- How simply spending money on players doesn’t take clubs up the league
- Why going to football matches really is good for you and should be encouraged
by Andrew Crawshaw
The opening round matches were played on Wednesday resulting in one surprise win and one emphatic victory.
The opening game started at Borehamwood at mid-day when Athletic Madrid took on Rosenborg. Third place in the Spanish League against second in Norway.
Athletic looked the better team but Rosenborg were well-drilled and defended stoutly throughout. Athletic took the lead in the 20th minute: a goal that had been coming.
They looked by far the more dangerous of the teams in the opening minutes with their right winger, Rasheedat Ajibade, in particular looking very impressive and giving the Rosenborg defenders a torrid time. At the other end, although the Rosenborg attackers were making forays into the Athletic final third they ween’t threatening and the Spanish defenders were easily able to cope with the threats.
Indeed, in the 22nd minute, they really should have been two goals up. Following a quick break Gio Queiroz, late of Arsenal, raced through one-on-one with the Rosenborg keeper Rugile Maria Rulyte who got her angles right and forced Gio to shoot wide of the goal. Good keeping but a poor miss from the attacker. As the half progressed the score remained at one nil and you started to wonder if Athletico would regret not making their dominance count.
The second half started in much the same way as the first with Rosenborg continuing to defend resolutely and somehow managing to repel the Athletico attacks. The Rosenborg goalkeeper, continued her good game dominating her area well and making some very good saves to keep her team in the game. There was a second opportunity for Gio Queiroz when through one on one with the keeper again but as in the first half the keeper did enough to prevent Gio from scoring. In truth on neither occasion did I think she was going to score, she just didn’t look confident to me. In the 91st minute Rosenborg won a free kick in a dangerous position and in true underdog fashion Rebeka Holum scored an equaliser to break Atletico hearts and send the game into extra time.
Rosenborg scored again at the end of the first period of extra time (Andrine Tomter in the 106th minute) and Rosenborg defended throughout the rest of the game until in the 121st minute it was the turn of Athletico to break hearts, when Synne Jensen equalised to bring on penalties.
Athletic went first and their first penalty was not great and was comfortably saved. Elin Sørum scored for Rosenborg followed by Lynne Jensen to make it one all. The next Rosenborg penalty was also poor and saved. Gabby Garcia (Athletic) and Hanna Dahl both scored to make it 2 – 2. Rulyte then made another save and Harken scored to give Rosenborg back the advantage and the onus was then on the next Athletico player to score and keep their hopes alive. Sadly for them her shot was way over the bar and Victory went to Rosenborg.
Chatting to a small group of their supporters after the game they said it was probably the best result of the club’s history and they had expected to lose by three goals at least.. Athletic looked like a team not yet fully up to speed whilst Rosenborg had the advantage of being well into their summer season and I think that probably made the difference in the end.
The second game was in the evening as Arsenal took on Scottish side Rangers.
This was a game I was somewhat concerned about, as Rangers are well into their season and had won their opening five games with an aggregate score of 43 to nil! As it happened I needn’t have been concerned. Caitlin Foord had probably her best-ever game for Arsenal and quite rightly won the Player of the Match award.
We started very much on the front foot and Rangers dropped into an all too familiar deep defensive block. We moved the ball from side to side probing for an opening which was very typical of several games from last season. We got the breakthrough in the 16th minute when a deep cross was met by Foord at the back post and her header beat Victoria Essen whose positioning might perhaps have been better. We continued to dominate possession with virtually all of the play being in the Rangers’ final third and they failed to have a single shot for the half. The score was only one nil though and, mindful of the similar dominance that Athletico had in the earlier game, I remained a little concerned about us only having a single goal advantage.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Arsenal dominating the ball which we were starting to move much more quickly Our second goal came 14 minutes into the second half and again it was Caitlin Foord on hand to apply the finishing touch. A minute later it was three nil and I could relax and start really enjoying the game. Alessia Russo this time.
Nine minutes later and Caitlin got her hat-trick with the most emphatic back post volley you will ever see, A shot she definitely meant. With four minutes left on the clock Katie McCabe was felled in the penalty area and the referee had no alternative but to award a spot kick. Up stepped captain Kim Little and she did what she usually does and dispatched the ball to the back the net.
Some supporters around me started chanting ‘We want six’ and in the last of the 90 minutes Caitlin duly obliged with her fourth gf the game. There was nearly time for a seventh as newcomer Kafaji spotted the Rangers keeper off her line and tried an audacious lob from distance which only just went wide.
In the end a very comprehensive win taking us to the final at 7:30pm on Saturday where we meet Rosenborg. Athletic play Rangers at midday with the only prize being a minor increase in coefficient points to carry into future competitions
What can we expect on Saturday evening?
I would imagine that Rosenborg will again play in a fairly deep block trying to stifle our attack.
On the basis of our performance against Rosenborg this is a challenge we should be able to overcome, particularly if we move the ball in the same way we did in the second half. It was very noticeable the way that our two wide forwards Caitlin Foord and Mariona Caldente, were frequently changing sides and both seemed to be well aware of the need to support the other with runs to the back post. Early days with this partnership but a great building block for the future.
I would be very surprised if Arsenal don’t progress to the second round of the competition – a straight knock out home and away fixture against one of PSG, Real Madrid, Wolfsburg, Juventus or BK Häken (if I am reading the lists correctly). The draw will be made on Monday.
There are highlights of Wednesday’s game available on arsenal.com and the whole of the game on Saturday will be streamed live there as well.
COYWG
Although we were in control of the match, our passing game was not up to the standard set against Rangers.