by Andrew Crawshaw
Last Friday and Saturday the teams remaining in the Round 1 knockout phases of the Champions and League pathways played their final games, and on Sunday the draw for the second round was made.
At this point the 12 teams from round one were joined by a further 12 with direct access into the second round. My earlier piece explains the logic behind this!
Our match against PSV Eindhoven ended with a fairly convincing 3-1 victory although, it must be said, with some sticky moments along the way….
Our starting 11 was
Zinsberger
Maritz, Beattie, Boye Sørensen, Catley
Maanum, Iwabuchi, Little
Mead, Miedema, McCabe
With a bench of Williams (GK), Cull (GK), Wubben-Moy, Patten, Parris, Foord, and Goldie
We started well, on the front foot and dominant and deservedly took the lead through a Miedema close range finish following good attacking play directed initially by captain Kim Little before a quick interchange on the right hand side between Noelle Maritz and Beth Mead who cut the ball back into the area where Miedema was waiting.
She could have shot first time but chose to dummy the nearest defender before hitting the ball past former teammate Sari van Veenendaal into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.
Our second goal in a commanding first half came from a short corner on the left where Mead passed to Mana Iwabuchi who controlled the ball, beat two defenders as she moved into the penalty area about level with the six yard line. Most people expected her to cross but she had other ideas and lashed a fierce shot into the top right hand corner of the goal. She is quite some player and a magnificent addition to our team.
At the start of the second half PSV made team changes and were far more coherent and forceful. This seemed to catch us by surprise somewhat. A simple long ball caught our defence out and Boye Sorensen made what was probably her only mistake of the night and allowed Esme Brugts to get past her and she beat Zinsberger with a composed finish.
PSV were probably the better team for the first 15 minutes or so of the second half but we weathered the storm and regained our two goal advantage when Sari van Vwwnendaal saved a brutal shot from Miedema bur could only parry it for Iwabuchi to pounce on the loose ball and score her second of the game. That proved to be the end of the scoring.
The Referee had a different take on what constituted a penalty from me however. I thought we should have had one in the opening minutes for handball and a second in the later stages for a clear foul but they have passed exams etc whereas I haven’t. No VAR in this competition (at least not in these early stages, although it might come in for the final I suppose.
Here are the updates posted on the Untold website as the game progressed:-
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 5:16 PM
10 minutes in and no score. Most of the possession from Arsenal and a not given penalty for a clear handball
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 5:21 PM
18 minutes and Miediema scores her 95th Arsenal goal. A simple finish from a Mead pass
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 5:31 PM
25 mins and Zinsberger has to make a save. The resulting corner comes to nothing. At the other end a long range effort from Maanum is high and wide
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 5:39 PM
35 minutes and another PSV corner which goes straight out for an Arsenal throw on the other side. Now a fairly even game
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 5:43 PM
38 mins and a worldie from Iwabuchi. A short Mead corner and Mana took it into the corner and fired a belter into the far corner of the net.
seismic
21 August 2021 at 5:47 PM
Great strike from Iwabuchi
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 5:49 PM
Half time and we are Two nil to the good. We haven’t really been in danger at any point and have looked threatening whenever we have gone forwards.
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 6:11 PM
Five minutes into the second half and we concede a sloppy goal. COYG
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 6:19 PM
60 mins and we still seem a bit rattled
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 6:24 PM
Min 65 and Iwabuchi follows in a Miedema shot and scores from close range. Arsenal sub Mead replaced by Parris
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 6:34 PM
Min 72 and Foord comes on for Iwabuchi and Beattie by Wubben-Moy. A couple of minutes earlier the ref refused Arsenal a second clear cut foul in the PSV box.
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 6:45 PM
This referee really isn’t very good has made a series of odd decisions throughout the game.
Andrew Crawshaw
21 August 2021 at 6:56 PM
That is a tougher game successfully negotiated.
Sunday’s draw gave the following round 2 ties
Champions path
- Sparta Praha (CZE) vs Køge (DEN)
- Osijek (CRO) vs Breidablik (ISL)
- Vllaznia (ALB) vs Juventus (ITA)
- Twente (NED) vs SL Benfica (POR)
- Apollon LFC (CYP) vs WFC Kharkiv (UKR)
- Servette FC Chênois (SUI) vs Glasgow City (SCO)
- Vålerenga (NOR) vs Häcken (SWE)
League path
- Levante (ESP) vs Lyon (FRA)
- Arsenal (ENG) vs Slavia Praha (CZE)
- Real Madrid (ESP) vs Manchester City (ENG)
- Wolfsburg (GER) vs Bordeaux (FRA)
- Rosengård (SWE) vs Hoffenheim (GER)
Scottish Champions Glasgow City play the Swiss Champions Servette FC Chenois and have the advantage of their second leg being at home.
Winners of all these matches join Barcelona, PSG, Chelsea and Bayern Munich in the draw for the four groups comprising the last 16. The teams in each group playing each other home and away with the top two in each group progressing to knockout quarter and semi finals (again home and away) leading to the final in Juventus Stadium Turin on 22 May 2022.
We were originally drawn against Man City but as two teams in the same association cannot play each other , City were advanced one tie and now play Real Madrid.
Arsenal played Slavia Prague in the quarter final of the competition two years ago where we won 13 – 2 over the two legs, 5 – 2 in Prague and 8 – 0 at Borehamwood.
In truth, of the four teams we could have been drawn against, this was about as kind as it could be. The home leg will be at Borehamwood on 31 Aug or 01 Sep with the away leg in Prague a week later.
