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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
🎥 All the best bits from the Women's World Sevens so far 🔥
The inaugural Women's World Sevens tournament is taking place in Estoril, Portugal and it's safe to say it's been a big success so far. With so many top clubs in action, there's been plenty of memorable moments as the women's game revolution continues. Before we dive into the best bits so far, here's a quick explainer on how seven-a-side is a little bit different to the standard 11-a-side we're used to. It's certainly unique! 😮The World Sevens football tournament is under way and here's why it's a little bit different. — Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) May 22, 2025 Now onto the action, and here's the first goal of the tournament, scored brilliantly by Manchester City's Japanese star. 🇯🇵 Aoba Fujino scores the first goal at the 2025 World Sevens Football, as Manchester City have the lead against FC Rosengård!📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 21🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 21, 2025 After routing the Swedish side 4-0, City faced a sterner test in their second game against Ajax. This unique goal brought the sides level, and ensured the game would be settled on penalties. 👀 Chip the keeper with the shoulder while you have your back at the goal? Sure, why not?!Ajax get level with Manchester City at 2-2.📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 22🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 22, 2025 🎯 COOMBS ENDS THE SUDDEN DEATH SHOOT-OUT CAROUSEL!Manchester City defeat Ajax in the end, their 2nd win in the tournament!📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 22🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 22, 2025 The other Manchester club, United, had a dramatic win of their own, throwing away a 2-0 lead against Roma before Grace Clinton secured the win with a lovely finish, which is one probably familiar to those who have played five or seven-a-side at any level. 😍 Manchester United's Clinton gracing the pitch with this delightful chip to give the Reds a 3-2 lead!📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 21🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 21, 2025 PSG went one better than Roma, coming from two goals down to beat Benfica 3-2. Dorsin's strong finish capped off a brilliant comeback for the French giants. 🔄 PSG complete the comeback, as Frøya Dorsin punishes Benfica! 📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 21🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 21, 2025 Bayern Munich have enjoyed themselves in Portugal, scoring eight goals in their two big wins over Ajax and Rosengård. They had to come from behind to defeat the Dutch side, and were aided by the weirdest goal of the tournament so far. 😱 The ball develops a mind of its own and takes a spin to go beyond the keeper's reach and Bayern have the equalizer!📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 21🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 21, 2025 In their second game, things returned to normal, with Pernille Harder scoring yet another header - the first and maybe only of the tournament given the ball has been on the ground in large part. 😜 Of course the first headed goal in the tournament will belong to Pernille Harder!📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 22🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 22, 2025 The Germans are enjoying themselves in the sun as seen by their celebrations as they booked their spot in the semi-finals. 🤣 Scoring, doing the worm, having fun, Mia San Mia and all that in Portugal for Bayern, as they go 4-0 up against Rosengård!📺 Watch it all LIVE & FREE on DAZN🗓️ May 22🔗 #DAZNxW7F #WorldSevensFootball — DAZN Women's Football (@DAZNWFootball) May 22, 2025 What three sides will join them in Sunday's final four? We'll soon find out as the tournament continues. 📸 Gualter Fatia - 2025 Getty Images
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Smoke cannons, rolling subs and goals aplenty: welcome to World Sevens football
There are rolling substitutes, you cannot be offside and smoke cannons erupt from behind the goal when you score. Women's football's newest competition, with its $5m (£3.7m) prize pool, is highly lucrative for the teams involved but is not taking itself too seriously. Perhaps that will become its greatest selling point, as this end-of-season party on the Portuguese Riviera seeks to show that women's football can thrive if it is different. There has been no patient buildup and nobody is sitting deep in a low block; it is just attack after attack. In simple terms, the first day at World Sevens Football felt like a throwback to what sport is supposed to be about: fun. 'I think we took the game a bit more seriously at the beginning than Manchester [United],' the France and Roma defender Hawa Cissoko said after her side's 3-2 loss to United. 'I was really sad it was only one game today – I could play all day like this. We are here to have fun on the pitch. This kind of tournament, we are doing this when we are kids, whereas as an adult you don't do tournaments, so now it makes me feel a bit like 10 years ago or even more, and that's so nice.' It did not take two minutes for the first goal to be scored, by the skilful Manchester City winger Aoba Fujino, in their 4-0 win over the Swedish club Rosengård. Fujino and her Brazilian teammate Kerolin appeared to find the small-sided format right up their street, as flair, pace and balance proved to be a player's most valuable asset. On the first day, there were 18 goals in four matches. The stadium, rapidly constructed inside one half of Estoril's Estádio António Coimbra da Mota, about half an hour west of Lisbon, is small but stylish, largely focused on the viewing experience for VIPs sipping drinks pitch-side. Flags bearing the crests of the eight participating clubs flap in the wind rushing in off the Atlantic coast. 'Everyone is like: 'OK, we like these vibes',' Kerolin said. 'It's a little bit Brazilian, I think. I like the ginga.' City's head coach Nick Cushing said: 'There's attack in every moment of the game. It's new, it's exciting, it's the way we believe the game should be played … You can see by the way the organisers have picked the rules, it's to force attacking moments in every instant.' With music blasting out from the speakers every time there is a corner and players introduced one by one as they walk out individually, there is an exhibition-match feel, akin to the increasingly regular tournaments that feature retired players. But the big difference here is that the players turning out for the clubs, also including Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, are professionals in their prime. There can be no denying they have been attracted for financial reasons. The winners get $2.5m, the runners-up $1m and getting to the semi-finals would represent a major proportion of any of these women's team's annual revenues. It is being funded largely by Jennifer Mackesy, a part-owner of the NWSL club NJ/NY Gotham FC, and the organisers have committed $100m over five years, with the series continuing in North America this year with different teams. This debut event is by no means perfect. The attendances have looked low, in the hundreds each game, which is perhaps to be expected. When Portugal hosted England for a Women's Nations League fixture in February, the attendance was 3,221. This is not a hotbed for women's football, albeit the organisers are trying to help change that, with just under 100 local young girls getting a training session with the player advisers Laura Georges, Tobin Heath, Kelley O'Hara, Anita Asante and Caroline Seger on Thursday. The atmosphere was, at times, strangely quiet mid-match, without much chanting, although that did change when Benfica played in the final fixture on Wednesday evening and the locals became much more actively engaged. The venue was largely chosen because of its proximity to Saturday's Women's Champions League final in Lisbon. The other criticism thrown at this event on social media is that it supposedly represents an injury risk to players before July's Euros, but the players and coaches who are here are adamant that has been considered carefully and that the format has reassured them. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion 'We would only be doing this in training all week anyway; we would all have just been doing small-sided games,' the Manchester United and England midfielder Grace Clinton said. 'For us, this is a probably better outcome and gives us more fitness.' Emilia Larsson of Rosengård, who felt the lack of an offside rule made the games feel like 'almost a different sport', said: 'I don't think the load on the game is much higher than a training week at home in Sweden. I know you can be injured during training so I don't see that big of a difference.' There are certainly huge variations in tactics. Some teams appeared to deploy a 1-3-2 formation, others opted for 2-3-1 and some 2-2-2, and some attempted zonal marking, to lesser effect. Bayern made a particularly impactful and inventive use of the rolling substitutions by swapping all six of their outfield players before taking a corner, causing confusion in Ajax's defence. Bayern promptly scored and celebrated gleefully as if that had been planned all week. As the sunshine, glistening on the white apartment blocks behind the stadium, set on the first day with an Eminem song reverberating around the stands, there was an optimistic mood, but whether this event can become a success will depend on aspects such as viewing figures on the broadcast coverage. The streaming platform Dazn has exclusive rights to this inaugural event. Its YouTube stream had 161,283 views for the first day, in addition to the streaming platform. A lot of eyes will be on those numbers as the women's game waits to see if something 'fun' can stay the course.
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Manchester City v Chelsea: Women's Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Hello and welcome to the first leg of the Women's Champions League quarter-final between Manchester City and Chelsea. It is also the second game of four that the two clubs will play against each other over a period of 12 days. The first was the League Cup final which Chelsea won 2-1. City have been hit with injury news before tonight's match with both Bunny Shaw and Aoba Fujino ruled out with muscle injuries. For Chelsea, Sam Kerr has been added to the club's Women's Champions League squad for the knockout stages but it is unclear if she will feature tonight. The team news will drop shortly so stay updated before kick-off at 8pm GMT. Share
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Five things we learned as Chelsea triumph to lift League Cup
By Laura Howard Chelsea emerged 2-1 winners against Manchester City in their first final of the season to lift the Subway Women's League Cup at Pride Park. Mayra Ramirez and Aoba Fujino exchanged goals before Yui Hasegawa's own goal handed Chelsea the silverware, their first under Sonia Bompastor. It also marked the first time Nick Cushing took charge of City since he departed the club in 2020, following Gareth Taylor's sacking earlier in the week leading up to the final. Here are five things we learned from an encounter which is set to be played a further three times in the next two weeks. Chelsea pass their latest test to remain unbeaten As Manchester City stare at a further three fixtures against the Barclays Women's Super League's reigning champions, it is a prospect no club would envy at the moment. While the saying goes that anything can happen in a final, on Saturday it never really looked like there would be any other outcome than Chelsea blue ribbons adorning the trophy come full time. Sonia Bompastor's side looked comfortable for the duration of the first half as they guarded a 1-0 lead from City's underwhelming efforts in attack. While City had spells of possession, it felt more that Chelsea were allowing such supposed dominance than City were entirely outclassing their opponents. It took a moment of individual brilliance from Aoba Fujino to break the rhythm of a game that had looked fixed on one course until that moment. But following a period of flux that saw City have their best chances of the game, Chelsea resumed their usual confidence and, in doing so, their lead. There was no sense that the favourites were overawed by pressure or occasion as they went about their business without really having to find their upper gears. It is reflective of a team who appear utterly dominant in English football at the moment and City will have their work cut out to change that in the following three meetings. 🏆 @ChelseaFCW ARE THE 2025 #SubwayWLC WINNERS! 🏆 — Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) March 15, 2025 City's lack of depth shows When Manchester City restored parity through Aoba Fujino in the 64th minute it signalled a shift in momentum in the match which was anyone's to seize. Prior to the goal the game had settled into a rhythmic affair with little sparkle, but the strike injected a new energy and openness. It was a perfect moment to bring on fresh legs, as both managers turned to their bench, but the options Bompastor saw behind her clearly looked more appealing. It was four changes for the Blues leading into the closing 20 minutes of the match, with three of those coming in the forward line as Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano and Wieke Kaptein were all introduced. The latter saw a shot blocked in the closing moments while it was Hamano that was poised in the box, forcing Yui Hasegawa to make an intervention that led to the own goal. City, on the other hand, made just two changes with Kerolin and Jess Park introduced with less than 10 minutes to go, the Brazilian replacing Bunny Shaw who was struggling with her hamstring. It saw momentum seized by Chelsea in the closing 10 minutes as the Manchester side struggled to get back into the game after falling behind for a second time. Is Cushing the answer? Manchester City came into the match with a new manager at the helm in the form of Nick Cushing and were by no means outplayed by a Chelsea side who are yet to be beaten. For large spells City looked comfortable in possession and came off the better in big moments in defence as Ayaka Yamashita pulled out important saves, including denying Johanna Rytting Kaneryd one-on-one. It was one of the big selection conundrums presented to Cushing as Khiara Keating has had spells in favour this season under Gareth Taylor, and it was one that paid off. The only change he made, albeit seeing Aoba Fujino return from injury in place of Jess Park, also paid off as the winger produced a stunning individual run down the pitch before unleashing a stinging effort to get back on level terms. It is a promising sign for City fans in the first few days under Cushing's charge, but they will hope for further improvement down the line as City still struggled to create high quality chances. Thank you so much to the best fans in the world for making the trip down to Pride Park with us today 🩵 — Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 15, 2025 Fujino shines despite defeat for City After struggling to make an impact in the first half of the season, Fujino proved on Saturday that she has certainly found her feet in England now. The Japanese international was a threat from the outset as she frequently looked to cut inside off the right wing. She had arguably City's best chance of the first-half following a well-worked short corner routine that saw her find space to the right of the box from which she could curl a searching effort across the goal towards the far post. While that was saved, Fujino remained a persistent threat and for 13 minutes in the second half looked like she could have handed City the lifeline that proved their salvation. A goal of her own creation, the winger exchanged passes on the halfway line before spotting space ahead for her to burst into with purpose. Seeing no reason to stop, Fujino accelerated into the right of the box before firing a stinging shot at an angle from which she had no right to score and, helped by Hannah Hampton's misjudgement, had City on level terms. It is a needed reminder for City that despite their injuries concerns, they have plenty of quality amongst those available to them. Chelsea need to improve their clinical edge against better opposition While Nick Cushing was happy with his side's display, Sonia Bompastor felt her side were capable of better despite their win. It was reflective of a game in which her side squandered plenty of chances to make their win far more comfortable. Even Mayra Ramirez's opener came after she had placed a chance one-on-one with Ayaka Yamashita straight at the City 'keeper, with a fortunate deflection off Laia Aleixandri meaning she was able to bundle home. Golden Girls. 🏅 — Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 15, 2025 The Colombian forward was guilty of a missed opportunity later in the first-half as another opening on goal saw her shot ripple the wrong side of the net after she had attempted to round Yamashita. Whether indicative of an excellent performance from the Japanese goalkeeper, or an indication of a Chelsea weakness, Rytting Kaneryd also squandered a chance to lead 2-0 as she could not get enough height on her attempted chip over Yamashita. While Chelsea came away unscathed from their wastefulness today, against more clinical opposition and stronger defences in Europe, the Blues will need to ensure they take those chances.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fujino returns for League Cup final
Aoba Fujino is set to return to the starting line-up ahead ahead of City's League Cup final clash with Chelsea. The Japan international had been ruled out of our previous two fixtures with a foot injury, but has been given the nod for our clash with Chelsea. It's the only change from Nick Cushing as our Interim Head Coach prepares to take charge of his first game after returning to the Club earlier this week. Jess Park drops to the bench in Fujino's place, with the winger expected to start on the right flank in Saturday's 12:15 (UK) kick-off. City XI: Yamashita, Casparij, Prior, Aleixandri (C), Ouahabi, Hasegawa, Miedema, Roord, Fujino, Fowler, Shaw. Subs: Keating, Layzell, Coombs, Wienroither, Kerolin Nicoli, Park, Blindkilde Brown, Oyama, Murphy. WATCH: Chelsea v City: Our Subway League Cup final awaits... Ayaka Yamashita starts between the sticks with a back four of Kerstin Casparij, Gracie Prior, Laia Aleixandri and Leila Ouahabi. Yui Hasegawa is expected to sit at the base of the City midfield three, allowing Dutch internationals Vivianne Miedema and Jill Roord to support the attack. At the sharp end, Fujino will start on the right flank, with Mary Fowler occupying the opposite wing. Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw will then lead the line as centre-forward. WATCH: This is where we want to be, says Shaw Aoba Fujino has really hit the ground running in the new year for City, picking up two goals and three assists in her last five appearances. Her dynamism out on the flank could prove vital for the Blues this afternoon once again as she looks to recapture that form after a brief injury lay-off. With a low centre of gravity and an excellent eye for a pass, she's not only a threat herself in front of goal, but is also capable of unlocking defences by bringing others into the game. Gracie Prior has only made ten senior appearances for City, but you can see the young centre-half growing in confidence every time she features. The 20-year-old will line-up alongside Aleixandri this afternoon in what is perhaps her biggest test so far in a City shirt. However, her composure on the ball and strong physical presence mean she's more than up to the challenge. -Chelsea and Manchester City will compete in the Women's League Cup final for a second time, also doing so in 2021-22 when the London side took a 1-0 lead before City won the trophy with a 3-1 victory. -Both Chelsea and Manchester City are competing in their sixth Women's League Cup final – Chelsea won their first two (2020, 2021) but have been runners-up in each of the last three seasons, while City have won the trophy in four of their five finals (2014, 2016, 2019, 2022), losing 1-0 to Arsenal in 2018. -Manchester City's victory against Arsenal in the semi-final this season was their 50th win in the Women's League Cup, becoming the second side with 50+ victories after Arsenal (55). The side with the third-most wins are Chelsea (40). -Chelsea have won 20 of their last 24 matches in the Women's League Cup (D1 L3) but their three defeats in that time have all been in the finals in 2022, 2023 and 2024. -Vivianne Miedema scored in the 2018 Women's League Cup final for Arsenal against the Blues. The only player to score in the final for two different clubs is Ellen White (2011 and 2013 for Arsenal, 2022 for Manchester City). As always, you can follow Saturday's League Cup final on the official Man City app. Our Matchday Centre coverage will get under way from 10:45 (UK), providing you with all the pre-match build-up, stats and analysis before live text and audio commentary from kick-off. A special Matchday Live show, featuring special guests Karen Bardsley, Toni Duggan and Steve Howey, will also get under way from 11:10 to offer a City-centric feel to your match experience. From kick-off, Nick Walsh and Karen Bardsley will call the action from the commentary box while our text updates continue. Make sure you have push notifications turned on so you get live updates as they happen via our app. After the final whistle, a detailed match report plus reaction from both interim Head Coach Cushing and the players will then be available to view. Highlights from the final, plus a CITY+ full-match replay, will also be made available four hours after full-time on Saturday.
