Lauren James crouched on the Wembley green with her knees drawn up to her face. Beth Mead put her hands on her hips and sighed resignedly into a night full of triumphant returns in many ways. Mary Earps was sobbing into her shirt.
The scenes after England’s remarkable 3-2 win over the Netherlands were not what one would expect after a 91-run game.st.-Minute winner after a two-goal deficit. They would have been in a better place after the World Cup final in Sydney – a group of distraught lionesses who knew they had failed at the defining moment of their international careers. Earps predicted that the second Dutch goal that slipped through her fingers would haunt her for a long time.
There was no melodrama. The reality is that England may have prevented Team GB from qualifying for the Olympics. They needed to win by two goals to keep fate in their hands and will rely on a win over Scotland on Tuesday or an error from the Netherlands to top their group.
Even then, they will need to reach the Nations League final (or the semi-finals and finish third if Olympic hosts France reach the final) to secure British representation in Paris next year.
It is no longer a secret that Scottish players who want to play at Eurostar will have to lose to England on Tuesday to do so. For conspiracy theorists, it will be a night for the ages. Erin Cuthbert was one of the few who could interfere with Sarina Wigman’s plans – now the England and Great Britain coach no longer has to make that decision.
How can Team GB qualify?
England are the “nominated nation” that will represent Team GB, so they must finish first in their Nations League group and then progress to the final of the competition. If they finish third after the semi-finals, they could also qualify if France reaches the final as Paris hosts the Olympics.
But first: the fate of England is in their hands when they travel to Glasgow.
Simply put: England. must win and hopefully the Netherlands Points drop against Belgium. Even if the Netherlands winIt will all depend on goal difference and England need to improve their performance. three goals “So if the Netherlands win by one goal, the Lionesses should beat Scotland by four goals.
Dutch head coach Andries Jonker simply suspected that it was a “strange” final day that did not particularly suit his team. His hope was based on his history lessons at school, where he was taught that the rivalry between Britain’s component nations was so great that any self-respecting Scot would rather miss out on his dream than lose to his southern neighbors.
It was difficult to foresee that it would come to this.
How can England be named as the nominated country to represent Team GB’s hopes when they play in the same league (A1) as Scotland?
Is there really no other way to decide which two European countries will become Olympians other than an endlessly complex, unnecessarily overloaded qualification system through a contrived competition that has nothing to do with next summer’s tournament? There are UEFA rankings, FIFA rankings and European qualifying tournaments that could avoid this scenario.
But that’s the essence of the Nations League – an ill-conceived, tedious exercise borrowed from men’s football. This is especially bad when it comes to the Olympics, which have no real significance in men’s football but often take second place to the Women’s World Cup.
Scotland have already been relegated to League B, but the third-placed team will face a relegation play-off. Various mathematical equations sometimes even escape the attention of players. The head-to-head system, a key factor later rendered unnecessary when the Netherlands beat England 2–1 and lost the return leg 3–2, is a continental system unfamiliar to most of the Lionesses.
England needed regular, competitive games. When Wiegman first took over they were on top, winning by an absurd margin – 20-0 at one point – and although they struggled through those difficult nights, they emerged stronger for it.
UEFA has not introduced a format for this purpose, although the governing body is no stranger to making existing competitions more difficult. It was announced on Saturday that the Women’s Champions League will now follow the Swiss model, with an 18-team league replacing the existing competition. Group stage, which consists of four groups of four people.
From 2025, the second club competition will be held. Somewhere in the corridors of power, someone is rejoicing over head-to-head records, goal difference changes and relegation playoffs.
For Scotland, the final day should not be about these complex changes to women’s football. This is a night where they can take advantage of their Hampden moment. The growth of women’s football inevitably lagged behind that in England, without a European Championship win on home soil and without a professional league. An Old Enemy in Town is a chance to change that and bring a little joy for joy’s sake.
It brings the curtain down on what, for a number of reasons (not least games on flooded pitches and countless whining from referees without VAR), has become an absurd first taste of the Women’s Nations League. The situation can only get better from now on.
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.