Women’s FA Cup, formerly known as the Football Association Women’s
Challenge Cup Competition, began in the 1970s. It is the most prestigious
domestic knockout competition with a gradual increase in the number of
viewership over the years.
The first round of Women’s FA Cup 2019-2020, kicked off on the 10th of
September 2019. The competition came to halt due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. There was a high possibility of termination of the season as the committee was running out of funds. On 15th September 2020, the health and life insurance company, Vitality stepped in to sign a three-year contract to sponsor the Women’s FA Cup. This significant investment marked the financial resilience of the Professional Women Footballers and helped them resume the season. There was some action in store for the viewers.
On 1 st December 2019, records were smashed when Arsenal defeated Bristol City 11-1, becoming the highest-scoring game in the history of the FA cup. The gunners had 34 shots during the game with 16 of them on target. The Dutch forward, Vivianne Miedema who was recently named as the FWA Women’s
Footballer of the year scored six goals and provided four assists. Lisa Evans, Leah Williamson, Jordan Noobs, and Emma Mitchell also contributed to the goal tally.
In picture: Vivianne Miedema (Right) celebrates her goal with teammate Lisa Evans.
“I don’t really think I’ve played like that before,” Vivianne Miedema said after her double hat-trick. "I was actually happier assisting the other girls today. I love setting up goals. It just feels good."
"I don't even know what to say. Obviously getting a result like this is really good for us. I thought we played really well" she said.
The team was in their top form and was on a scoring spree but due to the
lockdown, they could not practice together for months. Even though they had online group practice sessions, their prep for the Champions League slackened leading to their exit from the league as they were beaten 2-1 by PSG in the quarter-finals. PSG had already played two competitive games in August which gave them a head start. Even though Beth Mead scored the equalizer goal in the first half, they could not defend PSG in the second half and conceded the second goal. The gunners fought with determination till the last whistle but they had a sloppy start with PSG dominating the possession of the ball and eventually lost the match.
In picture: Signe Bruun celebrates the second goal with teammate Marie Katoto
They kicked off the new Barclay’s Women’s Super League season in style by scoring 15 goals in the opening two league fixtures- a thrilling 6-1 win over Reading and 9-1 win over West Ham. The Dutch International, Jill Roord scored a hat-trick in both the games, surpassing her 5-goal tally from 2019/20.
Their incredible performance helped them in securing the first rank in the points tally.
In picture: Jill Roord after scoring three goals against West Ham.
Now, coming back to the FA Cup, they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 in the quarter-final held on September 26, 2020. The pre-Match focus was on Alex Morgan, two-time world cup winner for the USWNT (U.S Women National Team), who gave birth to a daughter, Charlie in May; joined the Spurs a few days ago.
The Gunners started strongly as Caitlin Foord tried a looping header that
unfortunately hit the bar. The remainder of the first-half was a tightly-contested the affair as Tottenham kept on committing fouls higher up in the pitch to disrupt the rhythm of the attackers. However, Jordan Nobbs took advantage of a defensive error from spurs and curled the ball into the top right corner from 25 yards. Lisa Evans scored the second goal with the wonderful through pass from Vivianne Miedema that nutmegged the defender. Lisa Evans scored two more goals to book their place in the semi-finals of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup. Jill Roord missed this match due to the knee injury that she picked up on the International duty with the Netherlands.
In picture: Lisa Evans proudly holds her hat-trick ball
“These games can get out of hand and become transition games, games where you’re using a lot physically to the detriment of games to come. So I was very, very happy that we didn’t over exert ourselves or get into situations where it could have gotten tricky” said Joe Montemurro, the Arsenal manager.
The 14- time champions Arsenal will battle the FA cup Holders, Manchester City on the 1st of October for a place in the 2020 Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final.
Photo courtesy: The Guardian, The official page of FA cup and the official Arsenal page.
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