Friday, March 29, 2024

Arsenal at Euro 2022: Group Stage Round-Up

Arsenal have 11 players at Euro 2022 in the group stages- full rundown here– note that Simone Boye has left the club since the tournament kicked off, knocking the original number down from 12.

As expected with such a sprawl of players from different nations, Euro 2022 has borne mixed fruit for the Arsenal contingent. As we advance into the knockout stages this week, here is how our players have fared so far.

ENGLAND
The hosts won all three of their group stage matches, a 1-0 win over Austria, an incredible 8-0 mauling of one of the favourites Norway and a more routine 5-0 victory over the lowest ranked nation at the tournament Northern Ireland. Beth Mead has scored in all three of those games and is out on her own as the tournament’s leading scorer with five goals currently.

Leah Williamson played every minute of those three games as captain. Nikita Parris, who is Manchester United bound after the tournament, has yet to see any minutes. This is also the case for Lotte Wubben-Moy, who had to miss the Norway game due to covid. England play Spain in the quarter-final on Wednesday evening.

AUSTRIA
Manuela Zinsberger has played every minute in a group stage that saw the Austrians concede only once- to Beth Mead. Laura Wienroither played on match days one and three but missed the middle fixture due to covid. After a tight 1-0 defeat to England on the opening night, the Austrians advanced to the quarter-finals at the expense of the much more fancied Norway, thanks to victories over Northern Ireland and a historic win over Norway. The Austrians play Germany in the quarter-final on Thursday evening as they aim to at least emulate their performance at Euro 2017, which saw them reach the semi-final.

NORWAY
In England and Austria’s group, it was a far less happy tournament for Frida Maanum and Norway, who were eliminated. Frida scored on match day one, a 4-1 win over Northern Ireland. She was benched for the England game and, by the time she came on as an early second half sub, Norway were already 6-0 down. She regained her place for the final match day but a 1-0 defeat to Austria sent the Norwegians home when, given the talent available to them, they really ought to have been among the favourites.

NETHERLANDS
Vivianne Miedema inspired her country to a 1-1 draw on the opening night with Sweden, winning player of the match in doing so. However, since Miedema has also fallen to covid and missed victories over Portugal and Switzerland as a result. She is expected to return for Saturday’s mouth watering quarter-final against France.

SWEDEN
Stina Blackstenius was only fit enough to start from the bench against Netherlands on match day one due to a tight thigh muscle, however she started the second and third group games, scoring in the third against Portugal. Sweden will play in the quarter-finals on Friday.

SWITZERLAND
Lia Walti and Noelle Maritz’s Switzerland were close to qualifying against the odds but fell at the final hurdle. They squandered a two goal lead to draw 2-2 with Portugal on match day one and were beaten 2-1 by Sweden on match day two, before a 4-1 defeat to Netherlands in the final group game. The match was tied at 1-1 on 84 minutes and Switzerland needed a goal to qualify, which contributed to them opening up and conceding three in the final six minutes. Just as significantly, Lia Walti was subbed on 83 minutes. She has played with a foot injury during the tournament and she had to hobble off with the scores at 1-1. Maritz played every minute of the group stage, Walti only missed those crucial final six minutes and, well, we saw what happened!

The route to the final is set out below.

QUARTER-FINALS
1 Wednesday: England (Wubben-Moy, Williamson, Mead, Parris) v Spain
2 Thursday: Germany v Austria (Zinsberger, Wienroither)
3 Friday: Sweden (Blackstenius) v Belgium
4 Saturday: France v Netherlands (Miedema)

SEMI-FINALS
1 Tuesday 26 July: Winner QF1 v Winner QF3
2 Wednesday 27 July: Winner QF2 v Winner QF4

FINAL
Sunday 31 July

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Neder

Mead has been absolutely phenomenal so far. As a Dutchie I really, really hope Miedema is available for the next game…

Peter Story Teller

As a Gunners fan I hope she is 100% fit for the start of the WSL and can play throughout the season how she finished the last!

Peter Story Teller

That applies to Meado and Viv!

Zoe Waterfield

Me too 🤞

kazoo

Miedema needs to end her infatuation with playmaking and get back near the box, so that she can score goals. That is what she does best–and dropping deep a lot into a midfield/facilitator role didn’t improve Arsenal in attack and hasn’t helped the Dutch either. Of course she must drop some, but she’s a goal-scorer, and you can’t score goals if you spend half or more of the game in the midfield or deeper. Turning arguably the game’s best goal-scorer into a 10 is simply crazy–most especially because it hasn’t improved the attack of club or nation.

Peter Story Teller

Not exactly Jonas’ idea though, is it? Viv likes playing 10 and I’d rather have her happy as an assist player and signing a contract extension than standing in the box with her hands on her hips waiting for the ball to be fed through and so unhappy about being excluded from the game that she moves elsewhere at the end of the season. She can score goals from anywhere the same way as Beth does from the wing. Playing too rigid a system makes it easier for defences to block out players like Viv because they know where she… Read more »

beNZed

Norway weren’t one of the favourites, even if their “star” returned from exile. Of course an 8-0 thrashing was a surprise.

Peter Story Teller

If England can beat Barcelona on Wednesday you have to believe thay could dispatch Sweden or Belgium which places them in the final.
You have to feel for Iceland. Didn’t lose a game and still are on the plane home but what drama 12 minutes into injury time vs France!

Peter Story Teller

In fact I would not be surprised to see a few more players named something….dottir in the WSL very soon!

verstellung

Someonesdottir LOL

Pete Plum

Beth Mead is awesome

Peter Story Teller

Cannot believe England won 2-1 and Beth did not score!
Is this a goal drought?

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