The standard of keeping in this women's tournament was the highest I have seen after watching the last 8 major tournaments. 4 Euros and 4 WC where the coverage has increase and more matches could be seen.
I thought the 6ft female keeper would show up by now but other than Anna Moorhouse who became England's number 3 when Mary Earps retired and keeting went up to reserve to the impressive Hannah Hampton the goalkeepers are becoming more agile and quick on their feet rather than taller.
Berger did the best save of the tournament from a deflection and any one else than Bonmati she wouldn't be beaten at her near post for the crucial goal in the semi final. Berger was battered and bruised and deserved praise for her on the field efforts and her battles to come back from two cancer treatments.
The fitness levels required when you have three 120 minutes matches in a row for England and the stressful penalty shootouts in two of those games was a phenomenal achievement.
Were we lucky that Sweden couldn't take their myriad of 'match points', you bet we were but so much better than to be unlucky losers that Italy were when Sarina had issues with her watch and put the subs on so late in 85th minute that the added time clock was nearly all over.
Thought Hampton looked pretty poor early on in the tournament but she improved considerably in the later games. Showed a lot of character in the shootouts.
I noticed that the tv pundits were saying (more than once) yesterday that the Lionesses are the only England team to win a tournament overseas, forgetting in their eagerness to heap praise on the women that the England under 21s won their Euros in Slovakia only 5 weeks ago. And also that the under 17s and under 20s have even won World Cups overseas within the last 10 years. I get that they were understandably excited about the result but these people are on tv supposedly as football experts and ought to know their stuff. Today the BBC has moderated its line to the Lionesses being the first "senior" team to achieve this feat but ITV hasn't. Must be a bit annoying for the under 21 team to know their victorious run has so quickly been forgotten.
Having said that, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the women's Euros and of course was jumping up and down when we won like every other England fan. I started attending women's matches last season with my daughter. It's only when you attend a game in person that you can truly appreciate the athleticism, speed and skill of the players. Watching it on tv isn't the same. The top women's game may not be at the level of the top men's game but the great thing about sport is that you can appreciate and enjoy it at whatever level it's played, from kids to veterans. You just factor the physical capabilities of the players into your expectations. God knows, I've learnt that from many decades following Charlton!
Generally speaking they have always meant the senior teams they talk about the men's team as never having won a tournament abroad. So the U21s etc can be miffed about that long before last night.
Youth competitions are much less important than senior ones, so correctly they aren't included in the general discussion about winning major tournaments.
Great to win, but they are rarely the strongest teams countries could put out, as the best players soon rise up the levels to the senior squad. One or two miss out the U21s completely.
Comments
Alessia Russo is an attractive girl and as others have said it was all about Scarfy which comedy Dave picked up on. AA missed the joke this time.
I thought the 6ft female keeper would show up by now but other than Anna Moorhouse who became England's number 3 when Mary Earps retired and keeting went up to reserve to the impressive Hannah Hampton the goalkeepers are becoming more agile and quick on their feet rather than taller.
Berger did the best save of the tournament from a deflection and any one else than Bonmati she wouldn't be beaten at her near post for the crucial goal in the semi final.
Berger was battered and bruised and deserved praise for her on the field efforts and her battles to come back from two cancer treatments.
The fitness levels required when you have three 120 minutes matches in a row for England and the stressful penalty shootouts in two of those games was a phenomenal achievement.
Were we lucky that Sweden couldn't take their myriad of 'match points', you bet we were but so much better than to be unlucky losers that Italy were when Sarina had issues with her watch and put the subs on so late in 85th minute that the added time clock was nearly all over.
Earps was no loss.
Great to win, but they are rarely the strongest teams countries could put out, as the best players soon rise up the levels to the senior squad. One or two miss out the U21s completely.
Attended the Group games with @Len\'s_little_girl and ‘Er Indoors.