Bonus episode - the wonderful Women's Euros S4 E4B

Thanks for joining Haitham and me, Paul, on a special edition looking at the exciting women’s Euros. 4 quarter finals finished up on Saturday: If you haven’t watched, you’ve got 3 games left to see what you’ve been missing. The standard we think is very high - a better watch than MLS we’d say. Review the 4 games: Spain - England: Bonmati looks a talent, Del Castillo gave Rachel Daly a tough second half - could have made it 2 with the chip that Mary Earps kept out England looked better with Alex Greenwood and Russo as the central striker on Without the last 5 minutes the narrative could have been so different France - Netherlands - reminded me of the Spain-England game France had an xG of 4.69 but somehow needed a penalty to win. Renard leads the tournament for attempts on goal Losing Katoto has been a big loss - Malard didn’t look quite as sharp. Neither did Sarr. Geyoro’s first game hattrick looks like the anomaly that her record would suggest Karchaoui, Cascarino and Diani have looked really dangerous at times. They do seem to have great depth - Bacha from Lyon looked really impressive, they were able to bring Mateo off the bench Van Domselaar was excellent - making multiple saves in each of the games she played in - nearly saved the penalty. And there was Van Der Graght Miedema may well have been affected by Covid Germany - Austria At one level this game was a close as any, with Austria hitting the woodwork 3 times This was a great example of what can happen when a team playing out from the back comes up against a team with an excellent press. Lots of good performances for Germany - Popp obviously, 4 goals in 4. Klara Buhl looks good, although she probably would like that chance she missed back. Briefly on Sweden - Belgium - 33 shots to 3, Sweden having to rely on a last minute winner from defender Sembrant. Everard from Belgium was outstanding - she was -9 for goals conceded versus expected. Impressed by: Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir: Iceland, Wolfsburg Club Team Lucy Bronze: England, new Barca player coming from Shitty Disappointed by: Norway National Team, especially Ada Hederberg Renard’s inability to direct headers! Looking ahead: England - Sweden - goals haven’t come easily for Sweden, although Blackstinius has looked sharp to me. England seem to have a lot of ways to score (Mead, White, Russo, Heap), but they will have to be aware of Asllani, Rolfo and Blackstinius France - Germany - does this follow the pattern of Spain - Germany? Lattwein and Dabritz are from Lyon - don’t know what influence that will have. If you enjoyed the podcast, share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  - we only tweet and re-tweet from sources we think are credible’. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic - they are a Welsh electro-pop band - https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic