Latest news with #JonasEidevall
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Wave GM says they approached 2025 as a building year, now they're chasing the NWSL Shield
For the past year, San Diego Wave general manager and sporting director Cami Levin Ashton has been commuting an hour and 20 minutes each way to work from Orange County, where she grew up and where her family still resides, to the team's offices 70 miles south. Her move to Southern California from Kansas City last summer, where she was the KC Current's general manager, had been swift, and it helped to be closer to home as she made the transition. It also didn't hurt to lean on family to help out with her one-year-old child. Advertisement Ashton Levin inherited a club in San Diego that was up against multiple challenges on and off the field, from the abrupt firing of former head coach Casey Stoney to the retirement of U.S. women's national team forward Alex Morgan. Four months after she started, the Wave ushered in new ownership in the Levine Leichtman family, who completed their purchase of the team for a $120 million valuation last October. Things only got busier in January. The Wave hired ex-Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall, transferred defender Naomi Girma on a world record fee to Chelsea, sent attacking player Jaedyn Shaw to the North Carolina Courage and brought on international players including Kenza Dali of France, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu of Nigeria and Gia Corley of Germany. They also tapped into the top tier of the NCAA's talent offering in the NWSL's first offseason without a draft, bringing on Trinity Armstrong from the University of North Carolina, and signed goalkeeper DiDi Haračić from SoCal rival Angel City FC. The newness was raw and plentiful heading into this season, and despite the Wave making history as the first club to reach the playoffs in its inaugural year back in 2022, expectations were reasonably low for a team that finished 10th last season under two interim head coaches. 'With so many new pieces, you just don't know how long that's going to take for it to come together, for them to blend and mesh and find this cohesion,' Levin Ashton told The Athletic, reflecting on the offseason four months later. Yet as they approach their 11th match of the 2025 campaign, they sit second in the league table, four points behind the Current and a point above 2024 NWSL champions and finalists, the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, respectively. They've scored 21 goals by 13 different players, and on May 25, set a new club record for most goals scored in a single match with their 5-2 comeback win over the Courage. 'With what we were building this year, we really believed in the group of players that we had, both existing from last season and the pieces we added,' Levin Ashton told The Athletic. 'We also really believed in Jonas (Eidevall) and the staff that we brought on board to really build something special here.' Advertisement One of the pillars of NWSL lore is the often abrasive introduction that managers from overseas experience during their first season in the league — and Eidevall, who arrived in San Diego after an underwhelming run with Arsenal, seemed especially primed for that quintessential rude awakening. But Levin Ashton said Eidevall's vision for the Wave throughout his interviews aligned with hers, sparking an interest in the possibility. 'In looking at building the roster, if you see the way that we're playing, and obviously in hiring Jonas as the head coach as well, we want to be a team that possesses the ball.' But, Levin Ashton added, 'it's possession with a purpose, because we're not just possessing to keep the ball, it's ultimately to win games. We really emphasize recruiting players that really fit into the way we want to play the game.' Following that May 25 home victory over North Carolina, Eidevall, who was recently named NWSL Coach of the Month, spoke to the media about how the team learned from previous matches against NJ/NY Gotham FC and the Portland Thorns; both meetings exposed disparities between the degree to which they felt they controlled the game and the lack of goal-scoring opportunities they created. That was their primary mandate going into their game against the Courage, and he attributed part of the players' execution of that to the work of the Wave's technical staff. 'A week like this, they've been incredibly challenging in being like, 'What if we do that? That can be a problem,'' he said, reiterating the ways they first tried to imagine potential risks in the game to mitigate them. 'It's long days, and we go over film over and over and over again, but we play out the situation, we create a lot of clarity, and I think there is no shortcut to that, so I'm very blessed with having a strong technical staff that challenges and (supports), and I think that helps us as well, being prepared for the games.' That club-wide buy-in also required Levin Ashton to dress some of the wounds from the previous season that needed tending to. As is typical for front-office staff getting settled in at a new team, she had frank conversations with veterans about where and how the club could improve. 'It's not a surprise and not something that we're shy to talk about, the disappointment at the club last season after successful seasons,' she said, referring not only to the team's performance but the jolt of Stoney's dismissal, and the ongoing discrimination lawsuit filed by former club employees, alleging multiple claims of discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and sexual harassment. Advertisement Levin Ashton said that after a 'combination of my observations and my evaluations, and feedback I received from players, there was a need to raise some of the standards and that obviously comes with investment from ownership,' like upgrades to resources and facilities and expanding staff. Since then, the Wave have added dedicated meal and meeting spaces to their training center, and rather than constantly catering, the club hired a chef and is building out a kitchen. They're not direct responses to the broader issues exposed by last season's challenges — Levin Ashton did not delve into the specifics of conversations related to other aspects of players' dissatisfaction with the club — but they're attempts at reestablishing goodwill off the field to ensure sustainability on it. It helps that soon, Levin Ashton will be moving to San Diego, reducing her commute from almost 90 minutes to 10 minutes to the Wave's training center, which will be crucial soon as she's expecting another child. But her vision and expectations of the team, no matter the distance traveled, remain unchanged. 'We set out this season knowing that this was a building year,' she said. 'But I don't mean we were going into the season with no expectations or no goals. I said this to the team and the staff from day one: Our expectation as a club is to be playing in November and fighting for a championship.'
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
How 'meticulous' Renee Slegers turned Arsenal into European champions: Belief in the 'Arsenal way', close relationship with players and helping Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly to rediscover their spark
On a chilly, peaceful January morning at Arsenal 's London Colney training ground, a sudden eruption of noise shattered the serenity. The news had just broken: Renee Slegers, Jonas Eidevall's former assistant who had stepped up as interim manager after his resignation, was confirmed as the permanent boss. The Arsenal women's team erupted in celebration.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Arsenal make history in Champions League thanks to the dream that never died
Inspired by the past, Arsenal made more history in the Women's Champions League and pointed the way to the future. Against the odds, and after surviving everything Barcelona threw at them, they are champions of Europe again. The only English women's club to win the competition does so 18 years on from their previous appearance in the final, and the scoreline remained the same: Stina Blackstenius rose from the bench, was played in by another substitute in Beth Mead, and fired Arsenal to the title while dethroning Barcelona. Arsenal's season was in disarray in September when they lost their opening game of the Champions League group stages 5-2 to Bayern Munich and head coach Jonas Eidevall departed days later. In Lisbon, Renee Slegers could observe a season that has not just been saved, or resurrected, but will go down as their greatest ever. In their biggest game of a generation, Arsenal showed their resilience again. 'You struggle together, you suffer together, you find ways to win,' Slegers said. 'We've done that.' Advertisement Arsenal's players had spoken glowingly of the 2007 winners this week, the team who had led the way by winning the Uefa Women's Cup. The respect and inspiration between past and present was mutual and they met for lunch at Arsenal's training ground on Tuesday. Arsenal reaching another final 18 years on was for them as much as the current side, as well as a source of motivation. They felt like they could belong on this stage. Arsenal stunned Barcelona to claim Women's Champions League glory (Getty Images) But the 2007 team did not face anything like this. That's not to be disrespectful of the previous era, but the game has come a long way in a short time and Barcelona and Spain have elevated its levels with their technical superiority. On a sweltering hot day in Lisbon, on a pitch that has half exposed to the sunlight, could they live with this Barcelona for 90 minutes and more? Could they follow and track the movements of Aitana Bonmati and Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas? Were they able find a way to play up to Alessia Russo, without the relentless Irene Paredes and Mapi Leon cutting in front and returning the direction straight back? Advertisement The answer, somehow, despite Barcelona hitting the bar when Pina's shot deflected off Emily Fox and Arsenal surviving several more dangerous moments, was emphatically yes. Barcelona were stunned, their stars left on the pitch in tears. 'I don't believe it,' said Bonmati. 'I just want to start the game again and do it differently. We're really sorry, we gave everything.' And the change, the moment that turned this final around after Arsenal faced suffocating pressure, came from the bench. Slegers, watching on in her shorts, stayed cool in the heat: she threw on Blackstenius and Mead, dropped the tireless Russo deeper, and beckoned Barcelona to come again with their best shot while delivering the sucker-punch. 'They said I should try to run in behind and try to stretch them,' Blackstenius said. Her goal, a moment that will be relieved again and again in north London, came from a glaring miss. The sort of chance that Blackstenius has a habit of missing, through on goal and with just Cata Coll to beat. But it was the run, shrugging Leon to the turf and surging away, that broke up Barcelona's momentum. For the first time in half an hour, Arsenal could cross the halfway line. Barcelona seemed to slump. When the corner was cleared, they were slow to get out. Mariona Caldentey picked out Mead. The ball to Blackstenius was clever. The finish from Blackstenius actually happened. Stina Blackstenius fired home a goal that will go down in history (Getty Images) And there was shock and pandemonium at once from the corner and red and white who squinted into the light and towards their heroes, who had changed so much. 'There is so much strength in this team,' Slegers said. 'The biggest shift is the mentality, the willingness to work, the willingness to engage, the willingness to solve problems.' Advertisement Lisbon brought together two of Europe's best fan bases and supporters of women's football, but Barcelona still made it feel like a home final. Their iconic anthem, the Cant del Barça, drowned out 'North London Forever'. Though it wasn't as overwhelming as Bilbao, when Barcelona finally defeated eight-time winners Lyon to defend their title last year; the corner of red and white illustrated the strength and heritage of the opposition. Barcelona couldn't avoid the favourites tag after winning three of the last four Women's Champions Leagues. But they were wary of Arsenal, conscious of how they had overturned first-leg defeats and came from behind to win in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and their 4-1 win at Lyon forced them to take notice. Their trepidation was justified. Slegers led Arsenal to victory after only taking charge mid-season (Arsenal FC via Getty Images) Arsenal, however, had conceded 12 goals in their three games before the final, while Barcelona had put eight past Chelsea across both legs of their semi-final route against the English champions. Could they hold out defensively against Barcelona? Well, that's not really their style. Not out of choice, at least. Slegers told her side to face Barcelona with courage. Advertisement But, apart from a spell midway through the first half where Arsenal grew into the game, the Barcelona opener felt inevitable. To begin with, Arsenal looked nervy and erratic, making the wrong decisions and playing themselves into trouble - all the things you don't want to show in a first European final in 18 years. An almost calamitous mix-up between Leah Williamson and Caldentey could have sent this down a very different path. Arsenal came under huge pressure from Barcelona (AP) But Blackstenius's strike prompted celebrations (AP) Instead, Arsenal's hesitancy went unpunished and they gradually pulled themselves back, just as captain Kim Little said they would after the comebacks against Lyon and Bayern Munich. 'It felt like our year, and the game today was the same thing. It went our way,' Little said. Advertisement They irritated the Barcelona passing machine just enough to force into coughing up some loose touches and moments in midfield, turning it into space to ask some questions of their own. There was suddenly a feeling of vulnerability around Barcelona's serial winners. It lasted until half-time, when Arsenal had a goal ruled out for offside and Frida Maanum forced Coll into a good save with a shot from distance. When Barcelona re-emerged to shoot towards their home end, the barrage felt too much for Arsenal to hang on. Domsellar was stranded when Pina's shot looped up and onto the crossbar. Arsenal were again praying when Salma Paralluelo squared and Ewa Pajor's shot from close range was deflected just wide. Kim Little and Leah Williamson of Arsenal lift the Women's Champions League trophy (Getty Images) And the defence – this defence, that had conceded five at Aston Villa just three weeks ago, stood firm. Barcelona kept finding a way into the box, but Arsenal were there. Caitlin Foord celebrated blocking a cross like a goal. Little and Williamson, who was immense, made crucial interventions. Russo never stopped running. Advertisement Arsenal were just about alive, and then Slegers looked behind her to bring on Blackstenius. 'I was joking with Beth after the game, I was like, 'I told you, give the ball to Stina and she will would score,'' Slegers laughed. 'No, it's not that easy. You do everything you can, you make decisions all the time, players on the pitch and also on the sidelines. It's getting the timing right.' Arsenal have. They are European champions again and have come full circle. The time for dreaming is now.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Arsenal make history in Champions League thanks to the dream that never died
Inspired by the past, Arsenal made more history in the Women's Champions League and pointed the way to the future. Against the odds, and after surviving everything Barcelona threw at them, they are champions of Europe again. The only English women's club to win the competition does so 18 years on from their previous appearance in the final, and the scoreline remained the same: Stina Blackstenius rose from the bench, was played in by another substitute in Beth Mead, and fired Arsenal to the title while dethroning Barcelona. Arsenal's season was in disarray in September when they lost their opening game of the Champions League group stages 5-2 to Bayern Munich and head coach Jonas Eidevall departed days later. In Lisbon, Renee Slegers could observe a season that has not just been saved, or resurrected, but will go down as their greatest ever. In their biggest game of a generation, Arsenal showed their resilience again. 'You struggle together, you suffer together, you find ways to win,' Slegers said. 'We've done that.' Arsenal's players had spoken glowingly of the 2007 winners this week, the team who had led the way by winning the Uefa Women's Cup. The respect and inspiration between past and present was mutual and they met for lunch at Arsenal's training ground on Tuesday. Arsenal reaching another final 18 years on was for them as much as the current side, as well as a source of motivation. They felt like they could belong on this stage. But the 2007 team did not face anything like this. That's not to be disrespectful of the previous era, but the game has come a long way in a short time and Barcelona and Spain have elevated its levels with their technical superiority. On a sweltering hot day in Lisbon, on a pitch that has half exposed to the glaring sunlight, could they live with this Barcelona for 90 minutes and more? Could they follow and track the movements of Aitana Bonmati and Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas? Were they able find a way to play up to Alessia Russo, without the relentless Irene Paredes and Mapi Leon cutting in front and returning the direction straight back? The answer, somehow, despite Barcelona hitting the bar when Pina's shot deflected off Emily Fox and Arsenal surviving several more dangerous moments, was emphatically yes. Barcelona were stunned, their stars left on the pitch in tears. 'I don't believe it,' said Bonmati. 'I just want to start the game again and do it differently. We're really sorry, we gave everything.' And the change, the moment that turned this final around after Arsenal faced suffocating pressure, came from the bench. Slegers, watching on in her shorts, stayed cool in the heat: she threw on Blackstenius and Mead, dropped the tireless Russo deeper, and beckoned Barcelona to come again with their best shot while delivering the sucker-punch. 'They said I should try to run in behind and try to stretch them,' Blackstenius said. Her goal, a moment that will be relieved again and again in north London, actually came from a glaring miss. The sort of chance that Blackstenius has a habit of missing, through on goal and with just Cata Coll to beat. But it was the run, shrugging Leon to the turf and surging away, that broke up Barcelona's momentum. For the first time in half an hour, Arsenal could cross the halfway line. Barcelona seemed to slump. When the corner was cleared, they were slow to get out. Mariona Caldentey picked out Mead. The ball to Blackstenius was clever. The finish was Blackstenius actually happened. And there was shock and pandemonium at once from the corner and red and white who squinted at the glaring light towards their heroes, who had changed so much. 'There is so much strength in this team,' Slegers said. 'The biggest shift is the mentality, the willingness to work, the willingness to engage, the willingness to solve problems.' Lisbon brought together two of Europe's best fan bases and supporters of women's football, but Barcelona still made it feel like a home final. Their iconic anthem, the Cant del Barça, drowned out 'North London Forever'. Though it wasn't as overwhelming as Bilbao, when Barcelona finally defeated eight-time winners Lyon to defend their title last year; the corner of red and white illustrated the strength and heritage of the opposition. Barcelona couldn't avoid the favourites tag after winning three of the last four Women's Champions Leagues. But they were wary of Arsenal, conscious of how they had overturned first-leg defeats and came from behind to win in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and their 4-1 win at Lyon forced them to take notice. Their trepidation was justified. Arsenal, however, had conceded 12 goals in their three games before the final, while Barcelona had put eight past Chelsea across both legs of their semi-final route against the English champions. Could they hold out defensively against Barcelona? Well, that's not really their style. Not out of choice, at least. Slegers told her side to face Barcelona with courage. But, apart from a spell midway through the first half where Arsenal grew into the game, the Barcelona opener felt inevitable. To begin with, Arsenal looked nervy and erratic, making the wrong decisions and playing themselves into trouble - all the things you don't want to show in a first European final in 18 years. An almost calamitous mix-up between Leah Williamson and Caldentey could have sent this down a very different path. Instead, Arsenal's hesitancy went unpunished and they gradually pulled themselves back, just as captain Kim Little said they would after the comebacks against Lyon and Bayern Munich. 'It felt like our year, and the game today was the same thing. It went our way,' Little said. They irritated the Barcelona passing machine just enough to force into coughing up some loose touches and moments in midfield, turning it into space to ask some questions of their own. There was suddenly a feeling of vulnerability around Barcelona's serial winners. It lasted until half-time, when Arsenal had a goal ruled out for offside and Frida Maanum forced Coll into a good save with a shot from distance. When Barcelona re-emerged to shoot towards their home end, the barrage felt too much for Arsenal to hang on. Domsellar was stranded when Pina's shot looped up and onto the crossbar. Arsenal were again praying when Salma Paralluelo squared and Ewa Pajor's shot from close range was deflected just wide. And the defence – this defence, that had conceded five at Aston Villa just three weeks ago, stood firm. Barcelona kept finding a way into the box, but Arsenal were there. Caitlin Foord celebrated blocking a cross like a goal. Little and Williamson, who was immense, made crucial interventions. Russo never stopped running. Arsenal were just about alive, and then Slegers looked behind her to bring on Blackstenius. 'I was joking with Beth after the game, I was like, 'I told you, give the ball to Stina and she will would score,'' Slegers laughed. 'No, it's not that easy. You do everything you can, you make decisions all the time, players on the pitch and also on the sidelines. It's getting the timing right.' Arsenal have. They are European champions again and have come full circle. The time for dreaming is now.
The Independent
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Arsenal make history in Champions League thanks to the dream that never died
Inspired by the past, Arsenal made more history in the Women's Champions League and pointed the way to the future. Against the odds, and after surviving everything Barcelona threw at them, they are champions of Europe again. The only English women's club to win the competition does so 18 years on from their previous appearance in the final, and the scoreline remained the same: Stina Blackstenius rose from the bench, was played in by another substitute in Beth Mead, and fired Arsenal to the title while dethroning Barcelona. Arsenal's season was in disarray in September when they lost their opening game of the Champions League group stages 5-2 to Bayern Munich and head coach Jonas Eidevall departed days later. In Lisbon, Renee Slegers could observe a season that has not just been saved, or resurrected, but will go down as their greatest ever. In their biggest game of a generation, Arsenal showed their resilience again. Arsenal's players had spoken glowingly of the 2007 winners this week, the team who had led the way by winning the Uefa Women's Cup. The respect and inspiration between past and present was mutual and they met for lunch at Arsenal's training ground on Tuesday. Arsenal reaching another final 18 years on was for them as much as the current side, as well as a source of motivation. They felt like they could belong on this stage. But the 2007 team did not face anything like this. That's not to be disrespectful of the previous era, but the game has come a long way in a short time and Barcelona and Spain have elevated its levels with their technical superiority. On a sweltering hot day in Lisbon, on a pitch that has half exposed to the glaring sunlight, could they live with this Barcelona for 90 minutes and more? Could they follow and track the movements of Aitana Bonmati and Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas? Were they able find a way to play up to Alessia Russo, without the relentless Irene Paredes and Mapi Leon cutting in front and returning the direction straight back? The answer, somehow, despite Barcelona hitting the bar when Pina's shot deflected off Emily Fox and Arsenal surviving several more dangerous moments, was emphatically yes. And the change, the moment that turned this final around after Arsenal faced suffocating pressure, came from the bench. Slegers, watching on in her shorts, stayed cool in the heat: she threw on Blackstenius and Mead, dropped the tireless Russo deeper, and beckoned Barcelona to come again with their best shot while delivering the sucker-punch. Blackstenius' goal, a moment that will be relieved again and again in north London, actually came from a glaring miss. The sort of chance that Blackstenius has a habit of missing, through on goal and with just Cata Coll to beat. But it was the run, shrugging Leon to the turf and surging away, that broke up Barcelona's momentum. For the first time in half an hour, Arsenal could cross the halfway line. Barcelona seemed to slump. When the corner was cleared, they were slow to get out. Mariona Caldentey picked out Mead. The ball to Blackstenius was clever. The finish was Blackstenius actually happened. And there was shock and pandemonium at once from the corner and red and white who squinted into the glaring light. Lisbon brought together two of Europe's best fan bases and supporters of women's football, but Barcelona still made it feel like a home final. Their iconic anthem, the Cant del Barça, drowned out 'North London Forever'. Though it wasn't as overwhelming as Bilbao, when Barcelona finally defeated eight-time winners Lyon to defend their title last year; the corner of red and white illustrated the strength and heritage of the opposition. Barcelona couldn't avoid the favourites tag after winning three of the last four Women's Champions Leagues. But they were wary of Arsenal, conscious of how they had overturned first-leg defeats and came from behind to win in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and their 4-1 win at Lyon forced them to take notice. Their trepidation was justified. Arsenal, however, had conceded 12 goals in their three games before the final, while Barcelona had put eight past Chelsea across both legs of their semi-final route against the English champions. Could hold out defensively against Barcelona? Well, that's not really their style. Not out of choice, at least. Slegers told her side to face Barcelona with courage. But, apart from a spell midway through the first half where Arsenal grew into the game, the Barcelona opener felt inevitable. To begin with, Arsenal looked nervy and erratic, making the wrong decisions and playing themselves into trouble - all the things you don't want to show in a first European final in 18 years. An almost calamitous mix-up between Leah Williamson and Caldentey could have sent this down a very different path. Instead, Arsenal's hesitancy went unpunished and they gradually pulled themselves back, just as captain Kim Little said they would after the comebacks against Lyon and Bayern Munich. They irritated the Barcelona passing machine just enough to force into coughing up some loose touches and moments in midfield, turning it into space to ask some questions of their own. There was suddenly a feeling of vulnerability around Barcelona's back post. It lasted until half-time, when Arsenal had a goal ruled out for offside and Frida Maanum forced Coll into a good save with a shot from distance. When Barcelona re-emerged to shoot towards their home, the barrage felt too much for Arsenal to hang on. Domsellar was stranded when Pina's shot looped up and onto the crossbar. Arsenal were again praying when Salma Paralluelo squared and Ewa Pajor's shot from close range was deflected just wide. And the defence – this defence, that had conceded five at Aston Villa just three weeks ago, stood firm. Barcelona kept finding a way into the box, but Arsenal were there. Caitlin Foord celebrated blocking a cross like a goal. Little and Williamson, who was immense, made crucial interventions. Russo never stopped running and crashing down lost causes. Arsenal were just about alive, and then Slegers looked behind her to bring on Blackstenius. Arsenal are European champions again. They have come full circle. The timing for dreaming is now.
