#nirwnt

[glimmerofawesome]

Northern Ireland Women make history scoring their first ever goal in a major tournament with their first ever goal at the European Championships on July 7 2022.

[footballbro]

The footballbro Stupid Prizes Awards: Euro 2022 Edition

The “We’ll Draw Anyone” Award

This dubious honour goes to Iceland who managed to go unbeaten in the group stage with 1 all draws against France, Belgium and Italy but didn’t manage to get to the knock out stage thanks to Belgium beating Italy.

The “Here for a Good Time” Award

This goes to Austria who crashed not one but two press conferences with music and dancing

The “History Makers” Award

This is goes to Northern Ireland who were appearing at their first Euros and managed to score their first Euro goal thanks to Julie Nelson

The “Not Another One” Award

This goes to the infamous ACL injury which took many players out of the Euro competition. This includes, but is not limited to just, Putellas, Katoto, Marozsan and Katoto.

The “How the Fuck Did That Not Go In” Award

This is awarded to almost all of the Sweden versus Belgium game thanks to a combination of good goalkeeping, luck and bad shooting.

The “Two Person Defence” Award

This is awarded to van der Gragt and van Domselaar for their performance against France. Between them they keep out multiple French shots on goal

The “Excellent Time Wasting Award”

This goes to Ella Toone and Alessia Russo for trying to read the note passed round by the German players.

The “About Last Night...” Award

Finally this award goes to the hangovers the Lionesses are bound to be nursing

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

The final whistle blows and Northern Ireland are through to their first ever major tournament. A moment for the history books!

[theroleofimagination]

Beth Battling

England vs Northern Ireland - 23/10/21

My photos, please do not repost

[greywindsports]

This Euros race is just too close!

I think I’m going to just support the tournament cause I can’t choose one team🥲

[liverpoolfcw]

Rachel Furness receives BBC Northern Ireland's Sports Personality of the Year award.

This is so well deserved and I'm so happy for her! ❤️💚

[wntfootball]

To watch one game and not the other or to watch both at the same time. Decisions decisions

[magiccoverssport]

Round 1.5 Check In

I thought I might do a check-in after every round, but alas, there's no time! So, here's impressions from after Round 1 and halfway through Round 2 (Groups A & B have all played 2 games but Groups C & D are still to come).

Teams that Impressed

As a theme, I would say 'the usual suspects' but to name them: Germany, France and England.

Germany looked excellent right from the start, all of the stereotypical descriptors proving true, particularly organised and ruthless. I wasn't totally conviced in the first half of their opener vs. Denmark because they weren't finishing their chances, but they ultimately steam-rolled the Danes (4-0) and completely handled Spain 2-0 (talk about taking your chances--first two shots on target were goals!). Also, Merle Frohms in goal has quietly had a very good tournament so far, stepping up when needed and keeping that immense defense organised from the back.

France looked just fantastic against Italy. Granted, Le Azzurre crumbled quite a bit (losing 5-1), but Les Bleues were just relentless (here's a great analysis from Om Arvind on their attacking threats from that match). It will be interesting to see their midfield and defense challenged a bit more in the knock-out rounds (no offense to Iceland and Belgium but I'm pretty confident France are going to cruise through this group), but they were so convincing right from the jump.

And England! The opener didn't inspire (although the crowd at Old Trafford looked amazing), but the 1-0 win over Austria seemed to settle some nerves and then no one could have seen the 8-0 thrashing they laid on Norway coming. The Norwegians were clearly shocked and unable to respond to that first half, but there's no denying that England looked GOOD. Personally, very happy to see Fran Kirby as a 10 as she works back to fitness (here's Michael Cox in The Athletic on the subject--message me if the paywall is an issue), but Sarina Weigman has also been able to work in a lot of subs, including young players. I'll get into more about specific players impressing later, but just to say that the planning and tactics from the manager seem to be coming together at the right time for the Lionnesses.

Teams that Struggled

Oh Norway. Many expected them to have an up-and-down tournament coming in (see Sophie Lawson again), but their collapse against England was truly shocking. They started reasonably well with a 4-1 victory over Northern Ireland, starting to really click offensively (though even in that game you could tell they could still click more). My impression after the first game was that they were going to need to outscore teams to overcome a spotty defense, but the complete shut-down at the hands of Englands midfield and defense was really astounding. They're really going to need to regroup and refocus to make it out of this group, as Austria has managed to look more organised and composed on the whole.

Italy had a shock opener against France, leaving way too much space in between the lines for Les Bleues to attack and surviving a VAR overturn of what looked to be a straight red card against their Captain, Sara Gama. They'll need to find results against Iceland and Belgium in order to make it out of the group, and at the moment they seem disjointed and rattled.

I'm including Spain in this category, even though they still had some positives in their performances, just because it doesn't seem like they have clear answers when they need to kick into a higher gear. This analysis prior to their game against Germany from Om Arvind is really thorough and fantastic and he highlights the vulnerabilities in their defense that the Germans were ultimately able to exploit. I couldn't help but feel like Spain was really missing something (maybe Alexia Putellas and/or Jenni Hermoso) in the second half to level the score. I realise it's still the group stage but it feels like they're not mentally or tactically prepared to go for a 'hail mary' if they end up needing to. If they want to progress in the tournament, they not only need to beat Denmark on Saturday, but also find a different level against the likes of England, Germany and France. Tending to agree with Emma Hayes here in that they're getting predictable.

Finally, also from Group B, Denmark have been slow off the mark as well. In the first match, you can credit the Germans with completely shutting down Pernille Harder, but they also struggled to find answers in their 1-0 win against Finland and seem to not have figured out the best formation to set their offense free. That said, they're still in a position to make it out of the group with a win against Spain, but they'll need to be a lot better for that to happen.

Teams to Wait and See

The Sweden v. Netherlands 1-1 draw was more timid than I thought it would be. Though both these teams are likely to make it out of Group C, but the verdict is still out on what kind of overall tournament they'll each have.

Sweden seemed really self-assured and in control, but they never put their feet on the gas, and I really wanted them to! They just move so seamlessly between formations and personnel on the pitch, they're so organised, which is really impressive, but I definitely wanted more.

The Netherlands have left the opening game with a lot of injuries (and have some key players isolating due to Covid since, most notably Vivianne Meidema) and they're not very deep, so that's worrisome. That said, they were resilient and adaptive against Sweden, showing up on the big stage in a way that they haven't in friendlies recently, so that's a good sign going forward. If they can weather the injuries and Covid outbreak to make it out of the group, they stand a good chance to build confidence into the knock-out rounds.

Players that Impressed

I'll try to stay focused and only touch on a few, but yay let's get into some highlights! So far, here are my five players of the tournament (realising I'm omitting some key names, like Miedema, Bonmati, Cascarino, the entire German team, etc.)

Georgia Stanway (#10) is playing out of her mind right now. In both of England's games, she's completely dominated the midfield, disrupting opponents attacks and launching the Lionesses offense. Just incredibly impressive.

Next, Grace Geyoro (#8) made quite the statement with the first ever first-half hatrick in a women's euros in France's opener against Italy. She was honestly everywhere and certainly has the tournament talking!

Kosovare Asllani (#9) had a fantastic first half in the Sweden opener against the Netherlands, including this beautiful run and nutmeg to set-up their first goal of the tournament.

Even though I've already mentioned an English player, I can't not say Beth Mead (#7). From scoring their only goal in the opener to a hat-trick in their rout of Norway, Meado has been exceptional.

Finally, I wasn't able to watch this game, but as an excuse to make sure you see this highlight, I'm mentioning Coumba Sow (#11) of Switzerland (the full match highlights--a thrilling 2-2 draw with Portugal--are well worth the catch-up as well).

Games to Watch

Honestly, all of the remaining Group Stage matches, but if you have to pick and choose:

Wednesday, 13th July 8pm (UK): Netherlands vs. Portugal The Dutch should come out on top but they're facing injury and Covid absences and Portugal showed a lot of resilience in their 2nd-half comeback against Switzerland.

Thursday, 14th July 5pm (UK): Italy vs. Iceland Both these teams will have something to prove (after Italy lost 5-1 to France and Iceland had a disappointing draw with Belgium) and are evenly matched, so should be a fun watch.

Friday, 15th July 8pm (UK): Austria vs. Norway This game will decide who else makes it out of Group A besides England, with Norway needing to get over their awful 8-0 drubbing and Austria looking to build on their convincing 2-0 win over Northern Ireland.

Saturday, 16th July 8pm (UK): Denmark vs. Spain Spain should be able to make it out of Group B with a win over Denmark, but you never know! Will be interesting to see how both of these teams play in what is essentially a knock-out game.

I'll hopefully have time to post another update prior to the last round for Groups C and D to highlight key match-ups, so will leave that for now!

As a reminder, there's some info about where to watch on the WEUROs Primer Page.

Happy Watching!

[frauenfootball]

hey! do you have the england vs. northern ireland october match somewhere in your google drive? i can’t find it anywhere and i’d love to watch it again!thx :)

Hey, did you mean the WC qualifier on 23 October? I don’t have that (or any England vs Northern Ireland match).

If someone has it, or know where to find, please call out 🙂

[glimmerofawesome]

The Northern Ireland Women’s National Team pays tribute to injured teammate Simone Magill who tore her ACL in the team's first group stage match of the Euros.

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

Furness dancing around on crutches and one leg is giving me life.

she deserves this and so so much more, so many years in the making and look at her celebrate it now 🥰🥰

[theroleofimagination]

Shows just how amazing qualifying for the Euros is for Northern Ireland - their first ever major tournament!

[jennamacaroni]

*googles northern ireland womens football jerseys bc theres a player named vance*

[liverpoolfcw]

Liverpool FCW International Call-ups - February 2022

Belgium: Yana Daniëls

Ireland: Niamh Fahey, Megan Campbell, Leanne Kiernan

Northern Ireland: Rachel Furness

New Zealand: Meikayla Moore

Wales: Razza Roberts, Ceri Holland

England U23: Taylor Hinds, Missy Bo Kearns

England Development Squad: Charlotte Wardlaw

Matches and Videos

Belgium

Yana Daniëls

Tournament: Pinatar Cup (Invitational Friendly)

Quarterfinals - vs Slovakia - 16 February (YouTube)

More playoffs/semis/finals matches later

.

Ireland

Niamh Fahey

Megan Campbell

Leanne Kiernan

Tournament: Pinatar Cup (Invitational Friendly)

Quarterfinals - vs Poland - 16 February (YouTube)

More playoffs/semis/finals matches later

.

Northern Ireland

Rachel Furness

Matches (Friendlies)

vs Faroe Islands - 17 February

vs Switzerland - 20 February

vs Romania - 23 February

.

New Zealand

Meikayla Moore

Tournament: SheBelieves Cup

vs Iceland - 17 February

vs USA - 20 February

vs Czech Republic - 23 February

.

Wales

Razza Roberts

Ceri Holland

Tournament: Pinatar Cup (Invitational Friendly)

Quarterfinals - vs Scotland - 16 February (YouTube)

More playoffs/semis/finals matches later

.

England U-23

Taylor Hinds

Missy Bo Kearns

Matches

vs France - 17 & 20 February

.

England Development Squad

Charlotte Wardlaw

Matches (Marbella International Youth Tournament)

vs Finland - 17 February

vs Denmark - 22 February

[gwnts]

[frauenfootball]

Portugal vs Northern Ireland

Details

International Friendly

Date: 2017-01-19