Lauren James crouched on the Wembley turf with her knees curled high towards her face. Beth Mead, on a night of triumphant comeback in more ways than one, rested her hands on her hips to let out a resigned sigh. Mary Earps sobbed into her shirt.
The scenes after England’s remarkable 3-2 victory over the Netherlands were not the type anyone expects to see after a 91st-minute winner from two goals down. They would have been better fitting after the World Cup final in Sydney – an array of distraught Lionesses knowing they had fallen short at a defining moment of their international careers. Earps predicted that the second Dutch goal, which she let slip through her fingers, would haunt her for a long time.
There was no melodrama about it. The reality is that England may well have scuppered Team GB’s Olympic qualification. They needed to win by two goals to keep that fate in their own hands, and they are dependent on either a thrashing of Scotland on Tuesday, or the Netherlands slipping up, to top the group.
Even then, they would need to reach the Nations League final (or the semi-finals and come third, if Olympic hosts France reach the final) to ensure British representation in Paris next year.
By now, it is no secret that for those Scottish players who wish to be on that Eurostar, they need to lose to England on Tuesday to make it happen. For the conspiracy theorists, it will be a night for the ages. Erin Cuthbert was one of the few likely to force her way into Sarina Wiegman’s plans – now the England/Team GB boss will not have to make that call.
Andries Jonker, the Netherlands head coach, surmised only that it was a “strange” final matchday, and one which does not suit his team all too well. In hope, he leant on school history lessons, where he was taught that the rivalry between Britain’s composite nations is so potent that any self-respecting Scot would rather miss out on their own dream than lose to their southern neighbours.
It was hardly unforeseeable that it would all come down to this.
How could England be named as the nominated nation to represent Team GB’s hopes, when they are in the same league (A1) as Scotland?
Is there really no other way to decide which two European nations turn Olympians than an endlessly complex, needlessly fraught qualification system, via a made-up league that has no bearing on next summer’s tournament? There are Uefa rankings, Fifa rankings, European qualifiers, all of which could have avoided this scenario.
But this is the crux of the Nations League, an ill-thought-out, tiresome exercise borrowed from the men’s game. It is a particularly poor fit when it comes to the Olympics, which carries no real significance at all in men’s football but in the women’s game, has often been second only to the World Cup.
Scotland have already been demoted to League B, but for the team that finishes third, there will be a further relegation play-off. The various mathematical equations look to have evaded even the players at times. The head-to-head system, a key factor which was then made redundant because Netherlands beat England 2-1 and lost the reverse 3-2, is a continental system unfamiliar to most of the Lionesses.
England did need regular, competitive fixtures. When Wiegman first took over, they were running up the scores, winning by absurd margins – 20-0 on one occasion – and though they have traversed these tougher nights the hard way, they are growing stronger for it.
Uefa did not introduce the format for the sake of it, though the governing body is no stranger to complicating its existing competitions – on Saturday it was announced the Women’s Champions League will now follow the Swiss model: an 18-team league will replace the existing group stages, which has four groups of four.
There will also be a second club competition introduced from 2025. Someone, somewhere in the corridors of power gets a thrill from head-to-head records, goal difference permutations and relegation play-offs.
For Scotland, their final matchday should not be about any of these complex overhauls of the women’s game. It is a night to harness their Hampden moment. The growth of the women’s game has inevitably lagged behind their English counterparts, without the benefit of a European Championship triumph at home and without a professional league. The Auld Enemy in town is a chance to change that, and give a little joy for joy’s own sake.
Thus the curtain will come down on what has, for a number of reasons – not least fixtures being played on flooded pitches and countless refereeing howlers with no VAR – become a farcical first taste of the Women’s Nations League. Things can only get better from here.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/USOtY3J
Post a Comment