Jonathan Liew's Blog, page 44

Classic rivalry takes new twist as England look to learn from defeat | Jonathan Liew

Lionesses’ only loss under Sarina Wiegman came in a friendly against Australia but stakes are much higher now

They are no longer England. England disappeared overnight. A subtle tonal and linguistic shift began to occur from the moment the final whistle blew at Stadium Australia, and the runes of Wednesday’s blockbuster World Cup semi-final began to take shape. At that point Sarina Wiegman’s team stopped being the familiar faces in the draw, the mother country, the cultural brethren. They are the Poms. And if you’re unclear on the difference then clearly you haven’t watched much international sport between the two countries. England is the place you go on holiday. The Poms are the guys whose noses you want to crush into the dirt.

“I’ll talk to my players and staff and see what the rivalry is,” Wiegman said on Saturday night, a comment that suggested the England coach is perhaps not overly familiar with cricket, rugby league, rugby union or netball. Even darts had its own little Ashes moment at the World Matchplay in Blackpool this summer when the Australian No 1, Damon Heta, strolled into the arena wearing the famous baggy green cricket cap and was immediately greeted with a spray of boos, jeers and songs of “same old Aussies, always cheating”.

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England’s brutish triumph is not how champions play. But it is how champions win | Jonathan Liew

The Lionesses have been made to fight before. But scarcely in a game of this magnitude and intensity

Full time, and the England substitutes in their tracksuits bound on to the pitch in blissful release. Lotte Wubben-Moy jumps for joy. Niamh Charles has a smile the width of Sydney Harbour. Jordan Nobbs wheels her arms around like a DJ.

The faces of their teammates bear subtly different expressions. The injured Rachel Daly lies on the turf, breathing deeply. Millie Bright solemnly applauds the crowd, spent and expressionless. Jess Carter blinks back tears of relief. Perhaps, in order to have truly enjoyed this World Cup quarter-final, it helps not to have played in it.

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How Wiegman replaces James will define the type of team England are | Jonathan Liew

Manager faces a tactical and personnel conundrum going into quarter-final with Colombia – but she is nothing if not prepared

Michelle Alozie’s butt is fine. We can probably stop talking about Michelle Alozie’s butt now. As the Nigeria defender put it herself, the time has probably come to draw a line under the warm potage of takes and judgments that followed her fleeting brush with notoriety during Monday’s game against England. You might think that a woman with a degree in molecular biology, a job as a researcher into childhood leukaemia and four appearances at the World Cup would be remembered for something other than being Lauren James’s temporary carpet. But that is not yet the world we live in.

Nevertheless, amid all this froth and hoopla there are more pressing matters to discuss. James has been given a two-game ban, which as well as a source of personal anguish constitutes a decision of pivotal importance for Sarina Wiegman. How on earth do you replace the player who in many ways has been the key to your entire tournament?

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Spain secure spot in World Cup semi-finals with extra-time win over Netherlands

Finally, after pounding at the door for two hours, throats dry and knuckles bleeding, Spain got an answer. And of course it was the answer they deserved, but they knew too that what you deserve and what you get are often two different things. A few long white clouds and a brilliant blue sky looked down over Salma Paralluelo as her yellow-soled boots ate up the clear green turf. And perhaps it was Spain’s ultimate fortune that the chance to make history should fall to a woman with no sense of history, with no baggage to carry. Just two feet and a ball, and the pure minimalism of youth.

In crashing the winning goal past the luckless Daphne van Domselaar, the 19-year-old Barcelona winger salvaged a lot more than Spain’s tournament. She redeemed their idea of who they are, the idea that this great generation can still be great, that the scars of the past need not sting in the present. Spain will play a World Cup semi-final for the first time, against Japan or Sweden in Auckland next Tuesday, and for perhaps the first time they will feel fate is on their side.

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Netherlands and Spain set for quarter-final battle of substance and style | Jonathan Liew

Two European sides differ tactically, which will make for one of the tournament’s most fascinating encounters

The time begins to weigh at this point. Spain have been in New Zealand for a month, braving near-zero temperatures, the strong winds that numb the fingers and carry perfectly adequate long passes out of play, the ennui so acute the whole squad and their families decided to move from their sleepy Palmerston North training base to the centre of Wellington in the middle of the tournament.

The Netherlands, for their part, have been constantly on the move from their Tauranga base in the north of the country: south to Wellington and Dunedin, west to Sydney for their last-16 game, and back again. “So many airports,” their coach, Andries Jonker, said on Thursday. “So many hotels. So many pitches. So many flights. We are the world champions of flying.”

New Zealand is a place that makes you feel its remoteness: not just in the lush rolling landscapes that seem to go on for ever, but in the dislocation of time zones and distance, the unfamiliar weather, the messages back home you know will go unread for another eight hours. And this ride is rewarding and memorable too. But when you have been riding it long enough, it needs to be the right kind of rewards and the right sort of memories.

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Colombia set up quarter-final with England – Women’s Football Weekly

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Jonathan Liew as the round of 16 comes to a close

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Colombia beat Jamaica 1-0 to reach their first ever quarter-final, where they will face England. The panel debate how great a threat Colombia pose. We also bid farewell to the hugely overachieving Reggae Girlz, who became the first the first Caribbean nation to play in the knockout stages of a World Cup, male or female, since Cuba in 1938.

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Le Sommer fires France past Morocco to set up Australia quarter-final

Now might be a good time to start buying some shares in the French. It was a bracingly chilly night on Australia’s south coast, and as France comfortably despatched the World Cup’s last African representatives there was a devastating coldness to their movements, the poise and purpose of a team beginning to move through the gears at just the right time.

Their quarter-final against the co-hosts in Brisbane on Saturday morning promises to be one of the defining games of this tournament, a tantalising collision of Aussie guts and French guile, a gourmet feast of titanic battles: Sam Kerr against Wendie Renard, Caitlin Foord against Ève Périsset, Eugénie Le Sommer against whoever has the misfortune of trying to work out where Eugénie Le Sommer is going.

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England stagger on at the World Cup – but towards destiny or the trapdoor? | Jonathan Liew

Sarina Wiegman’s side were poor against Nigeria but still better at executing knockout football’s most important skill of all

There’s a chill in the air as Chloe Kelly steps forward from the centre circle. It could be a sudden swirl of wind or the icy fingers of fate, nobody really knows for sure. Millions of eyes follow her as she approaches the ball: eight paces, then six, then four, then two. She chews her bottom lip, sucks her cheeks in and out, as if she’s trying to taste what happens next.

Nobody expected it to get this far a few hours ago, but then nobody expected Germany to go out in the group stage a few days ago, and nobody expected women’s football to be played in front of sell-out crowds of 50,000 a few years ago. Kelly knows, better than most, that the history of women’s football is not written on the balance of probabilities. You have to write it yourself.

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The Spin | Ashes 2023: our writers’ end-of-series England v Australia awards

After a thrilling series, our team pick over the players and moments of the series, along with much more besides

Player of the series Stuart Broad. He played all five Tests for the fifth home Ashes in a row, aged 37. He finessed 22 wickets. He scrapped like hell for two hours with the bat at Lord’s as Mount Stokes erupted and England’s pushback began. He then vaporised Warner in the win at Headingley, before finishing with a bail swap and a mic drop at the Oval. Magic.

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Women’s Football Weekly: England win again, Walsh’s pain and Nigeria joy

Another episode from our sister podcast from yesterday: Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Jonathan Liew and Marva Kreel

For more like this, make sure to subscribe to Women’s Football Weekly, wherever you get your podcasts

On Friday’s WFW pod: the good news – England are on the brink of qualification for the last 16. The bad news - at what cost?!

Another 1-0 win, this time against Denmark, but the sight of Keira Walsh being stretchered off in tears in the first half had us all with our heads in our hands. There was penalty chaos in Adelaide as China are reduced to 10 but found a way to win – meaning all four Group D sides could still qualify or go home on the final match day.

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