First round of the group stage played yesterday, second round already next week:

Some notable results:

Barcelona - Arsenal 4-1
Dominating performance by Barca, who looks to be in a different league altogether.

Benfica - Bayern 0-0
This should count as a big surprise, I guess.

Servette - Juventus 0-3
Comfortable win for Juve, the question is how they will fare against Wolfsburg and Chelsea

Chelsea - Wolfsburg 1-2 (HT)
Maybe the WSL is not all that it's cracked up to be? Still,45 minutes for Chelsea to turn this around.

On Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 3:58:49 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> Chelsea - Wolfsburg 1-2 (HT)
> Maybe the WSL is not all that it's cracked up to be? Still,45 minutes for Chelsea to turn this around.

Less than 10 minutes into the second half, and it's now 2-3. Maybe I should switch to that instead of Italy-Spain (Spain is going to tiki-taka their way to the 90th minute, sprinkling a goal or two here when they feel like it_

On Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 4:10:40 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 3:58:49 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > Chelsea - Wolfsburg 1-2 (HT)
> > Maybe the WSL is not all that it's cracked up to be? Still,45 minutes for Chelsea to turn this around.
> Less than 10 minutes into the second half, and it's now 2-3. Maybe I should switch to that instead of Italy-Spain (Spain is going to tiki-taka their way to the 90th minute, sprinkling a goal or two here when they feel like it_

Pernille Harder equalizes for Chelsea in the 92' minute. Good stuff.

On Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 8:58:49 PM UTC+1, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> First round of the group stage played yesterday, second round already next week:
>
> Some notable results:
>
> Barcelona - Arsenal 4-1
> Dominating performance by Barca, who looks to be in a different league altogether.
>
> Benfica - Bayern 0-0
> This should count as a big surprise, I guess.
>
> Servette - Juventus 0-3
> Comfortable win for Juve, the question is how they will fare against Wolfsburg and Chelsea
>
> Chelsea - Wolfsburg 1-2 (HT)
> Maybe the WSL is not all that it's cracked up to be? Still,45 minutes for Chelsea to turn this around.

Do yous think that Lyon will win it again this year, or did last season signal the end of an era?

On Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 4:06:43 AM UTC-4, Mark wrote:
> Do yous think that Lyon will win it again this year, or did last season signal the end of an era?

Going over last year's results, it looks as if they are as dominant as ever, but PSG had their number. The two league matches between the two ended 0-0 and 1-0 to PSG, and in the CL quarterfinals PSG advanced thanks to the away goal rule (0-1 in Paris, 1-2 in Lyon).

PSG then went out to Barca in the semis in a relatively close affair (1-1 and 2-1), while Barca destroyed Chelsea in the final (and they destroyed Arsenal again in Tuesday's match).

So it looks as if Lyon, Barca and PSG are the teams to beat, with the English and Germans a notch behind. From the highlights of Chelsea-Wolfsburg, it looked as if Chelsea were clearly the better team, but they gifted Wolfsburg all three goals (Wolfsburg gifted one back). I think Juve's goal should be to try and get into that Wolfsburg-Bayern tier, but I don't thin they're there yet.

On Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 10:19:58 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:

> I think Juve's goal should be to try and get into that Wolfsburg-Bayern tier, but I don't thin they're there yet.

Juve-Chelsea will be played at the Allianz Stadium (the men's stadium), tickets will be free. Interesting to see what attendance will be.

On Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 11:48:36 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 10:19:58 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > I think Juve's goal should be to try and get into that Wolfsburg-Bayern tier, but I don't thin they're there yet.
> Juve-Chelsea will be played at the Allianz Stadium (the men's stadium), tickets will be free. Interesting to see what attendance will be.

About 20,000, apparently. Not too bad.

Juve have been mostly holding their own, but a bad defensive read by Salvai and Gama leaves a highway to Cuthbert, who easily slots past Peiraud-Magnin.

Bonansea! 1-1

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:39:58 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 11:48:36 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> > On Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 10:19:58 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> >
> > > I think Juve's goal should be to try and get into that Wolfsburg-Bayern tier, but I don't thin they're there yet.
> > Juve-Chelsea will be played at the Allianz Stadium (the men's stadium), tickets will be free. Interesting to see what attendance will be.
> About 20,000, apparently. Not too bad.
>
> Juve have been mostly holding their own, but a bad defensive read by Salvai and Gama leaves a highway to Cuthbert, who easily slots past Peiraud-Magnin.
>
> Bonansea! 1-1

That was a beautiful goal by Bonansea: perfectly timed run, and nice finish. Great cross by Boattin.
In the final minute, Sam Kerr almost scores by pressing the goalkeeper, it trickles just wide.

HT: 1-1

In the other match in the group, Wolfsburg beat Servette 5-0. Will this go down to goal difference? That would be a huge achievement for Juve.

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:54:17 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> In the other match in the group, Wolfsburg beat Servette 5-0. Will this go down to goal difference? That would be a huge achievement for Juve.

Juve a bit less disciplinied in the second half, leaving more spaces for Chelsea to counter. On one of them, Chelsea is 3 on 3, Kerr's initial shot is blocked, Juve can't clear the lines, Pernille Harder pounces on the rebound and makes it 2-1.

A few minutes later Kerr has another chance, but Peiraud-Magnin has a great effort to push her curling shot onto the post. This time Lundorf (Juve's weakest link) beats Harder to the rebound and clears.

Juve is, by necessity, increasing its pressure, but to be honest it's Chelsea that looks more likely to score the next goal

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 4:48:10 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:54:17 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > In the other match in the group, Wolfsburg beat Servette 5-0. Will this go down to goal difference? That would be a huge achievement for Juve.
> Juve a bit less disciplinied in the second half, leaving more spaces for Chelsea to counter. On one of them, Chelsea is 3 on 3, Kerr's initial shot is blocked, Juve can't clear the lines, Pernille Harder pounces on the rebound and makes it 2-1.
>
> A few minutes later Kerr has another chance, but Peiraud-Magnin has a great effort to push her curling shot onto the post. This time Lundorf (Juve's weakest link) beats Harder to the rebound and clears.
>
> Juve is, by necessity, increasing its pressure, but to be honest it's Chelsea that looks more likely to score the next goal

FT: 1-2

Juve held their own, but objectively Chelsea was the better team. With a bit luck we could have come out with a draw or maybe even a win. Juve has made huge strides in closing the gap with the very top teams in the continent, but it's the last step that is always the hardest...

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 5:12:39 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 4:48:10 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> > On Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:54:17 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> >
> > > In the other match in the group, Wolfsburg beat Servette 5-0. Will this go down to goal difference? That would be a huge achievement for Juve.
> > Juve a bit less disciplinied in the second half, leaving more spaces for Chelsea to counter. On one of them, Chelsea is 3 on 3, Kerr's initial shot is blocked, Juve can't clear the lines, Pernille Harder pounces on the rebound and makes it 2-1.
> >
> > A few minutes later Kerr has another chance, but Peiraud-Magnin has a great effort to push her curling shot onto the post. This time Lundorf (Juve's weakest link) beats Harder to the rebound and clears.
> >
> > Juve is, by necessity, increasing its pressure, but to be honest it's Chelsea that looks more likely to score the next goal
> FT: 1-2
>
> Juve held their own, but objectively Chelsea was the better team. With a bit luck we could have come out with a draw or maybe even a win. Juve has made huge strides in closing the gap with the very top teams in the continent, but it's the last step that is always the hardest...

Other matches this week:

Arsenal - Hoffenheim 4-0
Koge - Barcelona 0-2 (more difficult than I expected for Barca)

PSG - Zhytobud 5-0
Real Madrid - Breidablik 5-0 (looks like Real will qualify from the third pot)

Wolfsburg-Servette 5-0
Juvenbtus - Chelsea 1-2

Lyon - Benfica 5-0 (back to earth for Benfica after holding Bayern to a 0-0 draw)
Bayern-BK Hacken 4-0

So far, it looks as if Breidablik's insertion in the second pot was not really justified given the transformation of women's soccer over the past few years. I would like to say that Juve is the only Pot 3 team that can actually give a fight to the superfavorites, but maybe the match against Chelsea was just an outlier. It will be back to earth against Wolfsburg.

On 2021-10-14, Futbolmetrix <daniele.paserman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So far, it looks as if Breidablik's insertion in the second pot was
> not really justified given the transformation of women's soccer over
> the past few years. I would like to say that Juve is the only Pot 3
> team that can actually give a fight to the superfavorites, but maybe
> the match against Chelsea was just an outlier. It will be back to
> earth against Wolfsburg.

Bizarre day in the Bundesliga with both Bayern and Wolfsburg losing. 3
teams are level on 15 points after 5 matches. Their GD is 26-4, 13-3,
and 13-5.

On Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 11:29:20 PM UTC+2, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> Other matches this week:
>
> Arsenal - Hoffenheim 4-0
> Koge - Barcelona 0-2 (more difficult than I expected for Barca)
>
> PSG - Zhytobud 5-0
> Real Madrid - Breidablik 5-0 (looks like Real will qualify from the third pot)
>
> Wolfsburg-Servette 5-0
> Juvenbtus - Chelsea 1-2
>
> Lyon - Benfica 5-0 (back to earth for Benfica after holding Bayern to a 0-0 draw)
> Bayern-BK Hacken 4-0
>
> So far, it looks as if Breidablik's insertion in the second pot was not really justified given the transformation of women's soccer over the past few years. I would
> like to say that Juve is the only Pot 3 team that can actually give a fight to the superfavorites,

The seeding still looks skewed - Real Femenino were in Pot 3, too, due to no previous European matches under
their belt, and you were only in Pot 3 because you were also still missing two European seasons in the
5-year-coefficient. (to the detriment of Austrian champions St. Pölten who were officially the higher-seeded team
in their qualifiers against Juve - there were some very unbalanced 4-team groupings).

Ciao,
Werner

> but maybe the match against Chelsea was just an outlier. It will be back to earth against Wolfsburg.

On Monday, October 18, 2021 at 5:28:40 AM UTC-4, Werner Pichler wrote:
> The seeding still looks skewed - Real Femenino were in Pot 3, too, due to no previous European matches under
> their belt, and you were only in Pot 3 because you were also still missing two European seasons in the
> 5-year-coefficient. (to the detriment of Austrian champions St. Pölten who were officially the higher-seeded team
> in their qualifiers against Juve - there were some very unbalanced 4-team groupings).

Juve also suffered from having a high enough country coefficient to skip the first qualifying rounds, and then being drawn there against Barcelona and Lyon (for a grand total of zero points earned), so no way to accumulate coefficient points by beating up on some minnows.

Things should be better next year, whatever the outcome of this year's edition.

On Monday, October 18, 2021 at 6:50:06 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> Things should be better next year, whatever the outcome of this year's edition.

Key match today: Juve - Wolfsburg. Once again, the match will be played at the Allianz Stadium, entrance is free. If we are to jump to the next level, we need a signature win against a club like Wolfsburg. Bookies have the Germans as strong favorites ( about 0.22 for a Juve win, 0.22 for a draw, and 0.56 for a Wolfsburg win). Those are about the same odds as Bayern away to Lyon.

Difference between the elite teams and the next level in women's football are still huge.

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 11:28:48 AM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Monday, October 18, 2021 at 6:50:06 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > Things should be better next year, whatever the outcome of this year's edition.
> Key match today: Juve - Wolfsburg. Once again, the match will be played at the Allianz Stadium, entrance is free. If we are to jump to the next level, we need a signature win against a club like Wolfsburg. Bookies have the Germans as strong favorites ( about 0.22 for a Juve win, 0.22 for a draw, and 0.56 for a Wolfsburg win). Those are about the same odds as Bayern away to Lyon.
>
> Difference between the elite teams and the next level in women's football are still huge.

Chelsea happily dismantling Servette: 7-0 with about 15 minutes left. Servette lost by 3 goals to Juve and by 5 to Wolfsburg. Transitivity doesn't apply to football, but that must be more or less the relative strength of the three contenders in the group.

In other words, Wolfsburg are going home with the three points tonight.

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 2:22:54 PM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> In other words, Wolfsburg are going home with the three points tonight.

Juve very imprecise, and seems to be struggling with Wolfsburg's physicality, but Caruso plays a beautiful through ball for Girelli, her left-footed shot is nothing to write home about, but Schult makes a mess of it and it's 1-0.

Advantage is short-lived, Lattwein equalizes with a well-taken long-range effort. 1-1

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 3:27:35 PM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 2:22:54 PM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > In other words, Wolfsburg are going home with the three points tonight.
> Juve very imprecise, and seems to be struggling with Wolfsburg's physicality, but Caruso plays a beautiful through ball for Girelli, her left-footed shot is nothing to write home about, but Schult makes a mess of it and it's 1-0.
>
> Advantage is short-lived, Lattwein equalizes with a well-taken long-range effort. 1-1

I missed the second part of the first half, where apparently Wolfsburg dominated and should have taken the lead. They did take the lead midway through the second half with Wassmuth, probably during Juve's best spell. I thought there were two missed offside calls on the goal, but no VAR. Juve's efforts to come back were pretty disorganized, but in the 89th minute they were able to work a set piece into the box, Staskova did a good job of controlling the ball and finding some space to turn and shoot, the ball found Girelli unmarked inside the six-yard box, and from there she couldn't miss. 2-2

Valuable point, but almost surely it won't be enough to qualify. Juve will have to win in Germany next week, which, based on today's match, looks quite unlikely.

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 5:32:37 PM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> Valuable point, but almost surely it won't be enough to qualify. Juve will have to win in Germany next week, which, based on today's match, looks quite unlikely.

Elsewhere, PSG - Real Madrid 4-0.

Back to reality for Las Blancas

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 5:28:48 PM UTC+1, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Monday, October 18, 2021 at 6:50:06 AM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > Things should be better next year, whatever the outcome of this year's edition.
> Key match today: Juve - Wolfsburg. Once again, the match will be played at the Allianz Stadium, entrance is free. If we are to jump to the next level, we need a
> signature win against a club like Wolfsburg. Bookies have the Germans as strong favorites ( about 0.22 for a Juve win, 0.22 for a draw, and 0.56 for a Wolfsburg
> win). Those are about the same odds as Bayern away to Lyon.
>
> Difference between the elite teams and the next level in women's football are still huge.

Which is why I find it puzzling that there are people who see women's football as some sort of 'antidote'
to the inequalities in the men's game.

Ciao,
Werner

On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 12:53:55 AM UTC+1, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 5:32:37 PM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
> > Valuable point, but almost surely it won't be enough to qualify. Juve will have to win in Germany next week, which, based on today's match, looks quite unlikely.
>
> Elsewhere, PSG - Real Madrid 4-0.
>
> Back to reality for Las Blancas

Well it's not exactly as if things were all rosy within PSG Féminines....

Ciao,
Werner

On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 9:32:08 AM UTC-5, Werner Pichler wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 12:53:55 AM UTC+1, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> > On Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 5:32:37 PM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> >
> > > Valuable point, but almost surely it won't be enough to qualify. Juve will have to win in Germany next week, which, based on today's match, looks quite unlikely.
> >
> > Elsewhere, PSG - Real Madrid 4-0.
> >
> > Back to reality for Las Blancas
> Well it's not exactly as if things were all rosy within PSG Féminines...
>

https://www.goal.com/en/news/psg-women-star-aminata-diallo-arrested-following-violent/bltd6e28cdfbc20b4bc

Ugh.

Today's matches: Barcelona - Hoffenheim, then Lyon - Bayern. Should be good ones

On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 11:07:41 AM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> Today's matches: Barcelona - Hoffenheim, then Lyon - Bayern. Should be good ones

No surprises in the early matches. Comfortable wins for Barcelona and Arsenal (but it took them a while to unlock Koge).

27 minutes in, Bayern has taken the lead over Lyon thanks to a Kadeisha Buchanan own goal.

On 2021-11-10, Futbolmetrix <daniele.paserman@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 11:07:41 AM UTC-5, Futbolmetrix wrote:
>
>> Today's matches: Barcelona - Hoffenheim, then Lyon - Bayern. Should
>> be good ones
>
> No surprises in the early matches. Comfortable wins for Barcelona
> and Arsenal (but it took them a while to unlock Koge).
>
> 27 minutes in, Bayern has taken the lead over Lyon thanks to a
> Kadeisha Buchanan own goal.

Have to say it, but Lyon were the better team. I didn't have a ticket
to the match, so just followed from the ticker at home. We still have
the chance to advance though.

More difficult is Saturday: at home to Wolfsburg. Of course we have
to win this if we want to be real title contenders. In the past
they've been a tough hill to climb. This match is almost sold out,
and may be so on the day.

--
ciao, Bruce

On Friday, November 12, 2021 at 9:45:56 AM UTC-5, Bruce Scott wrote:
> More difficult is Saturday: at home to Wolfsburg. Of course we have
> to win this if we want to be real title contenders. In the past
> they've been a tough hill to climb. This match is almost sold out,
> and may be so on the day.

Run Wolfsburg to the ground. If you also happen to mildly injure some of their best players so that they miss the next match, we'll take that too. Not asking for much.