England will head into the Women’s World Cup having played more total minutes than any other leading country, according to a report by global players’ union FIFPRO.
Workload and injuries have been a major talking point in the women’s game, with a particular focus on the number of players suffering ACL damage.
Arsenal defender Leah Williamson, who captained England to European Championship success last summer, and Beth Mead, who won the Golden Boot and was named player of the tournament, will both miss the World Cup because of ACL injuries, as will Chelsea’s Fran Kirby with her own knee issue.
FIFPRO’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Workload Journey Report, published on Thursday morning, examined workload and playing opportunities for players at international and club level.
The England squad’s combined total minutes played in all competitive club and national team matches, from August 1, 2022 to June 3 this year, was 65,398, putting them ahead of Spain (61,894), Portugal (61,508) and the Netherlands (59,970).
England players played a total of 48,222 minutes in domestic club football, with an additional 7,109 coming from international club competitions such as the Champions League.
The domestic football set-up in three of the top five countries on the list – England, Portugal and the Netherlands – also included a second club cup competition, so adding more playing time.
By comparison, current world champions the United States played far fewer minutes overall (46,455), thanks to less club action from those based domestically in the National Women’s Soccer League than their European counterparts, with no international club or second domestic cup competitions.
However, total national team minutes for the USA were 11,316, placing them above both World Cup co-hosts Australia (11,182) and England (9,778).
Some squads in the report are preliminary, based on estimations from digital data and analytics platform Football Benchmark made in mid-June before the confirmation of the official World Cup selections.
Eight countries are missing from the analysis, including China, Argentina and South Africa, due to a lack of available data, with the scarcity of easily-accessible up-to-date match schedules and performance statistics for players another concern highlighted by the report.
“Player workload is an important lens through which to assess some the overall needs of women’s football from an access, development and competitive aspect,” said Sarah Gregorius, FIFPRO’s director global policy and strategic relations for women’s football
“By using the milestone of the Women’s World Cup and the context for participating players, we can see where football stakeholders can come together to improve the international match calendar and make data-driven decisions on how to add and innovate with competitions to better promote performance and well-being for more players.”
The report also addresses issues over the “uneven and fragmented” calendars in the women’s game, which FIFPRO said forces many players in countries where football is less developed to move abroad to improve or face having not enough matches to develop their potential.
Players from the likes of England, Spain and Portugal collectively played around twice as many minutes for their clubs and national teams over the last 10 months as those from Jamaica, Haiti and the Philippines, which FIFPRO feels could impact how ready players are to perform on the World Cup stage.
The players’ union highlighted the need for all regions to stage standalone qualifying competitions for the next Women’s World Cup. At the moment UEFA, Europe’s governing body, is the only one which does.
This would, FIFPRO said, help create a “more balanced qualification system that supports the growth of women’s football worldwide”.
FIFPRO also called for more international club competitions in women’s football and the sustainable growth of domestic leagues, which currently tend to have fewer teams and matches than men’s leagues.
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is a fantastic celebration of the women’s game, but is also a time to analyse the sometimes patchy development of the sport,” FIFPRO general secretary Jonas Baer Hoffmann said.
“The data shows competitive opportunities for players globally is largely dependent on the context of domestic football in their home country, as well as the availability of international club football.”
Emery has no complaints after tired Aston Villa lose late on at Brighton
Unai Emery accepts Aston Villa can have no complaints over their 1-0 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.
The Villans fell to a narrow defeat at the Amex Stadium on Sunday as Joao Pedro converted late on after his initial penalty attempt was saved.
Villa looked sluggish throughout yet were just minutes away from claiming a point that would have further boosted their top-four prospects.
John McGinn also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, but Emery admits his side were not deserving of a point on their travels.
"We competed but it was not enough," he told BBC Sport. "We weren't strong enough in 90 minutes to deserve anything more than we achieved.
"Now the most important thing is to rest, to rest today, rest tomorrow, after the match.
"We are having an amazing season, brilliant, but of course we are at the last chance and we have to try and give everything."
Villa remain seven points clear of fifth-place Tottenham, albeit having played a game more, after Spurs' 4-2 loss at Liverpool.
Before focus can turn to the Villans' home match with Liverpool in a week's time, they first travel to Olympiacos for their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg.
Emery's men have a major task on their hands if they are to reach the final as they trail 4-2 from last week's first leg at Villa Park.
"We want to put in a good effort on Thursday [against Olympiakos] and on Monday against Liverpool. Now is time to rest," Emery added.
"We had a lot of players injured and they are recovering. The most important thing is to get players back for balance and to be competitive."
Victory for Brighton was much needed after going six without a win in the Premier League, failing to score in four of those matches.
While Roberto De Zerbi was pleased to get back to winning ways, he accepts Brighton were given a helping hand by Villa's quick turnaround in games.
"To be honest, Villa were not themselves, maybe a little tired," he said. "They are playing in the Europa Conference League and they have a lot of injuries.
"I am proud because we played a great game against one of the best teams in the Premier League. Playing against Unai Emery's teams is very tough.
"We played well, we deserved to win and we could have scored more goals. I think Robin Olsen was the best player for Villa."
Declan Rice loss to blame for heavy West Ham defeats - David Moyes
Declan Rice's absence is to blame for a number of heavy West Ham defeats this season, according to manager David Moyes.
West Ham sold captain and influential midfielder Rice to Arsenal last July for a club-record fee rising to £105million with add-ons.
The Hammers have seen results nosedive since the turn of the year, most recently crashing to a 5-0 defeat away at Chelsea on Sunday.
That was the sixth time West Ham have conceded four or more goals away from home this season, and their fifth loss in six away games overall.
Asked at his post-match press conference exactly why his side are on the end of heavy losses so frequently of late, Moyes said: "Declan Rice."
The Scotsman, due to be out of contract next month, added: "You get the best midfield player in the country, protecting, making sure the moments and times you limit maybe 50 per cent of the attacks.
"It makes you a much better defensive team when you get that. We've lacked protection in front of the back four; we've lacked good enough defending; we've not been good enough on those things in many games.
"You've got to be careful. You're talking about a team sitting in a really, really strong position. We've had a couple of bad days away from home, which we have to try and eradicate and make better.
"I'm trying to put a bit of mental toughness when we need it. The teams I normally prepare would normally have it. You could always lose the way you lose."
West Ham have won just one of their past nine Premier League games, seeing them slip down to ninth place and now out of the top-six running.
United have also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their past 16 in the competition - only the second time they have done so in a single Premier League season.
The poor run of form, which also includes elimination from the Europa League at the hands of a strong Bayer Leverkusen side, has raised doubts over Moyes' future at London Stadium.
Amid suggestions that former Real Madrid and Spain boss Julen Lopetegui has already been lined up, Moyes reiterated he will wait until after the season to hold talks over his future.
"I'm going to talk to the board at the end of the season, so we’ll do that then," he said.
Allegri admits to regrets as Juventus slump continues
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri admitted to having regrets after the Bianconeri missed the chance to close the gap to second-placed Milan in Sunday's Serie A draw with Roma.
Romelu Lukaku put Roma ahead early on at the Stadio Olimpico but Bremer's header dragged Juventus level before the break, as two teams vying for a top-five finish cancelled each other out.
Juventus have now won just two of their last 14 league games, and Allegri reacted to the final whistle on Sunday by storming off the bench and throwing his jacket to the ground in frustration.
Speaking to DAZN after the game, Allegri said: "There are regrets, naturally we could've done better during this period, but football is vicious like that, sometimes it just doesn't go your way.
"We risked losing a game that we were in a position to win at the start of the second half."
Despite four consecutive Serie A draws, Juventus remain six points clear of fifth-placed Roma and nine ahead of Atalanta in sixth – though La Dea have two games in hand.
With Italy guaranteed five Champions League qualification places for next season, they remain in a strong position to return to Europe's premier club competition, while they are also due to face Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final on May 15.
"The important thing now is to concentrate on the next game, as that is the match point for the Champions League, then we have the Coppa Italia final," Allegri said.
"The club will evaluate at the end of the season, naturally there are some solid foundations for Juve, but we were missing players like [Paul] Pogba, [Nicolo] Fagioli and of course [Federico] Chiesa was on and off."
Despite Juventus enjoying a broadly positive campaign after finishing seventh in 2022-23, when they were hampered by a 10-point deduction after an investigation into their historical financial dealings, Allegri's position has been called into question lately.
Asked about his own future, he said: "I don't know, you'd have to ask the club.
"The important thing is for us to focus on the Coppa Italia final and hopefully, we’ll come back here with the Champions League already achieved."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
