It’s hot today – and it’s not just the weather. The political contentions have been continuing all week over Leigh Sports Village being designated as ‘Wigan & Leigh’ rather than just ‘Leigh’ – culminating in the UEFA Twitter accounting posting a tournament promotional video of all host cities that contained locations in Wigan! The people of Leigh aren’t best pleased, Wiganers like me are smirking – but nevertheless, I’m at Leigh Sports Village today, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, to see the opening game of Group C in the Women’s European Championships of 2022 – Portugal vs. Switzerland.
This same line of thinking has seen Brentford’s new stadium (capacity of 17,250 all-seated) and Manchester City’s Academy Stadium (4000 seats) being chosen as Euro 2022 hosts too. Again, people have criticised these choices, but they strike me as being intelligent picks – women’s football just isn’t at the level where it’s able to attract the kinds of crowds that warrant larger stadiums yet. With these choices, there’s more chance that the games will be sold out, helping to boost the atmosphere and make the women’s game look like the growing ‘product’ that it is. As much as I would love to see these games held at the DW Stadium (for example), it’s more than double the capacity of the stadium in Leigh, so makes no sense to host it there – aside from a larger number of empty seats, it would cost more to hire (and the roads are notoriously horrendous, believe me!) So, I’m content with these matches being held in Leigh and my town being credited as ‘hosts’ despite not being hosts!
Saying all that, I still didn’t expect a match between Portugal and Switzerland in Leigh to be heavily attended, so imagine my surprise when I rocked up to the stadium’s East Stand 15 minutes before kick-off and saw queues formed at every turnstile! The closing of the terrace has wiped around 3000 off the capacity, so we’re playing with around 9,000 seats here – probably less, what with other UEFA regulations demanding more space to be made available, and it seems we’re at least two-thirds full here today. Not bad, for a town with little public transport options. Manchester United usually lay on shuttle buses from Old Trafford to the LSV and tournament organisers have done the same for today, from the centre of Manchester. Despite its size, the queue is going down smoothly enough – the electronic tickets delivered via the UEFA app doing their job seamlessly. Once inside, I’m immediately met with a wall of red-and-green, and girl – there seems to be plenty of Portugal supporters here, resplendent in shirts and carrying flags, chattering excitingly. Once into the stand, there’s even more of them – singing and banging drums. It’s a great atmosphere already, and the game’s not even started!
Portugal aren’t supposed to be here, really – they lost to Russia in the qualifying play-offs. However, following Russia’s banning from pretty much all sporting competitions due to their country’s invasion of Ukraine, the Portuguese were given their place – with only two months to prepare. Eight weeks might sound like more than enough time, but when you’ve got players and staff littered all over Europe with pre-booked holidays and other summer activities planned, it must have been hectic to get everything in place in time. At least the weather is something akin to what they’ll be used to – I’m sat just a few rows up from the pitch, and it feels very humid. I’ve not even brought a jacket, which just proves how hot it is!
After the teams come out and anthems are played, the Swiss take just two minutes to cut through the Portugal defence. There aren’t as many visible Swiss supporters near me, but I do notice them dotted around the ground when midfielder Coumba Sow shoots from 25 yards; the ball nestling beautifully into the bottom corner of the net. It was a great finish – and it got even better for them, just a couple of minutes later when defender Rahel Kiwic headed in from a free-kick. Portugal are all over the place – perhaps they haven’t done all the prep they needed in time? Portugal goalkeeper, Ines Pereira, is wearing tights as well, which is doing my head in. It’s nearly 30 degrees out there!
Although the Portuguese do start to get to grips with the game from then on, the Swiss still look much better – zipping the ball about with ease, making their opponents chase it in the hot Leigh sun. What a mad sentence to write – I still can’t get over this international fixture taking place in Leigh! Half-time comes and goes, with me just about nipping into the refreshment queue and back to my seat with a bottle of pop just in time – even the queues are well-managed here. Despite their domination of the first, the Swiss start the second half sitting back – and Portugal take full advantage. After spending the first ten minutes of the half pressing and harrying the Swiss into making mistakes, the Portuguese create an attack down the right and force a series of corners. Coincidentally, I’m sat on this side, so I get a great view of the kick, which sees Diana Gomes rise highest to head towards goal, the keeper makes a great save, but the rebound fell to Gomez, who bundled home.
My Portuguese
friends near me are hollering once again just seven minutes later as their side
grab an equaliser – some confident short passing (which we rarely saw from them
in the first half), produces a ball out wide; it’s crossed in and brilliantly side-footed
into the corner by Jessica Silva. Portugal have gone more direct in this half,
and it’s worked wonders – if you’ve ever seen Rocky II, it’s like when Rocky
switched back to southpaw after being battered for 14 rounds, fighting with his
right hand. All of a sudden, he looked more powerful and prime for a knock-out.
It’s the best analogy I can give. Makes me wonder what would have happened if
they weren’t two down at half-time. They probably wouldn’t have gone
for it in such fashion.
After a nervy opening match between England and Austria, this one has been highly entertaining – plenty of great tactical and technical play, with the odd unforced error thrown in. After the shock of the comeback, Switzerland start to take control again and have their first chances of the second half – a good 20 minutes into it! First, an effort from out wide is touched over the bar by Ines and then a half-volley hits the top of the bar and goes over. They REALLY should be ahead with their next chance – some nice touches around the edge of the penalty area creates space for a shot at goal, which Ines gets down well to palm wide. She’s kept her side in this during the last six minutes, so maybe the tights are helping her in her work? Perhaps buoyed by these close shaves, Portugal get it together and hold the Swiss off – they even create a couple of chances of their own when an effort comes back off the post, and a ball across the face of goal is inches from being put away.
It finishes two-all and despite the Swiss creating most of the chances and looking slightly better on the ball at most points, I can’t begrudge the Portuguese a point – they struck at the right times (i.e. when they were on top – it frustrates me when sides fail to do this) and helped to create an entertaining end-to-end contest. I thought after two early goals that the Swiss would get a few more – especially considering Portugal’s initial failure to qualify, indicating that they’re perhaps not up to the same level. But no, the match was very competitive, which leads me to think that perhaps, the standard of international women’s football is indeed improving, year-on-year.
It's been a great day out in Leigh – the atmosphere was unexpectedly enjoyable, so I think I’ll try and get back here for another game!
Portugal 2
(Gomes, 58. J. Silva, 65)
Switzerland 2
(Sow, 2. Kiwic, 5)
Attendance: 5,902
😄 Voted as one of the happiest places in the UK to live, Wigan is tucked between Liverpool and Manchester.
— UEFA (@UEFA) July 9, 2022
🏟️ Tonight, the Leigh Sports Village hosts its first #WEURO2022 match as Portugal meet Switzerland! pic.twitter.com/jiVercmayx
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