Key events
That England starting XI: A debut for midfielder Grace Clinton, while Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton starts; sheâs been playing well of late. Alex Greenwood captains the side, with Manchester Unitedâs Maya Le Tissier (no, no relation) her central defensive partner.
Swedish international Magdalena Eriksson joins the team to pen the latest Moving The Goalposts. Sign up to the newsletter. Itâs absolutely free.
Now it is time for the Nations League semi-finals. France face Germany and the Netherlands have the unenviable task of taking on Spain. When I think about what makes them so formidable, Iâd start with two things: the amount of quality players and that winning culture, which begins with their youth national teams. Theyâve won four of the last five Under-19 Euros and been to the final in seven of the last eight Under-17 Euros. In other words, just reaching a tournament is not enough â their attitude is âweâre going to be there until the endâ. The same goes at club level with Barcelona.
The Lionesses team is in
Plenty of familiar names, but an unfamiliar lineup.
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, DâAngelo, Klein, Pinther, Feiersinger, Billa, Schasching, Hanshaw, Kolb.
More Suzanne from Marbella.
Thereâs no tournament so that should be an opportunity to get some rest, but because of the window in June and the window in July how are you going to take some time off?â she said. âAfter that there is some time off, because in England the WSL starts later [21-22 September], but round one of the Champions League starts in early September, which takes away the summer for those players.
Thatâs what we need to take care of and weâve asked Fifa and Uefa to look at that and change that in the future so players can have some rest. Itâs great that we have players who love football, but we have to take care of them too, so we have to do something about the calendar.
Beth Meadâs back on the scene, as Suzanne Wrack reports.
Little things that are your bread and butter, it is like riding a bike, you get better eventually, but you do get frustrated about things that you used to do in your sleep. You do notice because itâs stuff that you would do day in and day out.
Preamble
Spanish climes for the Lionesses, and a good view of Morocco, too, with some warm weather training. Theyâve been sunning themselves in Marbella, but will play down the coast in another port city, 80 clicks away. After the disappointment of failing to qualify Team GB for the Olympics via the Nations League thereâs a sense of renewal about, and regrouping. Sarina Wiegman, for the first time, has to lead her team from a downward curve and the trajectory begins here. This was supposed to be when the Nations League semi-finals were being played by England; instead the calendar is being filled by the Austrians, and Italy on Tuesday.
Kick-off is 7.4pm. Join me.
