Thursday

World cup qualifier

Magdalena Eriksson and Jonna Andersson both started for Sweden on Thursday afternoon with Zecira Musovic starting on the bench against Georgia in group A.

Sweden dominated throughout the 90 minutes with 11 goals on the scoreboard in the first half and a whopping 15 in total with a combination of 10 different goal scorers. Blues defender Andersson also took a slice of the action in the 29th minute. Following their exceptional win, Sweden will qualify for the World Cup by beating Ireland on Tuesday in a home fixture in Gothenburg.

Friday

Friendly

First up for us on Friday, Australia were hosts to New Zealand in an international friendly. Sam Kerr proudly led out the Matildas in Townsville in front of over 10,000 fans. Although Australia dominated throughout the first half, a long ball from New Zealand's Meikayla Moore found Anna Green in the 32nd minute who was able to impressively send the ball across to the top corner over keeper Lydia Williams to give the visitors the lead.

The Matildas left it to the last minute to steal the win with Emily van Egmond and Sam Kerr scoring two minutes apart in stoppage time. Kerr launched herself at the ball following a corner kick, heading home the winning goal in front of a jubilant home crowd.

The sides will meet in the second game of the series on Tuesday night in Canberra.

World Cup Qualifiers

The evening kicked-off with captain Millie Bright leading the visiting Lionesses out against North Macedonia, with Jess Carter also in the starting line-up. Sarina Wiegman’s side did not disappoint, delivering 10 goals across the 90 minutes with four goals from Beth Mead, a hat-trick from Ella Toone, a brace from Georgia Stanway and Ellen White also got in the action with her 50th goal of her career.

The win keeps England top of group D having won their past five matches, five points clear of Austria who sit second. Bethany England and Niamh Charles will hope to join up with England next week, having been unable to travel on Monday due to both returning positive Covid-19 tests.

Aniek Nouwen was up next for the Netherlands against Cyprus once again in a group C clash. The Dutch side flew out of the gates with an impressive five goals in the first 45, with three of them coming from Vivianne Miedema and two from Jill Roord. It was another huge result on the night, with a whopping seven further goals following; a record-equalling win for the Netherlands which secures their place at the top of their group. A friendly follows against South Africa on Tuesday.

With the same kick-off time as the Netherlands, Sophie Ingle, the Blues third captain of the day, led out Wales at home in Llanelli against France with Popper Soper starting on the bench. France were first to score with Wendie Renard heading home the opening goal in the 31st minute. Marie-Antoinette Katoto doubled the lead for the French side 12 minutes into the second half.

A corner from Rachel Rowe was cleared by France directly into the path of Blues midfielder Ingle, who belted the ball into the bottom corner with a deflection working in her favour in the 71st minute. Although a second goal did follow from Gemma Evans, it was deemed offside and France were able to maintain the lead to win against a defiant Welsh side.

Wales now need to win their three remaining games in Group I to secure a place in the play-offs. Next up they face Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

Saturday

Olympic Championship friendly

The weekend was kicked off in style with Olympic Gold winners, Canada up against Nigeria in Vancouver. Chelsea’s Jessie Fleming started proceedings, scoring in the 51st minute with Vanessa Gilles extending the lead in the 72nd minute, handing the Canadian’s a comfortable win. They will face Nigeria once more on Tuesday for the second instalment.

Tune in for part-two next week.