Brann, Alicia Cervantes and St. Gallen's bright start to the Nationalliga A campaign - your women's football roundup
Whilst there will always be an appetite for domestic competition (with plenty to enjoy over the last week), the growing trend in the women’s game is for more inter-continental contests to take place, giving fans an opportunity to assess who the strongest side in each region really is.
As a result, a number of new tournaments have been planned to increase that side of the game, with two coming into existence over the last few days as the Concacaf Champions Cup group stage (for which the final participant was decided the week before) and the preliminary qualifiers of the AFC Champions League took place.
As always, this newsletter will bring you everything that you need to know from around the women’s game, with the usual selection of on-field analysis and selected reading and listening material to peruse through, ensuring that you have all that you need to stay right up to date with all of the very latest from on and off the field.
3 key talking points….
Brann keep their Champions League hopes alive
Whilst it looks increasingly likely that defending champions Vålerenga will successfully defend their Toppserien title, with them currently 15 points clear at the summit, the race to join them in next year’s Champions League qualifying rounds is still very much up for grabs.
As things stand, it is Rosenborg who occupy second place and so who would gain that berth in Europe’s top tier. However, third-placed Brann are only three points behind them and will keep pushing for as long as they have a mathematical chance of overtaking them. The fact that they have a game in hand makes things even more interesting, as does Brann securing a huge win at the weekend against Kolbotn whilst Rosenborg picked up a defeat against Stabæk.
For Brann, it was a fully deserved victory, with them demonstrating confidence and quality and playing in quite a fluid manner, with rotations and positional shifts a major aspect of their performance. It was that that led to each of their goals being created and converted in different ways, with Signe Gaupset really standing out in all areas of the field, and Kolbotn really struggled to neutralise their threat.
“Technically, she has a brilliant shot and is excellent in possession, but it’s her creativity that is her stand-out attribute. That is elevated by her composure, a wonderful understanding of the game and, as team-mates have noted, her maturity.”
Ameé Ruszkai, writing for GOAL in May 2023.
It would perhaps be a surprise to see Brann overtake Rosenborg, given that the former endured a slower start to the campaign whilst the current top two set the pace from the early stages, but it would not be undeserved. Brann have shown a resilience as the campaign has progressed and have made some really positive squad additions this summer, and the fact that they reached the knockout rounds last time out means that they should not be counted out of anything just yet.
Alicia Cervantes reminds everyone of her quality in front of goal
Whilst Guadalajara have always been one of the stronger sides in Liga MX, they have experienced some mixed form of late, with results being accrued but performances being a little inconsistent at times and seeing them make life harder for themselves than it has sometimes needed to be.
One of the main reasons for those mixed results has been the drop-off in form of striker Alicia Cervantes, who has had some outings when she has tested back lines and others when she has looked very blunt. However, anyone who feels that she is no longer a player to fear need only look at her individual displays in last week’s wins at San Luis and at home against Club León, with her one of the best players on the pitch in both matches and showing why she has a reputation as one of the league’s deadliest goalscorers.
https://x.com/RojoyBlanco1906/status/1828297141501997188
There is no doubt that she was helped by both teams giving her far too much room inside the final third, with León’s high back line particularly damaging, but Cervantes still had to execute whenever the ball did arrive into her feet and did so, with good touches and a sense of belief in everything that she did. She was unfortunate to only score once against León, with the offside flag denying her on two occasions.
All in all, what these performances demonstrated is that she is never a player to underestimate and that doing so can be incredibly costly. It will certainly give Guadalajara some added hope as they seek to maintain their Apertura tournament title challenge, and they could well be ones to watch out for at this moment in time.
St. Gallen continue their impressive start in the new Nationalliga A season
The fact that Zürich currently top the Nationalliga A standings will come as no surprise to anyone, with them being Switzerland’s most successful side historically and finishing as runners-up in each of the last five campaigns.
However, there are others too who have made a bright start to the season and who have laid down their title credentials, with one of those being St. Gallen. They have not always been competing in the higher echelons of the league and last season finished in mid-table, but they have started the current campaign really promisingly and sit third at the time of writing after two wins and a draw from their first three games.
Whilst the results are impressive, what has really caught the eye about them is their style of play, with it clear that they have a desire to build through the thirds in a patient manner as they seek to control each match, and then tweaking their game plan depending on what their opponents are doing. Against YB, that saw them retain the ball for extended periods of play whilst Aarau at the weekend set up with a high back line and so allowed them to be more front-footed.
It was that that led to St. Gallen winning in such a convincing manner, with them constantly flooding numbers forward and applying pressure as soon as they regained the ball, and the fact that three of their five goals came from these overloads indicates how effective it was as a tactic.
https://x.com/FootballSwissEN/status/1828804079918989717
It is still early on in the season and there are plenty of points still to play for, but the early signs are that St. Gallen are not a side to take for granted. They have clear intentions to not only compete in the play-offs but to finish as either the winners or the runners-up (thereby securing a place in next season’s Champions League qualifiers), and it is hard to rule them out of doing that on the basis of their current form.
Read all about it….
Players to watch in the NCAA D1 season - whilst most fans’ attentions are on the NWSL and the new USL Super League when it comes to the American game, there is plenty to enjoy in the college matches too. On Total Football Analysis, Scott Martin has put together an XI who could be worth looking out for as the season goes on.
Recent NWSL trades - speaking of the NWSL, there has been a flurry of late activity as the mid-season window deadline approaches, and one move that did happen saw Janine Beckie move from Portland Thorns to Racing Louisville and Reilyn Turner move in the other direction. On his personal website, Squad Depth, Theo Lloyd-Hughes has broken down the ins and outs of this switch and what it means for both sides.
Ipswich Town hope to match their male counterparts’ success - the back-to-back promotions secured by Ipswich Town’s men’s team have gained a lot of attention in the last couple of years, and the women’s team, who currently compete in the National League, have sought this season to build a squad capable of emulating them. Jonathan Park and Paul Grunill have detailed their aims in this article for BBC Sport.
Lend me your ears….
Rapinoe jersey retired | NWSL Weekend Recap | Latest Power Rankings & Star Power - it was a busy weekend around the NWSL and in the opening round of the Concacaf Champions Cup, and the latest episode of CBS Sports’ Attacking Third podcast rounds everything up.
That’s all for now - back next week!!