starters, substitutions and super saves which saw the Lionesses come up short against a Spanish side which has defied the odds to reach new heights on it.

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England fell in love with this team but Spain serve up bittersweet ending | Jonathan Liew

The Lionesses lose the battle of ideas but good things can come of this defeat: new strategies, fresh blood, realistic expectations

We still love you; come home. Like all good travel romances, perhaps England’s 2023 World Cup was always destined to end in cold tears and bittersweet fragments of memories, the smell of reality wafting through the curtains. There will be no shame in losing to a superior Spain side, no recriminations or burning effigies for a group of players who left every piece of themselves on the Sydney pitch.

But regrets? They’ll have a few. Moments that broke the other way, decisions they wish they could take back, and above all the opportunity to create something beautiful and monumental together, for everyone, for ever. They are still European champions and nothing can touch the colossal sugar rush of that Wembley triumph. For another four years at least, however, the circle remains incomplete.

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‘Ecstasy and possibility’: What a Lioness victory will mean for England

A World Cup win will cement women’s football in the national consciousness. But there are still other battles to be fought if the playing field is to be truly levelled

Eve from EastEnders has been raving about the Lionesses all summer. One supermarket chain expects to sell 45 bottles of prosecco a minute this weekend. Boris Johnson wants to “strap the Taliban into their chairs on Sunday” and force them to watch the game.

Meanwhile, a psychic from Bath called Jemima Packington, who claims to be able to predict the future by throwing asparagus spears into the air and seeing where they land, has forecast an England win on penalties. “The asparagus could not reveal the score in normal time,” Packington admitted, a little unhelpfully.

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No envy for Spain’s exiles as Vilda’s World Cup run fails to bring unity | Jonathan Liew

While Jorge Vilda’s reshaped squad has marched to a first World Cup final, those on the other side of the split have delivered a deafening message: this team do not play for me

Patri Guijarro has been holidaying in Majorca, posting pictures of surfboards and palm trees and stalactites. Laia Aleixandri went to Egypt to see the pyramids. Sandra Paños has been going on countryside walks with her dog. Lucía García has been exploring the streets of Manchester. Lola Gallardo went to a music festival. Ainhoa Moraza got her hair done. Leila Ouahabi feasted on a giant plate of mussels and prawns.

The various and lavishly tended Instagram accounts of Spain’s rebel faction are in many ways a portal into a parallel universe. An alternative summer in which these international footballers are not playing international football, not braving the winds of Wellington, not encroaching on a World Cup final, perhaps not even watching the World Cup final. There are no patriotic posts, no good-luck messages or congratulations for their former teammates. And in these quiet elisions lie a deafening message: this team may claim to play for a country of 47 million people, but they do not play for me.

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‘People still like me’: Wiegman pledges future to England before World Cup final

Manager has ‘no plans to leave’ before deal ends in 2025She reveals her assistant came up with idea of using 3-5-2

Sarina Wiegman has rejected speculation that she may leave her job to coach the United States after the World Cup, and has pledged to honour her England contract which runs until 2025. With the US coach Vlatko Andonovski resigning after their last-16 exit, there have been strong rumours that US Soccer may consider a big-money move for Wiegman, whose stock is high after winning Euro 2022 and leading England into Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain.

The Football Association has said it would reject any attempt by rival teams to poach Wiegman before the end of her contract. Wiegman, speaking from the team’s Terrigal base, admitted she was aware of the speculation linking her to the US but confirmed her intention was to remain in the job until at least the next European Championship in Switzerland. “I have a contract until 2025,” she said. “I’m really enjoying my job and I have the impression that people still like me doing the job. I have no plans to leave.”

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How complex Jess Carter became England’s stalwart of quiet calm

Centre-back endured a difficult few years at Chelsea but is now fulfilling the potential she first showed as a teenager

“Do you want to play for your country?” Emma Hayes asked Jess Carter. It was the summer of 2019: two years since Carter’s form as an exciting teenager at Birmingham City had won her a single England cap and, later, a move to Chelsea. But in between times the young defender had lost her way a little. Her first season had gone badly. And her manager had had enough.

“I do, but not now,” Carter replied. “I’m not ready for it.”

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Matildas fever has met its antidote: an England team with killer instinct | Jonathan Liew

The Lionesses have learned the hard way what it takes to win a tournament – defeat in this semi-final has given Australia a crash course

The girl in the Sam Kerr face mask was weeping. No tears were actually visible. The cardboard surface itself remained impassive and structurally sound. But you could tell what was really going on from the way the chin quivered and wobbled, from the comforting mother’s arm draped around hunched shoulders. For Australia, the co-hosts and the stirring soul of this tournament, the party is over.

Then again, nobody ever reached a World Cup final without breaking a few hearts along the way. And on a crisp, cool Sydney night, England moved one step closer to a peak they have been trying and failing to scale for 30 years. Their 3-1 victory was not flawless, and nor was it entirely free of dread or drama. But it was nerveless and efficient in all the right places: a performance carved from the austere gospel of Sarina Wiegman, the brilliant Dutch coach who has now overseen the two greatest tournament showings in the history of England women’s football.

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Matildas on a quest for lasting legacy beyond winning a home World Cup | Jonathan Liew

England have embraced their villain status here, yet in this semi-final they face not just a team but an entire nation

Golden Boot tracker; guide to all 736 players

The first time Emily van Egmond played football for Australia, nobody bothered counting the number of people watching. It was a friendly against North Korea at Ballymore in 2010, and although the national team midfielder reckons there were “maybe a couple of thousand” people in attendance, nobody knows for sure because, after all, who really cared? These were fringe players in a fringe team in a fringe sport. Stores were not selling out of replica Matildas jerseys because there were no replica Matildas jerseys. Australia won 3-2 and a national holiday was not declared.

Indeed it was relatively recently that many of the women now preparing to face England in the biggest football game seen on Australian soil were working second jobs to supplement their tiny retainer contracts. Caitlin Foord drove an Uber around Wollongong. Katrina Gorry helped out at a school. Alanna Kennedy worked in Pizza Hut. The idea of playing in front of millions had not yet occurred to them, let alone being blazoned on billboards and buses across the country.

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Mason Greenwood and what will really decide if he plays for Manchester United again | Jonathan Liew

The club are consulting players in their women’s team before making a decision but the market, as always, is likely the key

And who says football doesn’t have enough women in decision-making roles? There was a bitter irony in the news this week that Manchester United are consulting their women’s team over whether to let Mason Greenwood play for the club again. United had hoped to make a decision before the start of the Premier League season, but the process has apparently been delayed because three of United’s players are playing for England at the World Cup in Australia, and presumably have more pressing matters to deal with.

Quite apart from the fact that delegating the responsibility to the players places them squarely in the crosshairs of horrific abuse from Greenwood’s many depraved internet fanboys, you had to gape at the sheer chutzpah at work here. It is now six months since the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued its case against Greenwood for attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault. Time enough, you might think, for the elite Carrington hivemind to consult the necessary stakeholders, weigh up the risk-reward quanta and enact a decision. And yet here we are, the season already begun, and Ella Toone, Mary Earps and Katie Zelem are being dragged into this grave moral issue while they’re trying to prepare for a World Cup semi-final on the other side of the world. This, presumably, is what is meant by respecting the process.

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Spain continue emotional journey in World Cup semi-final with Sweden

Some players protested against their manager in 2022 but Jorge Vilda is still there as Spaniards’ interest in team grows

Spain vs Sweden live updates: Women’s World Cup 2023 semi-finalGolden boot tracker; guide to all 736 players; full coverage

Jenni Hermoso could already feel the butterflies. There were plenty of tears shed after the win against the Netherlands and if they can beat Sweden on Tuesday to reach Spain’s first World Cup final then doubtless there will be plenty more. But now, as she put it: “We need to feel that nervous sensation in our stomach. Just thinking about it gives me shivers. It feels so close.”

As she stepped into the press conference room at Auckland’s Eden Park, the first thing she noticed was the number of journalists and cameras. The semi‑final is a 46,000 sell-out, but Hermoso can remember the days when, as she put it, “there were five or 10 people asking us questions and 300 people watching the game”. She can sense the magnitude of what they may achieve. But she can also feel the weight of what they already have.

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