On Tuesday the Arsenal Women squad held an open training session at George Mason Field at the George Mason University Campus in DC. We will have a full vlog from the day later on but we had the opportunity to chat with Jonas Eidevall for a few minutes. Here is the conversation.
On the players seeing and feeling the love for them in the US…
This and Australia has been a real eye opener for us. It is one thing to know on paper or in a digital sense that Arsenal is a global club. But to see and connect with the people in another continent, I think you need to experience that to really understand it.
Australia was a real taste for us of that, to understand how big the support for us is in Melbourne and this here in Washington is another one and to play a game against their professional team it is fantastic. We come to Washington and I think there are more Arsenal jerseys in the stadium than Washington. It has been really important to connect with our supporters over here and in Australia and for those supporters to get the chance to connect with the team.
— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) August 20, 2024
It is different to see a team on television but it is a totally different experience to see them live and I think we can both agree that football is best consumed live, that is how it is meant to be. Making sure that we can bring the team here strengthens the Arsenal family globally. I don’t like to see it as a commercial trip per se, I see it as a connection trip.
On the importance of the squad having the chance to go away together…
It is priceless, team building is a day by day process. It is not like going two hours away and doing a pottery class and thinking by that we have all the best relationships. We can have that at the Sobha Realty Training Centre but I still think you will have more of a huddle and players will have their day to day lives to consider. Whereas here we are in a bubble, we are doing things together all the time. Players will end up having a coffee with a player that they usually wouldn’t have a coffee with and that is team building and bonding and creating links and understanding between players by spending ten days together here that simply wouldn’t happen if we stay at home and that has to be the foundation for a stronger Arsenal team.
On Rosa Kafaji’s debut against Washington Spirit and the qualities she brings…
It is exactly like that. I said after the game, the situation where we score the second goal, it’s not like we didn’t have that situation last season it’s just that pass was a little too long or a little too short. It didn’t execute well enough, then it drops to Rosa and she executes the pass perfectly right into the stride of Lessi so she can score. Those are the qualities that she already has to make a real difference in our team. Then you can see she plays in a brave way but she can play in a brave way because her technique is so good. You look and sometimes the way she plays might be naive for other players but it is not naive for her and she has some great instances and it was a really good debut from her. If she continues to work hard and come into the team she is going to be a great addition.
🤩 It's Russo again, as @ArsenalWFC retake the lead !
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On whether Stina Blackstenius, Daphne van Domselaar and Lina Hurtig will be fit for the UWCL qualifiers in early September…
I can’t really see Lina being available for the qualifiers because she has been away for quite a long time so we need to be cautious with her. Daphne and Stina are definitely in contention for that, they have minor issues. You can see already with the squad we train with 23 today and that is not something we were always used to having last season with players away and that is what we are going to benefit from now.
Surely, it’s all positive.
This is the future.
I’m happy with that.