England's Women's Footballers - 12th Best In The World?

I went to see the England Women's Football team play at the weekend.

They are currently ranked 12th in the world, so I wondered if they were worth that position...

The game was held at a local lower division ground just 20 minutes away from my home, so I thought I'd go and watch.
There were just under 4,000 people there, which is not bad for the England Women.
It's a good indication of where the game stands development-wise, but more of that later..

The match was against Northern Ireland, a qualifier for a future tournament.

So, were England any good?
Well, they were ok.

Defensively they didn't get put under much pressure, but when they did, the organisation seemed a bit lacking, and they made mistakes which will get punished when they play better teams.

Attacking wise they did create chances, but again I would be worried by the lack of clinical finishing.
That might sound a bit strange since the team won 4-0, but the first half was goalless, and Northern Ireland are ranked a good 60 places below England.
One of the England goals was an Irish own goal, and the others came when the Irish were clearly tiring towards the end.

I imagine that when they play better teams, they will be on the defensive and hanging on, but having said that, earlier in the year they did draw against both Germany and USA power nations in the International Women's game.

It will be an interesting World Cup held in China in Sept. 2007.

England have qualified for the first time, quite an achievement considering the governing body of football here only decided to support the game in 2001.

Our main problem is strength in depth, and lack of strong enough domestic competition.
It will be a long term development, bringing the juniors through, but that in turn need more media coverage to grow interest.
I hardly saw any mention of the result anywhere in the sports media here, and it's a 4-0 win for the national team!

So, are England a worthy 12th in the world?
Probably, yes.

I imagine it's an upward journey for them, and considering the England men are only 8th, the women are doing pretty well already!

Gordon Bryan is the author of 'Make Money From Sport,' a guide where he takes you through the single technique he uses again and again to profit from any sport! Find out more at: http://www.gordonbryan.com/makemoneyfromsport