Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Jule Brand and why Janine Beckie's return will boost Portland Thorns - your women's football roundup
It has been quite a week in the women’s game, with excitement and anticipation in the USA and Norway as the new NWSL and Toppserien seasons got underway, tension in Denmark, Italy and Scotland as the Gjensidige Kvindeligaen, Serie A and SWPL 1 campaigns reached their post-regular campaign stages and action in plenty of other places around the world for fans to become fully engrossed in too.
As ever, this newsletter will bring you the best of the stories from around the globe in the form of key talking points and reading and listening material, ensuring that you are kept right up to date with everything that has happened over the last seven days.
3 key talking points….
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is the underrated cog in Chelsea’s machine
Chelsea have been under the microscope so much this season, with fans eagerly watching to see if they can achieve a quadruple in Emma Hayes’ final campaign at the helm before she leaves to take charge of the USWNT.
At the time of writing, things still look very positive in that regard, with them in contention for all four trophies and seeing some outstanding individual performances from the likes of Lauren James, Aggie Beever-Jones and Niamh Charles as the weeks and months have gone by.
However, whilst each of those has received their fair share of media attention, one player who has often gone unrecognised is Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, and yet there is no doubting that the winger has been just as important as any of her teammates in inspiring them to constant success and in helping them to keep the pressure firmly on their opponents.
On Friday night, it was her who arguably provided the key to unlocking Arsenal and to ensuring that the likes of James could really flourish, with her pace and awareness allowing Chelsea to make interceptions in advanced positions and to punish the mistakes that Arsenal made whilst attempting to move the ball around the pitch.
“JRK offers a lot of threat to opponents with her excellent dribbling and ball carrying, but she also assists her teammates with great passes into the box, key passes, and short progressive ones.”
Mia Eriksson, writing for Analytics FC in July 2022.
In many ways, the lack of notice that she has been afforded has come from her position, with it often the case that she will stay as tight to the wing as possible in order to allow James to cut inside on the other wing, with Charles then running forward to act as the other wide attacker whenever Chelsea have the ball. However, there is no doubting that she has been an intrinsic part of her side’s form this season, and that keeping her fit will be vital if Chelsea are to hand Hayes the ultimate leaving present.
Wolfsburg must keep Jule Brand fit to have any chance of winning the title
Whilst it seems very unlikely that they will get their hands on the trophy this season, Wolfsburg are still mathematically in the Bundesliga title race, with them just four points behind Bayern Munich with six games left to play, and that in itself as an achievement given how forgettable their season has been on all fronts.
One key issue that has blighted their campaign has been the lack of goals from the wider team, with Ewa Pajor their and the league’s top scorer after finding the net on 10 occasions to date but their next best tally coming from forward Vivien Endemann, who has scored six times.
To make matters worse, Pajor is currently out of action due to injury, and the lack of goal threat that her absence has left has been plain to see in recent outings, with Alex Popp assisting plenty but not scoring many herself whilst summer signing Fenna Kalma has not been able to replicate the consistency that she showed at FC Twente before switching to the German giants.
It is for that reason that Jule Brand’s performances last week will give Wolfsburg significant encouragement as they enter the final stages of the season, with her putting on two really good individual displays against Leipzig and Hoffenheim last week and showing why Wolfsburg brought her to the club from the latter back in 2022.
https://twitter.com/FF_90min/status/1768668486757478803
What really stood out was her ability to cut inside and to rotate with those around her, whilst she also looked confident in 1-v-1 duels and showed plenty of goal threat, and she was unfortunate to be on the losing side against her former club in many ways.
https://twitter.com/JMThorogood/status/1768669040090730560
Make no mistake, Brand is another who will want to put this campaign behind her after some really poor performances, but the way that she played in both of Wolfsburg’s matches last week showed that the quality that led to her gaining so much notice in the last few years is still there, and she will have to be kept fit for every game if Wolfsburg want to end the season on a positive note.
Janine Beckie’s return to action will give Portland Thorns a major boost
Portland Thorns last season had a really positive first campaign under new head coach Mike Norris, with there being clarity and cohesion in their play and a game plan that every player really bought into as the campaign went on.
However, they lost plenty of key players in the close season, with Natalia Kuikka, Crystal Dunn, Emily Menges, Raquel Rodríguez and Hannah Betfort all among those departing for pastures new, and so Portland this season will be a slow burner as they try to develop new partnerships and to gel those that have replaced them into their system.
It is a process that will take time, and the disjointedness that was prominent in their season-opening match at Kansas City Current at the weekend showed that there will be some rough patches as they try to rediscover their rhythm.
https://twitter.com/GirlsontheBall/status/1769054092632953178
It is for that reason that Norris will have been delighted to have Janine Beckie back in match contention, with her missing the entirety of the 2023 campaign due to an ACL injury picked up just before it had got underway, and the way that she performed after her introduction at half-time showed that she could give Portland a significant boost as the season goes on, with her taking control of proceedings and the catalyst for them coming back and only losing by a goal in the end.
https://twitter.com/RiseHigherCa/status/1770469350622802393
Their season might have started with a defeat, but the fact that the Thorns showed fight after the break demonstrated that they will be just as difficult to shake off as they were last season, and Beckie could well play a central role in their fortunes based on the strength of this first outing back on the field.
Read all about it….
The rise of Athlético d’Abidjan in the African game - the Ivory Coast have not been major players in the development of the women’s game in Africa historically, but things are changing on that front and that is being led by the emergence of Athlético d’Abidjan, as African football expert Alistair Howarth explains in this article on his own Substack page, On The Whistle.
Partick Thistle’s path to the SWPL Cup final - this weekend sees the 2023/2024 SWPL Cup final take place, with Rangers and Partick Thistle competing for the chance to get their hands on the first silverware of the season. When it comes to the latter team, it has been quite the rise in fortunes over the last few years, as this post on How’s Your Touch details.
Funding in the WSL - this is a really interesting read on The Athletic about how the WSL and the Premier League currently have the same teams in the top six. Charlotte Harpur has explored reasons for that and the positives and negatives that it might bring.
Lend me your ears….
Vivianne Miedema talks Arsenal, transfer records and injuries - whilst this episode of BBC Radio 5 Live’s podcast dedicated to the women’s game, Women’s Football Weekly, went out last week, there are some interesting parts in it that are still relevant, including Vivianne Miedema’s thoughts on current injury problems and why she and partner Beth Mead produced a documentary series detailing their recovery from ACL injuries last season.
That’s all for now - back next week!!