Key events
The teams are traveling in Algerica and it’s a bit empty, the stadium. Or heaven is; You’re not playing in one of Spain’s great citadels.
Fran Kirby out, Ella Toone in
About our roving reporter in Algerica.
Kirby out, Toone in. Kirby is judged after warming up.
— Suzy Wreck (@SuzyWrack) February 23, 2024
England’s starting eleven: A debut for midfielder Grace Clinton, while Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton is in the starting line-up; She’s been playing well lately. Alex Greenwood is the team’s captain, with Manchester United’s Maya Le Tissier (no, not a relative) her central defense partner.
The Swedish national player Magdalena Eriksson joins the team to write the latest Moving The Goalposts. Sign up for the newsletter. It’s absolutely free.
Now the semi-finals of the Nations League are coming up. France face Germany and the Netherlands have the unenviable task of facing Spain. When I think about what makes them so impressive, I would start with two things: the amount of quality players and that winning culture that starts with their youth national teams. They have won four of the last five U19 European Championships and have reached the final of seven of the last eight U17 European Championships. In other words, it’s not enough to just reach one tournament – their attitude is: “We’ll be there until the end.” The same applies at club level with Barcelona.
The Lionesses team is there
Lots of familiar names, but an unknown cast.
England: Hampton, Le Tissier, Charles, Stanway, Morgan, Greenwood, Mead, Clinton, Russo, Kirby, Hemp. Subs: Carter, Keating, Toone, Wubben-Moy, James, Bronze, Walsh, Daly, Park, Earps, Turner, Beeves-Jones.
Austria XI: Zinsberger, Schiechtl, Dunst, Zadrazil, Georgieva, Campbell, Kirchberger, Hobinger, Puntigam, Purtscheller, Naschenweng. Subs: Kresche, Pal, D’Angelo, Klein, Pinther, Feiersinger, Billa, Schasching, Hanshaw, Kolb.
More Suzanne from Marbella.
There’s no tournament, so this should be an opportunity to get some rest, but with the June window and the July window, how are you going to give yourself some time off?” she said. “There will be some time off after that because in England the WSL starts later (September 21-22) but the first round of the Champions League starts in early September, which takes away the summer for these players.
We need to take care of that and we have asked Fifa and UEFA to look at it and change it in the future so that the players can have some peace of mind. It’s great that we have players who love football, but we also have to look after them, so we have to do something about the calendar.
Beth Mead is back at the scene, as Suzanne Wreck reports.
Little things that are your bread and butter, it’s like riding a bike, eventually you feel better but you get frustrated with things you used to do in your sleep. You notice it because they are things you would do day in and day out.
preamble
Spanish climes for the lionesses and also a good view of Morocco, with some training in warm weather. They’ve been sunning themselves in Marbella, but will be playing on the coast in another port city, 80 clicks away. After the disappointment of Team GB failing to qualify for the Olympics via the Nations League, there is a feeling of renewal and regrouping. Sarina Wiegman has to lead her team out of a downward turn for the first time and the trajectory starts here. This was supposed to be when the Nations League semi-final against England was played; Instead, the calendar on Tuesday will be filled by the Austrians and Italy.
Kick-off is at 7:4 p.m. Accompany me.
