2017-2018 Wales women's football

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In Welsh women's football last week, the last four of the league cup:

Welsh Premier League Cup semi-finals
Cardiff Met v Swansea City
Port Talbot Town v Abergavenny


A big event scheduled for 2017 is the Women's Champions League final in Cardiff on June 1:

http://www.womensfootball.eu/forum/index.php/topic,8286.0.html

Cardiff City Stadium (Jon Candy)

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The FAW Cup quarterfinals took place over the weekend. Llandudno are now the only northern club remaining:

http://www.faw.cymru/en/news/llandudno-flying-north-wales-flag-womens-cup

FAW CUP QUARTER-FINALS
Abergavenny 0-2 Cardiff Met
Bethel 2-4 Cardiff City FC Women
Briton Ferry Llansawel 2-4 Llandudno
Swansea City 4-1 Rhyl

Match reports:
http://www.shekicks.net/news/view/13953

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Wales have finished their campaign in Cyprus:

- www.womensfootball.eu/forum/index.php/topic,8304.0.html

Jess Fishlock needs one more cap to reach 100 for Wales.

Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT

In domestic action, today is FAW Cup semi-final day, and Swansea have won 10 games in a row in the Welsh Premier.

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A few matters to attend to:

Should there be a united Great Britain women's football team at the 2020 Olympics?

The head of the Welsh FA sounds like he's in favour, although he seems to be in a minority:

- http://www.football.co.uk/fa/welsh-fa-boss-calls-for-quick-decision-on-womens-team-gb-si/8573275/#I5uuGbLTuI4YMeMX.97

Maybe Team GB could play against Scotland in round 1   


On the field, Wales and Northern Ireland played a pair of friendlies at Ystrad Mynach, with quite a similar outcome in each game. Jess Fishlock won her 100th cap and scored a fine goal in the first match:

Wales v NI (5 Apr)
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUcQxkE3VWE


Wales v NI (7 Apr)
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxGSjfBuef0


Match reports: 5 April (BBC Sport), 7 April (FAW)


Also, last weekend was the FAW Women's Cup Final 2017, a match which went down to the wire on penalties. Lovers of great goalkeeping may want to look away now

Swansea City Ladies v Cardiff Met Ladies
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=lty-WK-ppxU


Match reports: BBC Sport / FAW

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Wales will play England twice in 2018, in qualifying for the World Cup 2019.

The campaign kicks off with two away trips, Kazakhstan v Wales on 7 Sep 2017, and Russia v Wales on 24 Oct 2017.

Full group list here: http://www.womensfootball.eu/forum/index.php/topic,8275.msg84272.html#msg84272

Fixture list & Jess Fishlock interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39712645

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Top players of the season in Wales:

- http://www.shekicks.net/news/view/14616

[Abergavenny duo] Katrina French and Lyndsey Davies won the Orchard Welsh Premier League Player of the Year and Golden Boot awards respectively.

(She Kicks)

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Wales have played two away friendlies in Portugal, with mixed fortunes:

- See Euro 2017 build-up (www.womensfootball.eu/forum/index.php/topic,8346.0.html)


Swansea are in the Women's Champions League 2017/18 qualifying round, and will have a tough task in Romania in August.

Their three opponents are Hibernian, Olimpia Cluj and WFC-2 Kharkiv:

- https://web.archive.org/web/20170803095612/http://www.faw.cymru/en/news/swansea-city-discover-uwcl-opponents/

“I can’t wait for it to start,” said Jodie Passmore, who netted 22 times across all competitions last season. “I’ve experienced it before in both Cyprus and Slovenia and it’s brilliant. It’s not what you expect it to be - the experience is like no other. It’s by far the best level I’ve played at.”

(SwanseaCity.net)

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Wales' World Cup qualifiers:

The headlines inevitably centred upon Wales joining England in 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying Group 1 following Tuesday's draw in Nyon, but there will be other familiar opponents and logistical challenges for Jayne Ludlow and her side to navigate past if they are to achieve their dream and qualify for the finals in France.

www.faw.cymru/en/news/focus-our-womens-world-cup-rivals/
^ Information on opponents Kazakhstan, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and England

Wales met Kazakhstan twice in the most recent Euro qualifiers.

But now, spot the big disadvantage... here are Wales' first five qualifiers:

17 September 2017 - Kazakhstan v Wales
24 October 2017   -  Russia v Wales
24 November 2017 -  Wales v Kazakhstan
28 November 2017 -  Bosnia and Herzegovina v Wales
 6 April 2018  -   England v Wales

Obviously England is less of a journey, but the away games are stacked against them. They'll have to do decently to have a chance of qualifying in their final three at home.

Wales' Helen Ward against Austria in Euro qualifying
(Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT)

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The Welsh champions have been decided:

- https://www.swanseacity.com/news/ladies-lift-league-title (Archive.org page)


This is the WPWL league table after 18 games:

                        P   W   D   L      F   A      GD      Pts
Swansea City    18   16   1   1   65   16   49   -   49
Cardiff Metro.   18   13   3   2   57   20   37   -   42
Cardiff City       18   11   2   5   62   30   32   -   35
Abergavenny    18   11   2   5   47   23   24   -   35
Cyncoed LFC   18   6   4   8    37    43    -6   -   22
Llandudno LFC   18   6   4   8   36   48   -12   -   22
Port Talbot T      18   4   3   11   22   45   -23   -   15
Rhyl Ladies FC   18   3   3   12   23   51   -28   -   12
Aberystwyth       18   3   3   12   12   50   -38   -   12
Briton Ferry Lla.   18   2   5   11   25   60   -35   -   11

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Wales' Lauren Hancock had her football career thrown into disarray by a car crash. She's now signed for Swansea, and she wants to play a full match again in two months:

- https://www.swanseacity.com/news/new-signing-hancock-eyes-return-action (Archive.org page)

The defender has rejoined the club looking to kick start her career after being involved in an accident almost two years ago.

(Swansea City)

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Swansea will be in the Champions League qualifier group, which takes place this week from Tuesday (22 Aug) in Romania:

UWCL 2017/2018 - Women's Champions League
- www.womensfootball.eu/forum/index.php/topic,8360.0.html

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