After Arsenal Ladies were beaten 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against VfL Wolfsburg yesterday afternoon, each player worked their way along the line of children waiting patiently for autographs.
It must have been the last thing that England regulars and Olympians such as Steph Houghton and Alex Scott wanted to do after such a frustrating defeat, but they smiled and signed anyway.
It is moments like this that make you think the relative obscurity of women’s football could yet prove to be one of its biggest strengths.
Uphill struggle: Arsenal Ladies were beaten 2-0 by Wolfsburg in their Champions League semi-final More from Laura Williamson... LAURA WILLIAMSON: Dingley won her battle but the war on bigotry is not over 02/06/13 LAURA WILLIAMSON: How Miss Moneylegs is battling back from adversity after missing London 2012 through injury 26/05/13 Last 12 months have been a 'whirlwind' for Houghton as Arsenal Ladies look to add another FA Cup to packed trophy cabinet 25/05/13 LAURA WILLIAMSON: Peacock hopes to cut a dash and avoid blade row 19/05/13 Laura Williamson: Save me from the swirling madness as Fergie goes viral 12/05/13 Laura Williamson: The battle against doping should also include arrogant ball sports 05/05/13 Laura Williamson: British Athletics needs to seize the moment and cash in... just like Jess, Mo and Co 22/04/13 Laura Williamson: Looking for some exposure? Maybe try exposing yourself 07/04/13 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEThere were 1,406 spectators at Boreham Wood Football Club in Hertfordshire, the majority of them young families, to watch England’s last remaining representatives in the Champions League.
Goals from Conny Pohlers and Martina Muller gave the German champions a commanding lead to take back to the Volkswagen Arena next Sunday; a free event that is expected to attract around 5,000 fans and ‘maybe 7,000 if it is sunny’.
The workers at the city’s Volkswagen plant should go and take a look if their shifts allow: it promises to be another spiky game of football.
Wolfsburg’s propensity for amateur dramatics — and Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul’s willingness to indulge them — were the main reasons for the game’s feisty undercurrent, but the closeness between players and supporters was also a factor.
We could see striker Alexandra Popp bursting into tears on the bench after she was substituted following a booking for diving that rules her out of the return leg. Popp had a right old strop, incidentally, banging the roof of the dug-out in exasperation and giving the crowd an ironic wave as she trudged off.
It provided excellent theatre, matched by the skill of England’s most-capped outfield player, Rachel Yankey, a wonderfully understated footballer who influenced the game from the left and right wings.
Or Kim Little’s set-piece deliveries, Ellen White’s work-rate as the lone striker or the dynamism of Houghton, the captain in place of the injured Kelly Smith, who recovered from a poor first half to patrol the midfield. It was also fun, a word that does not feature as often as it should in football.
Arsenal became the first English side to beat a German team when they knocked out FFC Turbine Potsdam in the last 16, but they looked naive at times compared to Wolfsburg, champions of the women’s Bundesliga, and now face an uphill struggle to overcome another damning trend. This is the third consecutive semi-final for Arsenal, the 2007 Champions League winners; a phenomenally successful club who have won 38 major trophies in a 26-year history.
Leading from the front: Martina Muller scores Wolfsburg's second goal as the German side celebrate victory
However, Arsenal missed out on playing in the 2011 final at Fulham’s Craven Cottage and are desperate to play in this year’s climax at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge on May 23.
‘They were clever and maybe that’s what we need to bring to our game — the fouls and things like that,’ said Scott.
‘It’s gutting, and I think that’s where the experience needs to show in the team. As a whole, we need to step up and do better next week.’
This is not about comparisons with the elite of the men’s game, which can, at times, seem so detached from reality, but women’s football should shout a little louder about what makes it distinct.
It is trying, with players keen to use social networks to build up awareness and engage with their supporters, but the message seems to get lost along the way.
The game’s appeal is that it is refreshingly different. You pay £5 to take your kids to a European semi-final on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
What’s not to like about that?
WHAT THEY SAID...
Plans to alter the format of the women’s Six Nations were rejected this week, with former Wales captain Non Evans warning that it would have meant ‘the end of women’s 15-aside rugby as we know it’. That, presumably, was the point of a cost-cutting exercise that would have prioritised the seven-a-side game ahead of its Olympic debut inRio de Janeiro in 2016.
...AND THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING THIS WEEKSpoke to Paralympic 100m gold medallist Jonnie Peacock from his training base in Florida. Asked if he could break his own world record, he said: ‘I don’t see any reason why not.’ What a refreshing change to sprinters’ normal trash-talk.
Best of British: Jonnie Peacock has his sights set on breaking his own 100m world recordWatched Emmanuel Adebayor trot up for his penalty against Basle . . . and knew just what was coming. It is usually unfair to knock those who step up to take spot-kicks, but not when they make such a meal of it before blasting their effort over the bar.
Just about recovered from seeing images of England’s new rugby sevens kit, which features a ‘pixelated English rose’. The clothing is — funnily enough — horrendous. Is a plain white shirt with a rose on it really too much to ask?
Sore on the eyes: England's rugby Sevens' kit won't win any awards for attractivenessPERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Jamie Murray and his Australian doubles partner, John Peers, beat the world No 1 seeds, Bob and Mike Bryan, to win the US men’s clay-court championships in Houston. It was a good week for British men’s tennis after the 3-2 Davis Cup victory over Russia last Sunday.
More... Arsenal 0 Wolfsburg 2: Female Gunners' final hopes in tatters after first-leg defeat As BBC vow to screen more women's football, FA director says women will boss professional clubs 'within a decade' Arsenal Ladies hoping Torres (not that one) won't block their route to Champions League final
