the first 4 matches of the women's Euro Cup have been played. in the opening match on Wednesday England beat Austria 1-0. in yesterday's match Norway beat Northern Ireland 4-1. earlier today Spain beat Finland 4-1. and a few minutes ago Germany beat Denmark 4-0

Germany beat Spain 2-0. It was a hard fight, but the German defense stood firm. There should have been a red card against Paredes of the Spanish team in the 57th minute when Schüller was through alone against the Spanish goalie and was held by the shirt, as can be seen in this photo.

I basically only watch football and volleyball (occasionally), and I'm with you, women's volleyball is better to watch than men's. It's not quite like that in football, but it's still football.

Probably not the thread for a discussion about the wider aspects of the game but I find it hard to get that interested when then the domestic women's game is just going the same way as the mens. Basically the likes of Chelsea and Man City dominate. Only a few years back , Man Utd didn't even bother to enter a team and then virtually got a free pass when they did. On the plus side at least it provides a decent profession for those playing in the top leagues but in general the wages of top players such as Lucy Bronze is still a million miles away from the men's equivalent.  

So it is England versus Germany in the finals. Who will win? And who will become the top scorer - Beth Mead or Alexandra Popp? Both have scored six times so far.

I certainly prefer watching womens football and basketball to mens.

The women footballers seem a lot tougher than the men. You hardly ever see the women roll around on the ground like they have been shot from the stands.

87,000 fans expected on Sunday . My guess is a 2 all draw with a penalty shoot out to follow (and we know what that means for England fans  )

nothing to do with tougher , the men's game is just horribly cynical. I do think that the women have a chance to put on a proper spectacle free of the 'dark arts' (ie shirt pulling, simulation, time wasting and all that crap) that has often brought the man's game down to a depressing low level) 

yeah, but these are our super-fab women you're talking about... not a Psycho or a Chrissie Waddle in sight.. 

very well said...  the whole product has come along leaps and bounds over the past 20 years and they deserve all the recognition they get.

I only have one quibble with the women's game in this country, which I'm sure will be ironed out in time and that is, despite all the hype, too few of the women's games in the WSL are really competitive.. it's very rare that any of the teams from 6 down are ever likely to take any points off the elite, and the 9-0 hammerings are still too regular (although I could point to Southampton in this regard ) and the results are about as predictable as Celtic v St Mirren, because all the money and resources are concentrated at the top.

I do hope the Foxes manage to stay up this season, but my hopes aren't high...  

Hi,

I was thinking the same ... though whether it is 2-2 or 3-3 or 1-1 might prove to be irrelevant, though I think the cleverness that England brings through (witness the back heel) is likely to cause some problems for the Germans. If so the game will probably be over by half time.

Sadly chances are that this is just because there's more money in the men's game.

This is true. Chelsea and Man City buy the best players and there is a void between the best teams and those lower down.

My team Wolves were in the Championship play offs and lost to Southampton 1-0. Wolves won the Northern Premier League and Saints won the Southern Premier League. As it stands that's not enough to get both of them into the second tier without a play off game. The game was played as Edgely Park (Home Of Stockport FC) and was broadcast live. I did get very annoyed with the commentator who basically accused one of the Wolves players of deliberately going over the top. She did get sent off but it was just a mistimed challenge and not meant to be nasty in my view. I suppose in a way its a test of true equality if the women are as competitive as the mend in that respect.

I agree although the authorities could try and remove this from the game but so often the top pundits (mainly ex footballers) seem to want to excuse it. For the life of me I struggle to understand why there isn't  will to clean the game up. So much so that I've cancelled my sports subscription after over 20 years of having one. The men's game is just not edifying for me anymore and that's even with my team Wolves actually doing well in recent years.

I feel very much the same. I will keep my BT Sport because of the rugby. I keep Sky Sports mainly because of the cricket in the summer, but despite being a lifelong Arsenal supporter, do not watch a great deal of footie any longer.

Hi,

Same here, mostly as it looks to me as just another commercial advertisement ... and watching the WWF fight between Liverpool and Manchester City, just was not exciting, despite the announcer making it so. It's over rated in my book, because of the abundance of talent on display that was bought, and not trained right here ... you would want your own child to have a chance, but never will!

At least, you get a better feeling in the women's game, and although it is becoming obvious that 5 teams or so around the world are now the big names that buy everything, at least you know there is some real fight in between and the women are trying hard to do well, and it shows.

I just watch the MLS highlights and the EPL highlights these days ... gave up on the games because of the big names. Did the same thing in basketball after Bird and Magic ... the fun just went out of the ball and it was now just another air ball out there. having seen Bird go .. watch this Magic at the Forum, and then Magic go ... watch this Bird at the Garden, was just a wonderful show and they both laughed and hugged afterwards.

Good game, good performance, and any chance of the winning coach replacing Southgate?

She prepared the team beautifully but you still need that tiny bit of luck to win. This could be a massive boost for the men coming up and certainly Southgate could do worse than have her in the men's set up as a technical advisor