Photgraphy Copyright Tiago Merlot

by Sandrine Sonetti in Paris
It was without a doubt the best female tournament ever. The technical and tactics on display made the results near impossible to predict. In the end the Germans won comfortably and put English spirits behind and a new English league forward. Here is our top 10 of all things beautiful over the 3 weeks of EURO 2009.

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10 Italy's Cool calcio
Petro Ghedin was the assistant coach of the men's team for many a year before taking over where Carolina Morace left. She left them getting beaten in EURO 2005 with nothing to show for a country with great football tradition.

3 years
later and Italy won the U20 European championships beating Norway in the final. The future looked good and it only took 14 months to come true as they beat England.

It was not just the way they soaked up all England had to offer but it looked as though they did more homework on their opponents than they did on Italy. Young star Sara Gama proved why she could well be on her way to being the best left back in the world one day while England's got sent off.

They also knew when to attack and coming from a league which is much lower in speed and skill level the Italian players proved how much team spirit and tactics can change female football in your country.

This display was also on show against Germany in the last 8 until the last 10 mintues when the German strentgh and stamina took over.

While some people talk of the Dutch team who made a name for themselves the difference is Italy came to Finland to play and not just defend in their half, killing the word entertainment. 3 cheers to Italy.

9 Eni Aluko's goal
England made it through to the last 8 and in coming 3rd they somehow ended up with the best route to the final. Their first hurdle though was to play the host nation in front of a sell-out crowd in Turku Stadium.

It was not easy for England and they quickly came to play as Finland attacked from the air and fought for the ball. England took the lead at the right near post as Aluko scored past Korpela. Wiliams made it 2 on 49 minutes with a good goal and the Finland crowd started to realise their team had a game on their hands.

They had something to scream about in the 66th minute as Sjolund scored off a corner ball that left the English puzzled. You could still hear the crowd going wild as England kicked off the ball and Eni Aluko sprinted past 4 ( or 5) players before scoring low past Korpela. It was as if she was 'touched' from above.
The England players celebrated. The crowd did not understand what just happened.

Aluko just happened.

8 Lost Lotta
All the talk before the final was about who would beat the Germans. They had won the past couple of tournaments and they had a strong team both older, younger and always experienced.

The press talked about Sweden the scouts from America talked about England. Some even spoke about the forwards who would make a difference. One of them was Lotta Shelin from French Champions Lyon.

Not 'if' but when would she leave Lyon and go to America to join some of the best players in the world was the cry you'd hear from the Swedish press. After her 3 weeks here we'd be surprised if she started the season as Lyon's number one striker.

Shelin was slow chasing balls behind defences and did no better holding the ball up. Veteran Victoria Sandell played and moved much better and against England and Norway Shelin dissapeared. She was the most absent player in both games.

Compared to Aluko who herself had a bad tournament at least Aluko can call on her speed, Shelin is not the quickest and all that is negative in her game was on display. Without a creative midfielder (Camile Abily - Luisa Necib) Shelin's supply is short and in return is her productivity.

7 Vera Pauw's counter attack
The dutch made it to the semi-finals in their first tournament. A great accomplishment considering how far female football was in Holland only 4 years ago.

The Netherlands beat Denamrk, Ukraine and France before falling to England in the last 4 minutes and even though their football was not beautiful on the eye it was a tactical masterstroke by coach Vera Pauw.

One day everyone will realise how much Vera Pauw has done for female football in Holland. The ex Scotland coach single-handedly fought for a top eredivisie in Holland supported by her nation's football association. After the quarter-final the government gave the players salaries for the next 2 years as a golden hug for their acheivements in Finland.

The Netherlands played with a strick back four and at times put 5 in midfield with the super quick Melis up front. A tactic loved by some hated my most but with what they had in their squad it was their best way forward and it worked.

The most discipline from any team in the tournament and all the while showing the world they have an individual talent in Manon Melis.

6 For money or love..football rules
A year ago news came from America to the rest of the female football world that there would be a professional league. A month later and the biggest public relations disaster came true as brand new US teams announced that they had signed/acquired players from other clubs.

Fast forward to March and the league kicked off and everyone went into this summers tournament knowing that the league had created two more teams. However first the rest of Europe got to see how good those players were who had spent the last 6 months playing everyday for money.

What we saw was a mixture of slow players who had lost that quick movement off the mark. Yes they were more aggressive but not anymore so than the Germans, Icelandic or Swedish players.

Kelly Smith was half the player she was when she left, Asante's distribution from the back was average, Karen Carney was ineffective or on the floor and Aluko showed none of the form that had made her an 'all -star' in America (apart form a solo goal). Sara Larsson from Sweden did not play and the other Swedish players in America had retired. So we all left Finland with the impression that while the money and weather may have increased. The football had not. Then they drafted Mami Yamaguchi and Magnusdottir ??

5 Pittance Promotion
In terms of the history of competition and skill this tournament is number one in my mind and everyone in the footballgirl world was there or online to find out what happened. If they found out what happened then good to them because being in Finland you could have easily thought that female football did not exist.

For all the happiness brought to our faces and hearts that we have a Champions league, U17 and U20 tournament there was no outside marketing of this, the biggest female football tournament in Europe.

You could walk around the cities of Turku or Lahti and the sheer silence of a natural working day was only broken by the presence of a few thousand people going to games in stadia that held 10-30,000 people. Foolish to hold games in such big stadiums even more so because there was no promotion/advertising around the cities about the tournament.

It was made even worse when you went to the capital city Helsinki and asked 100 people if they were going to watch the football. Many of them did not even know Finland were playing let alone of the tournament itself.

Nobody handing out flyers, one thin banner that stretched across a street and absolutely no posters on any walls or in any windows. Sometimes putting on a tournament for nobody to turn up could do more damage to the game than good.

Be aware England and its Super league promotional staff.

4 The rise of Linda
Before the first ball was kicked and we gathered in our hotel in Tampere Bianca (Ribeiro) and I made alist of our 10 players to make an impact over the next 3 weeks. Our very young editor did hers and the boss Santi did his online. None of us picked Germany's defensive midfielder Linda Bresonik.

Bresonik a star 6 years ago sat out some of the World Cup in China but came on to do her part while younger stars Laudehr and Krahn took the headlines. This was her tournament as Germany for the first time in over 10 years played with no creative number 10 in attacking midfield.

Instead they had Bresonik and Kim Kulig killing the opposition midfield and when France put up a showing against Iceland Germany crushed any French flair by dropping 5 in midfield. Then stuffed them 5-1.

American league star Camille Abily could not get the ball and Lyon's Necib was absent. The German midfielder from European champions Duisburg was one of the players if not the player of the tournament.

Her defensive tackling showed how strong female football can be and her passing was neat and on point unlike the newly drafted Fara Williams. Her play had kept Simone Laudehr on the bench.

In the final German coach Silvia Neid made the biggest tactical call of the championship by putting Bresonik in the right back position of defense. She had to mark Chicago's Karen Carney. Carney was taken out of the game by Bresonik.

 

 

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