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Chelsea v Aston Villa: Women’s Super League – live | Women’s Super League
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56 min Baltimore has gone to left-back and, as I type, she plays a low pass into the box which Kerr reaches ahead of Roebuck – though I don’t think it was for her – nicking it away and wearing the inevitable out-cleaning. That’s got to be a penalty … but no, the flag goes up for offside.
55 min Bronze leaves one on Hanson, a body to the midriff and perhaps the only time she’s got close to her all afternoon.
54 min Changes for Chelsea: Cuthbert for Girma and Baltimore for Kaptein.
53 min James finds Nusken then gets on her bike, racing down the left to receive the return, but her clipped low cross is cleared. Chelsea need to get her on the ball at every opportunity, because Villa can’t handle her.
51 min Buurman diddles Wilms once then twice – it’s almost cruel, the defender left scrabbling about on the grass – but her cut-back goes astray and Villa clear.
50 min Bronze heads away at the near post and, on the edge, Taylor misses her shot, then Wilms, who bagged three first-half assists, curls in a cross that has Hampton scrambling, the ball drifting past the far post, just.
49 min I’m not sure I’d want her at centre-forward, but would love to see what she can do as an attacking midfielder – her ability to beat players in the middle of the pitch and shoot from distance is an outrage. Meantime, though, Villa win a corner which Hampton punches behind for another, from under the bar.
48 min Again, Chelsea move the ball nicely, and I wonder if, in time, Lauren James will move to a central position – she’s kust too good to be restricted to the flank.
46 min This is the first time both sides have scored thrice in the first half of a WSL match; if Chelsea don’t win today, their almost non-existent chances of retaining their title will be mathematically over.
46 min We go again…
Half-time reading:
HALF-TIME: Chelsea 3-3 Aston Villa
A fantastic half, Villa starting well and coming back well, with Chelsea dominating in between times. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
45+2 min Again, James hoves across the face of the box from left to centre, leathering a shot that Deslandes wears in the midriff before folding; it looks evil. She won’t mind, though, because without her intervention, that was 4-3.
45 min We’ll enjoy three additional minutes. This has been – and still is – one of the funnest halves I’ve seen this season.
44 min Pre-match, I wondered if Villa might get some joy out of Buurman, but it’s actually Bronze who’s been caught for two of their goals. She’s struggling with Hansen’s pace and movement – something she has in common with many WSL defenders.
43 min Since Villa’s second goal, Chelsea haven’t been able to take back the total control they had prior to it. I sense that, at half-time, Bompastor will be sharing some sentiments with them.
42 min Chelsea win a corner and Nusken returns; James sends another nasty delivery flat and into the middle, but Nusken can’t get the connection she’s after.
40 min Nusken treads on the ball and goes down, but is soon up and limping off; I think she’ll be OK to continue. That second Chelsea goal, by the way, is Girma’s first in the WSL; no wonder she was so eager to claim it.
38 min This game could finish with almost any score, and Arsenal will be watching it with interest. On the one hand, they’ll know that the way James is playing, their Champions League tie is far from over, but the way Chelsea are defending, they’ll fancy their chances of adding to the three goals they scored last week.
37 min The second Chelsea goal has been credited to Girma; I think that’s the correct call.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-3 Aston Villa (Hanson 35)
OH MY DAYS! Nightswonger does well down the left and when the ball comes into the middle, Wilms, now infield, bumps it off her thigh into Hanson’s path, and the finish is again deadly, swept inside the near post with very little backlift. That’s 12 league goals for the season now, and we might well be watching one of its best games.
35 min Now it’s Villa moving the ball as they seek an equaliser…
33 min You can only credit Villa, who started superbly, spent the next half-hour suffering, then found a way of hauling themselves back into the game. They’ve got some serious speed and precision on the counter – their two opportunities have been crafted and finished with a complete absence of ruth.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-2 Aston Villa (Hanson 32)
Now then! Again, Villa send it wide to Wilms, again her low cross is perfect, and this time, Hanson runs off Bronze to punch home a finish fro close range. What a game this is!
29 min Villa look shellshocked – these Chelsea goals have come far too easily but, on the other hand, pressure takes a toll.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 Aston Villa (James 27)
LAUREN JAMES, THOUGH, WHAT A PLAYER! She collects a big switch and immediately veers infield, away from Hanson before, from 20 yards, dragging a low, fizzing shot inside the near post. She’s enjoying herself, and if that continues, this’ll get messy.
26 min Lauren James, though, what a player. Everything she does looks so natural – I can’t think of many players who combine pace, power, skill, invention and intelligence, though of course her brother is another.
25 min Girma celebrated like she was sure she’d scored, and replays are inconclusive, but I think she imparts a fine glance. Chelsea have responded really well to going behind.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa (Girma 23)
Chelsea hace been playing for this. Again, the corner goes short, James to Thompson, again a return-pass finds the maestro on the corner of the box, and this time, her delivery is poifect, curling in; Roebuck can’t move in case someone gets a touch and though Girma does, even if she hadn’t, the ball would still have gone in.
22 min Elsewhere, London City lead West Ham 1-0; back with our game, Thompson, who’s started the game well, wins Chelsea another corner.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa (Kerr 20)
It was coming. A pass into midfield and Nusken, allowed to turn far too easily, slides Kerr in behind. Running from centre to left, Roebuck assumes, with good reason, that the shot is going back across goal, so plants feet ready to dive, and when the effort is directed towards the near post, can’t react quickly enough to keep it out; all she can do is palm into the net.
19 min Chelsea are playing pretty well now; I very much doubt this match ends 0-1. Which isn’t to say Villa won’t win it, just that it’ll probably take another goal, at least.
18 min This time, James stick the corner into the box and Nusken’s up … but her header flashes wide.
17 min Lovely from James, slowing down Wilms then ducking inside, the defender with no option but to fall over. She then feeds Nusken inside her, Roebuck tipping the shot around the post.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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