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On the second half of the season:
The FA WSL is back, and the rest of July is jam-packed for me and the team; 4 difficult fixtures against some of the strongest opposition in the league, with 3 of those games falling in 6 days.
We’ve made a pretty good start to the FA WSL season so far, seeing us positioned at 2nd in the league as we went into the break. Whilst we are pleased with the start we have made, there’s still over three quarters of the season left to go, and we need to make sure we start the second half of the season brightly, to build on our good performances thus far.
Bristol Academy Women FC: Upcoming Fixtures for July
Continental Cup Game vs Birmingham (A)
FA WSL game vs Birmingham (A) – LIVE on BT Sport, 7:30pm kick off.
FA WSL game vs Liverpool (H)
FA WSL game vs Chelsea (A)
As you can see from the above fixture list, July is going to be a gruelling month for us! But we have been training really hard during the break to make sure we are prepared both physically and tactically. Each game will pose a different challenge, but I know the team and I will do whatever we can to win and play good football, so bring it on! As my Dad would say, “if you can’t look forward to the big games, then you shouldn’t be playing!”
On the World Cup:
The 2014 World Cup has seen some great, and not-so-great, goalkeeping displays. For me, it’s shown that often the difference between two teams is the quality of the goalkeeper, particularly at the top level.
The Adidas Golden Glove is awarded to the tournament’s best goalkeeper, and there are quite a few worthy contenders this time around, but I’ve managed to whittle it down to a top five. So, in no particular order…
Manuel Neuer (Germany)
To put it simply, he just seems to be miles ahead in terms of goalkeeping, and this tournament has taken ‘sweeper keeper’ to a whole new level. He has been fundamental to every German performance: his speed, decision making and timing has ensured that the lack of pace and discipline of his back four is yet to be exploited.
Tim Howard (USA)
USA are often seen as the team with no technical ability, but difficult to face due to their fitness and all-round physical condition. Howard not only regularly made saves to keep his team in the game, but also kept his team organised which made them difficult to beat.
Keylor Navas (Costa Rica)
Coming into the tournament, Costa Rica were predicted to be the “whipping-boys” of Group D, but more than held their own and reached the quarter-finals. Navas was vital to Costa Rica’s success; first of all for his inspired penalty shoot out performance vs Greece, but secondly, for consistently pulling off saves throughout the tournament to keep his team in the game. This led them to become the team with the fewest number of goals conceded throughout the tournament, conceding just 2 goals in 5 games (obviously excluding the two penalty shoot-outs).
Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico)
Ochoa has shown great shot-stopping ability this World Cup and has received a lot of praise in particular because of his quick reflexes and reactions. One measure of the quality of a goalkeeper is their ability to limit conceding when their team is under pressure, something which Ochoa displayed in abundance as he made some crucial saves.
Sergio Romero (Argentina)
With Argentina containing the attacking quality of the likes of Messi, Di Maria, Lavezzi and Aguero, the last thing I expected to be doing is praising their goalkeeper! But it’s more than fair to say that Romero has been instrumental in their journey to the final, not just via his semi-final penalty shoot-out performance vs Netherlands, but also through his consistent performances throughout the tournament. In short, he has made some key saves at key times; by that I mean that on several occasions Romero made saves to keep his clean sheet in tact. Argentina seem to have scored most of their goals late on in their games, so by keeping the score down, when the team’s attacking quality eventually did prevail, Romero has in fact ended up being the difference between the team narrowly winning and narrowly losing/drawing.
If I had to choose between them all, it boils down to a tough decision between Neuer and Romero. Both goalkeepers have been exceptional this World Cup and have contributed much more than just world-class saves. They have not only been impressive in terms of their individual performances, but also with regards to their contributions to each of their team’s performances and ultimately, their team’s success.
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