Anna Signeul's blog

The Anna Signeul blog takeover continues as Scotland defender Rhonda Jones charts the UEFA Women’s Euro qualifying double-header against France and Republic of Ireland.

Wednesday 28th March
We flew into Paris and got on the team bus, heading to Le Havre. Four hours later, and we’re still on the bus, thanks to an accident on the motorway. After the first few hours we were joking that this might have been a bit of sabotage from our opponents…

We finally arrived and the hotel was lovely, but by then it was time for some supper and then bed.

Thursday 29th March
We went out for a walk to stretch our legs in the morning. Le Havre is a working port and the area around the hotel was quite industrial so it was just a quick stroll and back to the hotel for a rest and some lunch. We had a good two-hour training session in the afternoon, so any lingering tiredness was blown away. It was quite in-depth with lots to take in as we worked on our formation and how we expected France to play.

Friday 30th March
It was my birthday, and I celebrated by training at the match venue in the morning. It was a lovely stadium, really impressive. The session at the match venue always feels like the real start of the build-up to the game.

In the afternoon we got the chance to head into a local town called Honfleur. It was a beautiful, authentic little place, and we’re all now officially Honfleur experts, thanks to a tour guide who gave us every tiny detail. I actually love it when we get to see a bit of the country that we are visiting instead of just the the training ground, hotel and stadium.

Saturday 31st March
You always wake up excited and ready to go on match day. This time, kick-off wasn’t until 8.50 pm because of the TV schedule, so it was a bit unusual that we had so much time on our hands. By mid-afternoon the excitement had worn off a bit, but as soon as we got on the bus and saw the police escort it started to build again. We all work or study full time so our bodies are used to training in the evening, which meant we took the late kick-off in our stride.

It was fantastic to see crowds of supporters, photographers and TV cameras outside the stadium when we arrived, it gives you a real lift. As for the match itself, we were up against one of the best teams in the world, but we all felt disappointed to lose 2-0. I think that’s a good thing as it shows what we expect from ourselves and each other. We can be pleased with our overall performance and I think we’ll give them a good game when they come to Scotland for the last qualifier.

Sunday 1st April
We were all looking forward to getting home to see our families before meeting up again at lunchtime on Monday. Being together as a squad for a double-header is really useful as it gives us a lot of time to train together and prepare, but it’s great to be able to sleep in your own bed.

Tuesday 3rd April
We trained in the morning, and then headed into Edinburgh city centre and took a stroll up the Royal Mile to the castle. A few of the girls hadn’t done the tourist thing in Edinburgh before so it was good fun. Anna had managed to keep part of the trip a secret – we were convinced that we were going to the dungeons so we were a bit surprised when we got to try our hand at chocolate making at the Cellar Door restaurant. It got a bit competitive, but I was the champion, of course. It was a good laugh and another chance for a bit of team-bonding. We are a really close group and that helps us a lot on the pitch.

Wednesday 4th April
After a few days of training in the sun in France, we knew we were definitely back home after a freezing training session in Linlithgow. Is it really snowing again?

Thursday 5th April
Back at Tynecastle for the match against Republic of Ireland. We love playing here. We always get a good crowd, and there is a really great feel about the place with the supporters so close to the pitch.

We made things a wee bit difficult for ourselves and didn’t really get going in the first half. We left it late, but we always believed in each other, and we knew the goals were coming, even after Kim Little missed the penalty and Jane Ross hit the post. We could have taken the attitude that it wasn’t going to be our day, but we kept going and I was absolutely delighted to get the equaliser. Then Christie Murray scored to make it 2-1 and keep us on track for a play-off place.

It was brilliant to see all the young fans queueing up to get autographs at the end of the match. They are usually all waiting for Kim or Julie Fleeting so I definitely enjoyed the attention this time!

Scotland women’s national coach Anna Signeul will be back bringing you regular updates after the current round of UEFA Women’s Euro 2013 qualifying matches. Before then, in a week-long take-over of Anna’s blog, different people from across the women’s game in Scotland will share their experiences.

First up is Sheila Begbie, head of girls’ and women’s football at the Scottish FA, vice-chair of  the UEFA women’s committee, and a UEFA match delegate.

Here Sheila talks about her experience as a match delegate at a recent UEFA Women’s Champions League match.

I’ve just returned from Germany, where I was the match delegate for the UEFA Women’s Champions League second leg quarter-final between FFC Frankfurt and the Swedish club WFC Malmo.

The role of the delegate is exciting, and sometimes challenging.We have to make sure that the organisation of the game fulfills UEFA’s  criteria and regulations.

The delegate is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the match. That includes the stadium set-up, taking in things like the condition of the pitch, dressing rooms, facilities for the match officials, doping control and even things like the floodlights. Then there is all aspects of security,  both teams including all their staff, match officials, spectators – and their behaviour. It’s a varied and extensive list.

This particular match was also televised live on German TV and on Eurosport. As the match delegate I need to ensure the protocol is met in terms of where the TV cameras can go and what the media can do. This includes making sure the camera positions are such that they will not injure a player should their momentum take them off the field of play.

As you can imagine I’m not the most popular person with the TV crews. It is really important for the women’s game that matches are televised and taken to a wider audience, so good relationships with the media are key, and my diplomacy skills are often put to good use!

On to the match itself, which was a fantastic advert for the women’s game.

Malmo WFC were leading 1-0 from the first leg. Both teams created chances in the first half, but it was FFC Frankfurt who scored midway through the second half, with the former German national team player Kerstin Garefrekes taking her chance.  This really raised the temperature in the stadium, as the home fans sensed they were in with a chance of qualifying.

WFC Malmo held on until the 89th minute when the Frankfurt substitute Silvana Chojnowski scored, and whilst the spectators were still celebrating that goal, Garefrekes ensured her side’s progress into the semi-finals with her second goal in 90 + 1 minutes.

It was really good to catch up my former colleague Ann-Helen Grahm, who worked with us in Scotland for a number of years as assistant national coach, alongside Anna Signeul. Ann-Helen returned to her native Sweden last year to become assistant national coach, and was in Germany to keep an eye on Swedish national team players from both clubs.

We had a great time reminiscing and talking about what’s happening in our respective countries.  I’ll see her again soon when Sweden come to Scotland for an international challenge match on 26 May.

Well, the countdown is on to the start of our Euro 2013 qualifying campaign which kicks-off next Wednesday with a match against Israel.

This is such a busy time to be a coach as we make sure the team are fully prepared. As I said in my last blog post, everything that we’ve done this year has been focussed on the preparation for the start of this campaign and the last few weeks have been no different.

I recently travelled to Israel with Angie, my assistant coach, to see them play France in their opening game and learnt a great deal from that trip. Not only did we make the same journey as the one the team will be making this weekend, we also stayed at the hotel the squad will be staying in and visited the training facilities so we know what to expect, and the quality of the facilities.

Watching Israel play was vital for our preparation, we have never seen an Israeli team play at any level.  After a few hiccups and confusion about where the Scotland team were going to stay and being refused permission to film using our small video camera at the game, (which is normal practise between teams), we settled in to watch the match, with the flip on record.  They’ll be a very difficult side to play against as they sit very deep they’re a well organised side and really competed against a very strong French team. The biggest challenge for the players will be the conditions and the timing of the match, it will be played at 12.00 hrs local time, (10.00 hrs UK time) and in temperatures of 32 degrees, but we have a few days to acclimatise when we get over there.

The players are really looking forward to this game and I’m really pleased with the development of the squad and their progress during our preparation for the qualification campaign. There’s a great deal of strength in depth in the squad with players competing over positions and that’s certainly worked in our favour with the players pushing each other to improve. We’re not complacent and know we need to continue to do more to support the players and to continue to make more demands on the players and clubs to make sure that Scotland are at all the major finals tournaments in future.

I think our preparation has been very thorough in the lead up to the start of the qualifying campaign and I was really impressed with our two games against Finland.  Although we lost in Finland 1-0, it was fantastic for us to win our first game at the new home of our women’s national team, Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh and to score 7 goals, and yes that does include the og!  That result has given the players real confidence going into the Euro Qualifying campaign.

We’ve had great success with our youth national teams as our U19’s won their UEFA qualification tournament in Finland two weeks ago, coming top of their group, which consisted of Finland, Belarus and the Faroe Islands. The team will progress to Phase II of the competition in March 2012, should they qualify from this group they will reach the finals tournament.

Our U17’s are in Austria at the moment and started their qualification campaign today with a 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan, it’s so important for our young players to experience football at an International level, opportunities like this are such a great opportunity for their development.

The women’s game here has had another real boost from Glasgow City’s recent performances in the UEFA Champions League, their win against Valur in Iceland last night, is a fantastic achievement, which will see them compete in the last 16 of the tournament against last year’s beaten finalists, 1. FFC Potsdam Turbine from Germany.  That is a real boost for the players and staff involved in the club, and is the reward for masses of hard work on everyone’s part.  I am so proud of them and we all celebrate their victory and will right behind them when they play at Petershill Park, Springburn in November.

 If you are reading this blog then remember you can follow the team on the Scottish FA’s Facebook and Twitter sites, even better come and get right behind our women’s team when we play Wales in our only home qualification match of this year on Thursday 27 October 2011 at Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh with a 7 pm kick off, we would really love to see you there, and your support would make a huge impact on the players – come and say ‘Hi’.

As a coach, this is the time of year that I look forward to. We’re getting into that hectic period when the big games on the international and domestic scene start coming thick and fast.

Scotland kick-off the UEFA Women’s Euro 2013 qualifiers with an away match against Israel on 12 October. Everything that we’ve done so far this year is building up to the start of the new campaign.

The squad meet up this afternoon for two friendly matches at The Falkirk Stadium that will be crucial for our preparations. On Sunday we play Switzerland (kick-off 1 pm), who, in my opinion, are matched only by Holland as the most improved side in Europe over the past few years. Then on Tuesday (kick-off 7 pm) it’s Belgium, another side on the up who will also provide us with a tough test.

The Falkirk Stadium is a ground that holds good memories for us. During the Euro 2009 campaign we defeated Bulgaria 8-1 there on the way to reaching the play-offs. We received fantastic backing from local fans last time round, so if you’re in the area and want to help us on the way to the Euro qualifiers, tickets are just £5 for adults and £2 for children for both games. We’d love to see you there.

I’m really looking forward to getting the squad together, perhaps even more so than usual, because I know that we’ll be getting a group of players who are on a high.

Seven players in this current squad are just back from Serbia, where this week they helped Glasgow City to become the first Scottish side to reach the last 32 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League with three wins out of three in their qualifying group.

What a fantastic achievement for everyone involved with the club. It becomes even more impressive when you note that the part-time Glasgow City players have swept aside full-time professional sides.

Add into the mix the two Scottish players who helped Cypriot side Apollon into the last 32, and the three from Arsenal, who qualified automatically, and you see how much experience our young squad is starting to accumulate at the highest level.

What I would like to see, and I know I talk about this a lot, is the players getting the recognition they deserve. It was fantastic to see Glasgow City players on the front page of national papers, and on BBC News. I would like to think that interest will continue, and we’ll see a full capacity and plenty of coverage of their next European match at Petershill Park on 28 or 29 September.

It goes without saying that I would like to see that feel-good factor spill over into Scotland’s Euro 2013 campaign and into the wider world of women’s football in this country.

As for the draw for the last 32 of the Women’s Champions League – will we see Arsenal travelling up to Glasgow? As a football contest it would be fantastic, and seeing so many national team players on the same pitch would, of course, be a highlight for me.

What an exciting time to be involved in women’s football.

The Scotland squad gathered in Glasgow this week to step up preparations for the Euro 2013 qualifiers, at a time when the women’s game is on a high around the globe.

The Women’s World Cup Finals in Germany, which ended two weeks ago with a truly memorable final as Japan defeated the mighty USA on penalties, was such a fantastic advert for the game.

I was in Germany with my assistant coach Angie Hind and under-19 coach Shelley Kerr. Our mission was to watch individual players, observe team systems and tactics and look at trends in the game.  We visited various cities and the venues were quite incredible – how fantastic to see full stadia for all games, not just those featuring the hosts.

The home fans gave the tournament such tremendous backing. At the Sweden v USA match, Angie and Shelley said to me “How amazing to see so many Swedish fans here.” The closer we got, I didn’t recognise my native tongue – many of the fans in yellow shirts were German!

The facts and figures from the tournament really are astounding. More than 800,000 spectators attended matches. In the USA the final attracted ESPN’s highest-ever audience for a football match (male or female), and that was three times more viewers than the last round of the US Open golf championship.

Probably the most interesting stat was that the final became the most tweeted event in history, with a record 7,196 tweets per second. No wonder that our association and many others are turning to social networking in a bid to raise the profile of the game. So, forgive me for the shameless plug, feel free to wander over to facebook.com/scotlandnationalteam or twitter.com/@scottish_fa as well as looking out for my blogs of course.

I was in China for the 2007 Women’s World Cup Finals, and it’s obvious that the game has moved on to a higher level. The pace and intensity is really impressive now and the players’ technique is getting better and better because so many are getting the opportunity to play and train full time.

In Scotland we don’t have full-time players but through our regional and national academies we’re taking the first steps by giving players the opportunity to combine daily football training with their studies.

Football is the national sport here in Scotland, and although interest is increasing and a lot of hard work is going into improving standards, the women’s game is still fighting to match the men’s game. It’s something that I have taken time to get used to as women’s football has a huge audience in my native Sweden.

One thing that myself and the national team players know is that getting to the finals of a major tournament would be a massive boost for the Scottish game.

Sweden is hosting the Euro 2013 finals and I can honestly say that nothing would make me more proud than to lead Scotland to our first major finals in my home country.

We reached the play-offs for Euro 2009 and I firmly believe that we can take the next step this time. We have a tough task ahead of us. We start the qualifiers with a tricky trip to Israel on 12 October, and our neighbours Wales and Republic of Ireland also stand in our way.

World Cup semi-finalists France, led by my good friend Bruno Bini, are undoubtedly the team to beat in our group. We’ve played them a few times recently. The 1-1 draw in Brest a few months ago was a great confidence-booster for us.

The gap between the top sides is closing. We know that we can compete against them. The 2-0 friendly win over world no 6 team England in March was a particular highlight for our players, but then every Scot (including adopted Scots like me) enjoyed that one!

I’ll keep you up to date with our exploits through these regular blogs. I’ll also be sharing my experiences of working in the women’s game and thoughts on the latest issues in football.