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4 hours ago
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Sonia Bompastor believes national team managers will need to be “smart” with her Chelsea players after a gruelling block of games concluded positively, with a 2-1 defeat of Tottenham, earning a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
Chelsea’s hopes of retaining two of their three titles remain alive after Veerle Buurman’s wonderful drive and strike earned the Blues a win in an end-to-end battle with Tottenham.
“I’m just a little bit sad for the players because this block was really intense,” said Bompastor. “We played seven games in different competitions, we had quick turnarounds, and the players now go straight away to national teams playing games next Tuesday.
“We also have really good communication with most of the national team coaches and I think they will be smart with my international players. All the England players, especially, play many games. If you look at the games we played against Arsenal, I watched all the games in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and both games were the best games, by far. The intensity in the Champions League, and also in these games around it, are really high and the players are really fighting.”
Chelsea needed a positive result after a frustrating week, having crashed out of the Champions League despite a battling 1-0 win against Arsenal in the second leg of their quarter-final. With the Women’s Super League title all but sewn up by Manchester City, an FA Cup win that would mean a domestic cup double – after their League Cup final win against Manchester United – is the only silverware left to play for. That will not be enough for a team that have dominated in almost every competition for a decade, but the opportunity to finish the season on a high at Wembley with a second trophy will be hugely motivating.
For Tottenham there was a need to make a statement after back-to-back 5-2 defeats by Manchester City and Arsenal in the league. A trip to Kingsmeadow to face a bruised and injury-hit Chelsea perhaps offered the opportunity to claw something from a tough run of games, with Manchester United up next. The defeat was not the result they wanted, but they showed their character and grit, undone by a wonder strike few could prevent.
Martin Ho, the Tottenham head coach, said: “We can take a lot forward because it’s a bigger performance than we’ve put in compared with the last two games. You maybe get dented a little bit in terms of confidence and enthusiasm at times [after losses], but you never lose the belief and the mentality to want to go and put things right.”
The visiting team were quick out of the blocks in south-west London, but their energy was matched by Chelsea. Ho’s side were aggressive and forward-thinking despite the threat of the Blues’ frontline, a testament to the manager’s impact on the way they play since his arrival in the summer. A goal was coming, but at which end was hard to predict.
The breakthrough arrived in the 40th minute, when Sam Kerr ghosted into the box to head Keira Walsh’s cross back past Lize Kop for a goal in her eighth straight FA Cup game.
There was no wilting from the team that were left a little exposed when they fought to take something from the games against City and Arsenal. The same fire that led Ho’s side to seek equalisers and risk the margin of their defeats growing was on show. They were rewarded for that spirit seven minutes after the restart. Kadeisha Buchanan was punished for needlessly bundling over Matilda Vinberg out wide and Eveliina Summanen’s free-kick floated over everyone, including Hannah Hampton, who misread the flight of the ball, and in.
It was end to end, but it felt as if the winner would need to be something special and it was, Buurman’s blistering, rising strike with four minutes of normal time remaining prompting wild celebrations from her teammates and the home fans.
The visiting side battled to the final whistle, but Chelsea were not going to let the result slip away from them late on. Relief and joy arrived when the referee called time.
