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2022 was undoubtedly the best year for the Lionesses as they kicked off the year winning the Arnold Clark Cup which set the wheels in motion for a very impressive Euro 2022 win in front of a home crowd at Wembley in the summer. The team ended 2022 unbeaten and are showing the world that as the 2023 World Cup approaches they are a nation not to be written off. The Lionesses had an absolutely fantastic Euro's campaign but what has happened since the 31st of July when they wrote their names in the history books?
Well the team managed to maintain their unbeaten run, they have yet to lose a game under the management of Sarina Wiegman which is pretty impressive. Granted not all the games have been wins and some have been very close draws however, to go through a whole tournament unbeaten is absolutely fantastic and with the amount of friendlies the team played it really is a surprised that they haven't been beaten at all. I honestly thought they would struggle when the came up against current World Cup holders the USA especially with some key players missing from the England squad but the team held their own and won the game 2-1, which just goes to show how much progress they have made under Wiegman's management. The Lionesses have also got much better in the defensive and goalkeeping sense as they are barely conceding goals, they only had a few put past them in the Euros and since the Euros they have so far played 6 games and only conceded 2 goals and scoring 19, they just seem to be able to keep their heads in the game a lot more and keep their calm. I am loving Williamson as captain and think she has been a key part in getting the defence organised much better and keeping the goals out.
We saw two big retirements come straight off the back of the Euro victory with Ellen White & Jill Scott both stepping away from the sport. I think it is safe to say it got a lot of us wondering who was going to step up in time for the World Cup to create a new strike partnership and get those all important goals, but when you look at all the current England squad and those just starting to get called up or are almost ready then you see their is a lot of potential and with plenty of friendlies before the World Cup their is time for Wiegman to find White's replacement, who knows we might finally see Daly up front but only time will tell. Since White's retirement though England haven't lacked a threat in front of goal with the 19 goals scored coming from a nice mixture of players. As for who can fill Scott's roll we are already seeing new midfield names making their way into the squad and previously injured players starting to get called back up, Sarina is definitely experimenting in who can fill the rolls and I am looking forward to seeing each call up sheet to see who is getting brought in to get that valuable game time and camp experience before a big summer.
Since the Euros we have also seen a whole host of injuries with players such as Williamson and Russo having to drop out of camps to recover from knocks, it does make you wonder if it is due to the workload the players are getting put under with the season starting up after only a short break then friendlies filling in for any would have been breaks in the past. Are the players bodies being put through too much? Post Euros there just seems to be more and more injuries taking place even in camp and with the World Cup fast approaching we are getting to the point where those key players need protecting so they don't get any big injuries. We have already seen Beth Mead pick up an ACL injury and it is a race against time to see if she will be World Cup ready so that is one key player possibly out, how many more are we going to see across all nations? I hope not too many. Post Euros should players have got a bit more of a break? Possibly or even just take out some of the friendlies they had and maybe some injuries would have been prevented.
I think it is safe to say Wiegman has got the Lionesses playing as they should be and we are finally seeing the potential of a lot of players who have struggled under previous management and we are seeing them become a force to be reckoned with rather than a team that get to the semifinal stage and freeze up like in previous tournaments. As long as we stay fully fit before the World Cup and any new players coming into the squad gel with the rest of the team quickly I think we are going to see even more progress from the squad as we head towards the start of the tournament in July and teams will see we are no longer the underdog but we are in fact a team to be feared, I think the USA definitely found that out when they came to Wembley in 2022.
It is going to be interesting though in the build up to the start of the World Cup and during the competitions in the build up and those friendlies to see if Sarina does experiment with the squad or if we see similar call up every time to get some consistency before the summer but with the WSL getting more competitive and players transferring for more game time I think we could see a few names sneaking back into the squad. Nobbs and Staniforth are already standing out at Aston Villa and making a big difference where as Beth England is also making an impact already at Tottenham, she was in the Euros squad but didn't get the game time and has since dropped out of favour so are her performances at her new club going to help her get back into the Lioness squad? It is going to be interesting to see if that does happen as she is a player who could be valuable to the squad. You even have the likes of Zelem who is having a fantastic season at Manchester United, could we see her getting the chance in the England midfield? Her addition could definitely work well for the Lionesses.
Post Euros we have seen that the Lionesses and the home tournament have massively helped grow the women's game here in the UK, we are seeing record attendances, improved attendances and even more games being played in the bigger stadiums allowing more people to see the players who inspired them last summer. More and more people are becoming fans of the game and seeing just how good it actually is. I have even had people who have zero interest in football asking me about players and telling me they were impressed by the games and would rather watch the women than the men, I didn't think things like that would happen for a long time if I am honest. The team are selling out games and people are certainly talking about them even months after the Euro victory so let's hope that doesn't drop off anytime soon. The players are definitely becoming household names and I love seeing people with the women's names on the backs of the shirts, which is happening more and more lately, it just goes to show the Euros is leaving an impression on a lot of people.
We have the Arnold Clark cup coming up very soon and I am really looking forward to seeing if England's unbeaten run will continue and see who stands out the most in the team, it is also going to be a good chance to see if any different players are brought in by Wiegman to give them a chance to make an impression in a tournament pre World Cup. This to me is the tournament that started it all before the Euros, when we saw a change in the team and just how much they could dominate the games so I am looking forward to seeing what happens this time around and if it is looking promising as we head towards the World Cup which isn't too far away at all now.
Sarina won the Euros with the Netherlands in 2017 and lead them to a World Cup final in 2019 where they were unfortunately beaten by the USA but are we going to see history repeat itself are England going to have won the Euros in 2022 and be finalists in the 2023 World Cup I really hope it does repeat itself in the sense of reaching the final but I am also positive that if the Lionesses play as they did in the Euros and post Euros so far they could go one better than the Netherlands in 2019 and actually win it all. That is if they keep on playing like they have been, key players stay injury free and that semi-final curse has also been broken for the World Cup. I think we are definitely going to be in for an interesting 2023 as Lioness fans.
Are you impressed with the Lionesses post Euro victory?
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