On Friday, Jonas Eidevall held a joint press conference with Washington Spirit coach Jonatan Giraldez and Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor. We are transcribing Eidevall’s quotes below. The question from Arseblog News is the one about Alessia Russo, all other questions are from other journalists.
The coaches began with opening statements.
JE: ‘First of all, thanks very much to Washington Spirit for inviting us over here to be able to play a really exciting match last Sunday and being able to connect with so many of our supporters here in Washington and now being able to progress to play Chelsea. Thank you very much for this great opportunity and we will enjoy it.’
On how great it is to be part of this event and showcase some of the best women’s soccer talent in the world…
It was very exciting to play against an NWSL team because of the growth of the NWSL and the quality has increased season on season. There are players coming here from all over the world so we come here and get a good idea about different styles, but also other levels. The last two weeks has been very exciting and hopefully we will see more of these games in the future.
It is my first time here in Washington, I really like the city, such nice people here, beautiful city and it really feels special and historic. All the three teams are here for slightly different reasons. Washington are restarting the league and are now back in the competitive phase, we are looking to get a really fast start to the season because we have to try to qualify for the Champions League.
We are going to play competitive games quite early for an English club, you guys (motioning to Bompastor) have a little more luxury of time. We will all have different things we want to get out of this. I don’t think the result is the important thing for Arsenal and Chelsea, but the performance is and to be able to play against really high level opposition and to showcase our football to the supporters here is the important part.
On growing the Arsenal Women fan base in the US…
It is really important to grow an already big fan base. We saw that in Australia in May when we sold 5-6,000 tickets for our open training session there. We see that now again here in Washington that we are a global club with a lot of supporters over here in North America and it is great to connect with them and making it available to see us play live and to meet the players. It strengthens the bonds and that bond between the supporters and the team is really important.
On Alessia Russo’s recent goal scoring run and whether she can start to push the 20 WSL goals a season mark…
*jokes* That is such a jinx question! How can an Arsenal supporter ask a question like that?! What is important with Alessia is developing and playing and the goal scoring positions she increasingly finds herself in. I think as a forward that should be your aim all the time to be in the right positions because if you are, the goals come as a consequence. I said early on that her finishing ability is the best that I have ever worked with, if she is getting enough goal scoring opportunities, goals are sure to happen. I think you see this summer, with the Lionesses as well, that she gets those positions more frequently now and that is going to be important for us and also for Alessia.
🤩 It's Russo again, as @ArsenalWFC retake the lead !
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COYGG