Absentee XI

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

There's an absent XXIII for the World Cup: lets have a slightly more straightforward absent XI for the Euros:

Here's my effort - slightly biased towards players who play in the WSL and players from Britain and Ireland - but given Scotland and Wales were the two highest ranked teams to fail to qualify maybe not totally unexpected.

GK Barbora Votíková (PSG and CZE)
DF Hayley Ladd (Manchester United and WAL)
DF Paulina Dudek (PSG and POL)
DF Jen Beattie (Arsenal and SCO)
DF Rachel Corsie (Aston Villa and SCO)
MF Jess Fishlock (OL Reign and WAL)
MF Sophie Ingle (Chelsea and WAL)
MF Denise O'Sullivan (NC Courage and IRE)
MF Katie McCabe (Arsenal and IRE)
FW Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg and POL)
FW Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea and SCO)

Who am I missing? Who would you pick?

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

I'd say Caroline Weir and Angharad James are possibly obvious missing players but I also find it hard to justify the inclusion of more Welsh and Scottish players. Anyone who should be included from Ukraine, Romania, Slovenia?

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Also anyone want to do a "one player per country" version?

[ursus arctos]

Sara Agrež is a Slovene defender who has been starting for Turbine Potsdam and might deserve a look.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

There seem to be quite a few Slovenes in the Bundesliga. Lara Prašnikar has scored 10 in 19 for Frankfurt this term too

[ursus arctos]

I was going to mention her as well.

It is a natural place for them to go once they "outgrow" domestic football,.especially given that Northeast Italy isn't a hotbed for women's football.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Here's a go based on one player per country.

GK Barbora Votíková (PSG and CZE)
DF Hayley Ladd (Manchester United and WAL)
DF Paulina Dudek (PSG and POL)
DF Sara Agrež (Turbine Potsdam and SLO)
DF Jen Beattie (Arsenal and SCO)
MF Jess Fishlock (OL Reign and WAL)
MF Dolores Silva (Braga and POR)
MF Denise O'Sullivan (NC Courage and IRE)
MF Henrietta Csiszár (Internazionale and HUN)
FW Nataša Andonova (Levante and MKD)
FW Jovana Damnjanović (Bayern Munich and SRB)

[Duncan Gardner]

Was it Andonova who had a row with the Nordie Mak coach and so missed most of their recent heavy beatings?

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

There were only three players in common between the starting that lost 8 - 0 to England last September and the side that lost 11 - 0 to NI in November so it wasn't just Andonova.

though the side that lost 10 - 0 to England this month had many of those players back again (although with a different keeper and only one defender that played in the first England game.

I would dearly love to know what is going on with their team selection.

[Nesta]

Russia must have one or two? And anyone from CZE, UKR or POR could still potentially be in it. Which incidentally is something uefa ought to get a move on with.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Didn't pick anyone from portugal cos nearly all their players are domestically based and I know nothing about the Portuguese league so soz.

[Duncan Gardner]

Russia must have one or two? And anyone from CZE, UKR or POR could still potentially be in it. Which incidentally is something uefa ought to get a move on with.

Im not suggesting that UEFA necessarily take their lead from the bookies', but William Hill's odds that I posted the other day had Russia at 100/1 to win it outright

[Duncan Gardner]

Steph Houghton left out of England squad

[Logan Mountstuart]

I really like the Dutch Women's team, much more than the men, and I hope they win the tournament, but I could quite get behind the England team, purely because of Sarina Wieman. She's a fine person, and a damn good coach.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

https://twitter.com/JeffKassouf/status/1544336799426052096

Big blow for "bookies favourites" Spain.

[Duncan Gardner]

A shame. I think England are shorter odds with some bookie's

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

It's not clear how bad it is at this stage though.

[ursus arctos]

The scuttlebutt in Barcelona is that it is very much not good and may well impact her club season, let alone the tournament.

[Sporting]

Marca says at least 3-4 weeks.