Wales manager admits necessary growing pains ahead of Germany and Denmark double header
CARDIFF, WALES - 26 SEPTEMBER 2023: Denmark's Pernille Harder scores to make it 0-1 during the UEFA Women’s Nations League fixture between Wales Women & Denmark Women on the 26th of September at the Cardiff City Stadium (Pic by John Smith/FAW)
Gemma Grainger has named her squad for Wales’ next two Nations League games later this month.
Wales will travel to Germany and Denmark as they continue to try and stay in League A of the Nations League.
Three players have not been selected that made the squad that faced off against Iceland and Denmark. Those players are Southampton’s Alice Griffiths, and Blackburn Rovers duo Lauren Thomas and Chloe Williams.
There is a welcome return for Leicester City’s Hannah Cain. Cain missed out on September’s games due to injury but has made a good start to the WSL season for the Foxes.
“It’s huge for us as a team to have Hannah back. It’s exciting to see her back and I’m pleased for her as well. She’s put a lot of hard work in since returning from her ACL injury. Last month was a little setback for her, but she’s back playing with Leicester and we’re so excited to have her back in this team.”
There’s also a first call-up for midfielder Josie Longhurst. The Reading player is yet another Cardiff City Ladies product, while also having experience at Brighton and Lewes. Grainger says she can improve a lot in the first team environment.
“It’s a great opportunity for Josie in terms of the experience she’ll get from these games we’ll be playing in and facing this level of opposition. For the future development of this team, we have to expose players to what the highest level is.
“For Josie and the other players in the team, to play Germany and Denmark back-to-back is going to be brilliant for them.”
Wales enter these two games bottom of the table, after failing to pick up points in their opening two games.
Their last game saw them defeated 5-0 by Denmark, the first time Wales had conceded five goals since 2017, when they lost to The Netherlands by the same score line.
Grainger has expressed in the past that her team are not under any pressure this campaign, but performances so far have irked a number of the Red Wall.
But the manager certainly isn’t worried and says these are the necessary growing pains her and her team have to go through in order to qualify for a major tournament.
“It’s about looking at the level of team we’re playing against. We could be in League B of the Nations League, coming off back-to-back victories and everyone telling me the team are in a great place. We have to look at what the end goal is and trusting in that process.
“I’m not concerned at all. When we look at the Iceland game, it was our best performance as a team against higher ranked opposition. We know we could have won the game, but we didn’t score goals, and that’s something we need to make sure we do at this level.
“Against Denmark, we had chances at 2-1 and 3-1, so that shows us we can compete. The score will throw the mentality externally, but internally, we know we are learning things that we need to learn in order to qualify for the Euros. Losing now will mean that we win in the Euros, and ultimately, that is how I want it to be.”
In many respects, the Nations League journey the women’s team are embarking on is similar to how the men’s side fared in League A last year.
Wales only picked up a point in a group containing Belgium, The Netherlands, and Poland, and were subsequently relegated to League B.
Rob Page and the squad may have picked up some flack for those games, and criticism followed them all the way into the current qualifying campaign, but Page and his men proved many doubters wrong with victory on Sunday over Croatia.
Page and Grainger have a strong working relationship, and the women’s manager is very happy that her male counterpart has shut a lot of people up.
“Rob and I are in the same position. We work very closely, we talk about football, we talk about the team, we talk about the squad, our processes, and what we can do to work together. I’m so pleased for him because the men have been on an up and down journey.
“Everyone was talking about Rob in the Nations League because he was losing games. But, when you lose against those teams, it does eventually bring around a result like the one against Croatia, because you learn a lot about your team in those matches.
“Rob was the first person I saw after the Denmark game; he was in the tunnel waiting for me. He talked about how he knew where we were going as a team, and he is backing me as much as I’m backing him, and that’s a really strong position for us as an association.”
WALES SQUAD TO PLAY GERMANY AND DENMARK
Laura O’Sullivan (Cardiff City Ladies), Olivia Clark (Bristol City), Safia Middleton-Patel (Manchester United)
Hayley Ladd (Manchester United), Gemma Evans (Manchester United), Rhiannon Roberts (Real Betis), Charlie Estcourt (Reading), Lily Woodham (Reading), Esther Morgan (Hearts), Anna Filbey (Crystal Palace), Ella Powell (Bristol City), Josie Green (Leicester City)
Sophie Ingle (Chelsea), Angharad James (Tottenham), Jess Fishlock (OL Reign), Rachel Rowe (Rangers), Ceri Holland (Liverpool), Ellen Jones (Sunderland), Josie Longhurst (Reading), Ffion Morgan (Bristol City), Megan Wynne (Southampton)
Kayleigh Green (Charlton Athletic), Hannah Cain (Leicester City), Carrie Jones (Bristol City), Elise Hughes (Crystal Palace), Mary McAteer (Sunderland)
