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Welcome back to 31/7 ✨ international edition ✨
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As everyone but the Lionesses has been scrapping for a place at the Olympics, this week I've preferred to think about:
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- what size feet Georgia Stanway has
- the power and beauty of youth
- sunbathing with Lucy Bronze
- whether Bristol City make it out of this alive
- ...and other stuff!
Enjoy, and don't forget to share with your pals! :)
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Sarina Wiegman's babes put 13 goals past Austria and Italy as they won a pair of friendlies played all the way over in south Spain. 'Why in Spain?' I hear you cry!
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Well, it keeps Lucy Bronze happy, and that's about as good a reason I can think of. The England vet recently revealed that it has always been her dream to retire in Barcelona, 'cuz she's "a bit of a princess for the sunshine" and, in her pre-match interview on Tuesday, there she was again, saying 'thank goodness' for the games out in Marbella 'cuz she doesn't think she could handle even a brief sunless stint back in the UK.
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I don't know if it was ex-pats or travelling England fans or Barça girlies who couldn't get enough of Bronzeh, but those few fans who showed up to the Lionesses' game against Italy on Tuesday bore signs which paid tribute almost exclusively to the Sunshine Princess.
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Keira Walsh, who also plays just down the road in Barcelona, might have felt a bit neglected. With captain Leah Williamson and vice Millie Bright out of action with injury, the England armband is getting passed around like a blunt at a Marc Skinner performance review at the moment and this time, it was Walsheh's turn.
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"Keira has showed leadership on the pitch and off the pitch. I think, over the years that I've been working with her, she's grown a lot," Sarina Wiegman told ITV. Bless.
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One player who still has some growin' and learnin' to do is Georgia Stanway, whose rookie mistake made life complicated when her suitcase got left on the runway at Munich International Airport. Wiegman learned about the baggage nightmare along with the rest of us in an England press conference:
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We're yet to hear how poor Freya Gregory fared taking training in her socks. But the incident is the perfect unwitting riposte by the FA to criticism from Karen Carney over what the heck Eng-er-land are doing over in España.
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The former England midfielder headed up the Future of Women's Football review that was published in July, so she's spent a bit of time thinking about the best way to move the game forward.
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In her view, Bronze's penchant for a tan matters none — playing football hundreds of miles away when it could happen in front of loads and loads of fans back home ain't it. This is a crucial time for growth, she told ITV viewers before kick off on Tuesday, and the FA need to do all they can to capitalise on it.
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But what about bootless Stanway, Karen? Anyone who has ever travelled for work knows it ain't all sunshine and patatas bravas. The Lionesses are expected to maintain high performance levels while sleeping in beds that aren't their own, in temperatures they're not accustomed to, with the sound of cicadas ringing in their ears.
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So it helps to have a little practice first. What if Mary Earps gets sectioned for girlbossin' too hard on the eve of Euro 2025? Young Khiara Keating's first experience of stoppin' shots on the continent can't happen in crucial, competitive circumstances. Let the girls be shoeless for a while, they'll soon learn how to manage the uncertainty that comes with kickin' it abroad.
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The FA's decision to train both the Under 23s and the seniors at the Marbella Football Centre was a masterstroke — and not only for keeping Stanway's tootsies shod. The teams were sharing players, too. Little Naomi Layzell, the 5-year-old Bristol City defender who is giving her absolute all to stop the Robins sinking into the second-tier, took an afternoon away from her U23 teammates to train with the seniors last week.
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Wiegman's future-proofing looked even smarter come Tuesday night, when an ageing USA defence were made to look silly by some Mexican whippersnappers. Thirty-eight-year-old Becky Sauerbrunn may have more than 200 international caps, but her gaffe in the lead-up to the first goal had some fans offering to drive her to the knackers' yard.
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The USWNT are on ice while Emma Hayes ties up her silly little legacy at Chelsea FC, but Wiegman is living in the here and now. Little Grace Clinton, also just 20 years of age, earned her first cap (and scored!) last week against Austria, leaving her gushing with gratitude.
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"The girls have been the best," Clinton said. "The love I've had since making my debut... even since my very first camp, the girls have just been absolutely amazing, and I couldn't be around any better people."
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Clinton isn't the only lil' sweetie that the England lasses have been looking out for lately. On only her third start for the Lionesses, Lotte Wubben-Moy had headed the ball into the back of the net within one minute of kicking off against Italy. It was her first goal for her country, but the Arsenal defender didn't have glory on her mind as she performed the celebration devised by young deaf footballer Izzy she met back in July.
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Reckon you guys could stop being sweet for just one second? I'm finding it hard to keep up.
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I'm not the only one struggling with the pace. Believe it or not, Georgia Stanway has had enough of the continuous Lionessing. Gutted not to be competing for Team GB at the Olympics this year, she hoped the silver lining would be a wicked summer of frolics and chuckles, finally getting a well-earned break after back-to-back summers of the 2016 U17 Euros, the 2018 U20 World Cup, 2019 World Cup, Tokyo 2020, the 2022 Euros, the 2023 World Cup..... Yeah, well actually, Stanway did get a year off in amongst all those tournaments. It was the summer of 2020, famously a fantastic time for cutting loose, embracing youth, wildness, freedom.
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This year should have been the time for all that, but Euro 2025 qualifiers have been slated for June and July, putting an end to Stanway's hopes of hot girl summer kicking back in some flip flops over in Thailand.
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"When we didn't qualify for the Olympics we thought it was the perfect opportunity to have the summer off, maybe travel a bit further," she said. "It is a potential burnout but football is our life. Everything we do is to be successful on the pitch."
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There you are Clinton and Layzell, plenty to look forward to.
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If Karen Carney is despairing, she should walk a mile in Aitana Bonmatí's shoes.
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It was pretty badass that the Spanish players kicked off both before and after the World Cup regarding the mingers managing them, but you'd have hoped by now that being named the best football team in the world would both inspire and help the RFEF to bring loads of new fans into the fold, but as my experience in Barcelona attests — Spain simply has not caught the women's footie bug in the way that England did after 31/7.
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Unlike Georgia Stanway, the RFEF seem to have learnt nothing about getting left behind.
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She's probably a bit tired of making a fuss by now, but this week Aitana has been complaining to L’Équipe about the way disorganisation — eg, lack of proper promotion and provision of suitable venues — is hindering the growth of the game in her home country.
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"We have the example of the English, when they won the Euro," Aitana said. "We saw a real change following their success at a nationwide level.
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"It had repercussions, and there was more investment in the domestic league. The stadiums are full when England play. It makes me jealous because I can't say the same thing has happened here.
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"There are still so many things to do here and I have the impression that the World Cup has not served any purpose."
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- The Women's Super League returns
- 12.30pm Sunday — the North London Derby at the Emirates. Spurs have taken one point from their last three games so ought to be quaking as they rock up to Arsenal's monster N7 home. Big crowd, bragging rights. Should be a spectacle.
- 2pm Sunday — Brighton and Hove Albion Survival party? If the Seagulls can beat Bristol City, with West Ham finding form, it might just seal City's doom.
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- Division One North
- 2pm Sunday — Leeds United Women play promotion rivals Durham Cestria. A defeat for the Whites surely ends their hopes of going up.
- The Continental Cup nears its dramatic conclusion
- 7.15pm Wednesday — Arsenal and Aston Villa fight for a place in the final at Meadow Park.
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Won with the wind
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Ponytails flapping like flags, goalkeepers’ knees knocking at deadballs. “It’s not always easy to come to the north east and play football,” said Olivia Smart.
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