Success for Earps – but does a battle lie ahead?
The former Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps has said that a large reason why she wanted to join Paris Saint-Germain was to win more trophies and, just a couple of months on, she has already got her hands on some minor silverware with the French club after they won the final of the friendly Perth International Football Cup with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City.
However, Sunday’s final largely served to prove that the England goalkeeper could have a serious fight on her hands to claim the regular No 1 jersey at PSG, after her teammate Katarzyna Kiedrzynek produced save after save to keep Manchester City at bay. Earps had enjoyed a solid game and kept a clean sheet in Thursday’s 1-0 semi-final victory over West Ham, but the Poland shot-stopper got the nod for the final and frustrated the English side.
Kiedrzynek was outstanding as she kept out a deflected Jess Park strike, bravely prevented another goal by saving at the feet of the Jamaica striker Khadija Shaw and stopped Mary Fowler’s follow-up, as well as expertly denying Laura Blindkilde Brown when one-on-one in a game that Manchester City could have won by a comfortable margin. Instead, Jennifer Echegini’s late penalty handed PSG a 1-0 victory.
Manchester City’s encouraging form
Despite the defeat, Manchester City will take huge positives from their performance against one of last season’s Champions League semi-finalists. Their midfield dominated the contest and it was the pre-eminent passing of deep-lying midfielder Yui Hasegawa in particular that dictated the game and ensured City controlled the ball for large spells. Their attacking football will have entertained the 15,091 spectators in attendance in Perth.
The Women’s Super League side had 69% of the possession and should really have been awarded a penalty for a clear foul in the box on Shaw in the first half. Gareth Taylor’s team had six efforts on target to PSG’s two and will know that they were the stronger side prior to the latter stages of the game when both teams had made a swathe of substitutions to exercise some pre-season experimentation and rotation.
Welcome selection headaches for Taylor
Taylor gave his No 1 goalkeeper from last season, Khiara Keating, and new summer signing Ayaka Yamashita, one start each during their trip in Perth, rotating at half-time to give both shot-stoppers 45 minutes of each fixture. Neither did much wrong and the impressive on-the-ball work of the Japan goalkeeper Yamashita when in possession will have certainly given Taylor some food for thought ahead of his side’s opening WSL game away at Arsenal on 22 September.
The winner of last season’s WSL golden glove award, Keating was sent the wrong way by Echegini’s 88th-minute spot-kick on Sunday, after seeing Yamashita save two penalties in Wednesday’s shootout victory in the semi-final against Leicester. After that game had finished goalless, Yamashita got her hands to both Yuka Momiki and Sophie Howard’s spot-kicks.
In attack, it seems Taylor also has a tricky – but welcome – selection headache. The young Japan forward Aoba Fujino has made a good start, showing glimpses of her quality when coming off the bench twice in Perth, while England’s Chloe Kelly and the Australia star Fowler are also vying for positions in a formidable front three that seems certain to include Shaw and Lauren Hemp.
Miedema’s minutes being managed
Also providing a world-class option in attack will be the Netherlands striker Vivianne Miedema but the WSL’s all-time record goalscorer was not in the matchday squad for City on Sunday. However, club sources insisted that Miedema was not injured and that merely her minutes were being managed to carefully build her fitness through pre-season.
Nonetheless her absence will have been a disappointment to some City fans, especially after Miedema’s bright display as a late substitute against Leicester on Wednesday. The 28-year-old headed on to the crossbar quickly after coming on and was then bizarrely denied a penalty when she was brought down in the area by goalkeeper Lize Kop in the closing stages. Miedema, however, was undeterred and stepped up to score the confidently convert the decisive spot-kick in the shootout.
Miquel’s ‘M’s make their mark
That slender defeat for Leicester was just the start of a confidence-boosting trip for the East Midlands club, as they showed immediate improvements under their new manager Amandine Miquel and finished off their trip with a resounding 5-2 victory over West Ham.
Leicester’s summer signing Noémie Mouchon, the France youth international snapped up from Miquel’s former side Reims, displayed all the characteristics of an effective WSL striker, making dangerous runs and taking her goal against West Ham calmly and skilfully. Leicester fans will be hopeful that she can prove to be one of the finds of the transfer window.
Momiki’s footwork and intricate through balls, as well as a promising display from the former Manchester City defensive midfielder Ruby Mace, gave Leicester a strong-looking spine behind Mouchon. Out wide, the energetic and adventurous runs made by Missy Goodwin – who was also on the scoresheet – will have given the Foxes’ fans huge encouragement for the season, as they dismantled the side that finished just one place below them in the WSL last term. Momiki, Sam Tierney and Saori Takarada completed Leicester’s goals.
As for West Ham, their defensive frailties were all too evident and Rehanne Skinner’s side looked a little off the pace. There is no need for them to panic, with three weeks of pre-season preparation still to come, and they will have been heartened somewhat by Viviane Asseyi’s late double, but it was a worryingly one-sided match from a West Ham point of view.
