Italy, Klara Bühl and a Guatemalan player worth keeping an eye on - your women's football roundup
International breaks always provide fans with plenty of excitement, not only because it allows them to witness the world’s best players competing on the biggest stage but also because it gives them access to names that they might not be aware of until that point and who might be seen to be stars of the future.
As ever, this newsletter will bring you the best news and stories from the global women’s game around the world, highlighting a few on-field talking points before providing the usual selection of further reading and listening material, ensuring that there is something for everyone to enjoy.
3 key talking points….
Italy’s game plan played into Norway’s hands
The third round of Euro 2025 qualifiers did not produce too many surprising results, with scorelines kept low and going as most would expect, but one that did catch the eye was Italy’s draw with Norway in Oslo.
Both teams have experienced disappointment in recent times and are now on the road to recovery under new head coaches, and so inconsistency is to be expected as they try to find the right combinations and to rediscover their identity. However, this match did highlight how far they both have to go still, with Italy in particular looking limited at times and making life quite easy for their hosts.
To put it briefly, Italy set out to play with a flexible 4-4-2 shape and deployed both Valentina Giacinti and Sofia Cantore in their front line, but the issue is that neither player is used to playing in this system (with their club sides Roma and Juventus favouring a 4-3-3 more often than not) and it told, with both players lacking communication and making runs into the same areas of the pitch.
Another noticeable issue was that they seemed to have a desire to be direct when they could, with key midfielder Manuela Giugliano left on the bench and Italy having a desire to make aerial passes into their forward line as often as they could. However, with Norway setting up with Guro Bergsvand and Mathilde Harviken in central defence (both of whom are strong combatants in the air), this played into their hands and allowed them to continually repel Italy’s attempts to find a way through.
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This is not to say that Italy played poorly, with there being plenty that they did well and which they can be positive about, but there was perhaps some tactical naivety on show that led to them only leaving Norway with a point, and it is that that they will need to think about moving forward.
Why Klara Bühl could be an early Euro 2025 Player of the Tournament contender
Whilst there is still a long way to go before the Euro 2025 finals get underway in Switzerland, two teams who have already secured their place in the tournament are Spain and Germany (alongside the hosts), and the latter have a player in their ranks who has been catching the eye of late and who rarely seems to have a bad day at this moment in time.
Klara Bühl is already an established name on the continent and so is not a new player emerging onto the scene, but the fact that she is currently in the form of her life for club and for country has given Germany’s fans hope that maybe 2025 could be their year after they fell just short in 2022.
https://x.com/DAZNFootball/status/1605680805375660032
Against Poland last week, she was the most dangerous player on the field and the one who kept things ticking over for her team, with her mazy runs, clever ball control and accuracy when delivering from wider positions giving both her and her teammates plenty of chances to get themselves onto the scoresheet.
It was a slow burner for the 2022 runners-up in Rostock and they did have to show patience in order to get their win, and there is no doubting that the influence of Bühl was critical in them getting over the line in such a convincing manner in the end. Given this, she could well be one to watch next summer.
Ana Lucía Martínez is not the only Guatemala player worth keeping an eye on
Guatemala might not be a team that many consider to be especially strong in the global game, but they are never a dull side to watch and are always capable of providing a few surprises.
During this international break, they played a friendly double-header against Chile and it was a run of games that gave them the opportunity to test themselves against one of South America’s better sides (and one who have experience of competing at the highest level, with them appearing in the 2019 World Cup finals) and that allowed their key names to once again demonstrate what they can do at this level.
However, whilst it is normally Ana Lucía Martínez who claims the headlines as the figurehead of the team, the player who really stood out in both of these matches was Andrea Álvarez, with her playing on the right-hand side of the three-player forward line and demonstrating her predatory instincts in front of goal whenever she had a chance to test her luck.
What she really benefitted from was that Guatemala started with Aisha Solórzano through the middle and she largely attracted the attentions of the Chilean defenders, which then created space around her for the likes of Martínez and Álvarez to then work their magic in. As the games went on, it became clear to see how that aided the latter in producing two outstanding performances, with her making several sharp changes of direction and remaining composed whenever she found herself in tight spaces, and it was clear to see how Chile struggled at times to contain her threat.
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With her still just 21 years old, Álvarez is still very much at the beginning of her career and so fans will have plenty of time to enjoy watching her in the future. Given the displays that she put on in these two matches, she has all of the qualities needed to be a future world star and it will be interesting to see as the years go by just how far she can go.
Read all about it….
Crowd size fatigue - there has been so much talk this season about record crowd numbers at matches in different competitions, but perhaps the time has come when it should not be a headline-grabber and the media should not write about each new crowd attendance. It is an interesting debate, and Molly McElwee has presented her views on it on her Substack page, But Do You Actually Like Sport?
Martha Thomas’ Scotland form - whilst their two games against Israel were held behind closed doors, that did not prevent stories coming out of Scotland’s two matches in the last few days, and one of the things that has got plenty of people talking is the current form of striker Martha Thomas. Amy Canavan has detailed the impact that it has had on her teams’ performances for BBC Sport.
Chelsea’s season-long search for Emma Hayes’ successor - for a club who have been used to having the same person at the helm for a long period of time, Chelsea quickly had to spring into action last November once Emma Hayes’ departure was announced. This interesting article by Charlotte Harpur for The Athletic goes inside the process and details each step as they went from a list of names to eventually confirming the appointment of Sonia Bompastor from Lyon last week.
Lend me your ears….
Kelly Cousins: Positivity and process, when at the bottom of the mountain - with so many leagues shutting down for the summer, it’s a chance to look at some of the off-field action for a change, and one podcast episode that does just that is an interview by Theo Lloyd-Hughes for his channel Squad Depth with former Reading manager and current Utah Royals general manager Kelly Cousins. The chat goes through her role and how Utah are dealing with their poor start on their return to the NWSL, and is well worth listening to.
That’s all for now - back next week!!