The Scotsman Bulletin Friday, July 28 2023
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00:00 Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for Friday the 28th of July.
00:05 My name's Dale Miller. I'm Head of News at the Scotsman and I'm joined by Graeme Falk,
00:10 who is a very keen women's football writer for the Scotsman platform online and in print.
00:17 Before we get around to talking to the Women's World Cup, which is well and truly in action,
00:24 I want to talk about the front page of today's Scotsman. And we led on climate. We've obviously
00:30 seen throughout the issues in Greece with the wildfires this week. It has been a prominent
00:35 part of our coverage. Fires continue to burn on some of the Greek islands, including Rhodes.
00:41 They also spread to Corfu and other areas as well. And we know that there have been issues
00:46 in other countries across the European continent, but already alarm calls. There's been this
00:51 reference to basically the world boiling rather than burning that came from the UN Secretary
00:58 General and some of these comments that the first three weeks of July are the hottest
01:03 in history and it looks set to be the hottest month ever recorded. It's scary stuff really.
01:09 It's starting to have implications on our back doorstep. Here in Scotland, we're seeing
01:15 muggy conditions and maybe a bit of extra rain. Maybe it doesn't feel like the world's on fire,
01:21 but it has become a major issue. Graeme, we're going to talk about something a little less
01:26 heavy, a little lighter, but a tournament that a lot of people I personally know are embracing
01:32 in the Southern Hemisphere, but it's getting some eyeballs here as well. You've been tuning in.
01:38 How do you think the tournament's going so far? I think it's been a great tournament. I wrote
01:43 sort of an article on the day that the tournament was due to start. And I said, I think it'll be
01:47 full of entry because there's no real clear winner. It's a very open tournament. I think
01:52 in previous years, America has looked dominant. Prior to that, you had obviously Germany in sort
01:57 of the mid 2000s, but there's no real clear winner. You've got obviously England have won
02:01 Euros recently. You've still got America, never discount Germany. Then you've got even like Brazil
02:06 kicking about, Spain kicking about. There's just so many teams and it's so open. And I think
02:11 the best thing about it is, is you've seen those teams I've just mentioned really flourish and
02:15 perform really, really well. But there's also been the underdog story throughout it. I think even
02:20 Haiti, if you look at the England game last week, really were unlucky not to get a result against
02:24 England. I don't want to mention it, Dale, because obviously of your country of birth, but Nigeria
02:29 beating Australia yesterday, 3-2, great game. A shock because I think Australia up there was one
02:35 of the favourites, especially with home advantage. But I think it's been brilliant. I think the big
02:40 players have turned up on the big stage and then the underdogs have also made it really interesting.
02:43 I mean, if you're not into women's football and you've just started watching it, it's been the
02:47 perfect tournament for it. If you're a big women's football fan and you've watched it
02:50 for years and seasons, it's brilliant to see because everything that you want to see is
02:55 sort of happening and the stadiums are packed, which is probably the most important thing.
02:59 I was going to say that that's the thing that's really struck me that you've had,
03:03 pretty much sell out stadiums at some events. The people have responded and people have bought the
03:10 tickets and clearly the interest is at a peak. It's only got to be a good thing for the game.
03:16 Absolutely. I think you look at the tournament last year and the Euros and I think that affected
03:21 the whole of the UK. You look at how much the Irish fans have really connected with the Republic
03:25 of Ireland team over in Australia. That's probably come from the fact that it's their first tournament.
03:30 The games in Britain and the surrounding countries have grown because of how big that Euro 2022
03:37 tournament was. The Lionesses win it obviously really helped. But even here in Scotland,
03:40 you look at the SWPL, it was the most exciting league title of all time really, which Glasgow
03:47 City won, which I'm pleased to say is a Glasgow City fan. But winning it in the 92nd minute was
03:52 crazy, brilliant, drama to what you want. You're seeing 10,000, 15,000 fans back in the last
04:00 evening in Scotland. I think in Australia and New Zealand, this is going to do wonders for not just
04:05 little girls, but also little boys as well because I think it's vitally important that not only do we
04:10 inspire the young girls and see that they can play football, but also they inspire the boys as well.
04:14 It's normal for a girl to play football, which maybe when me and you were young,
04:20 not giving away our age, you see a deal, but maybe it wasn't as usual and it was something
04:24 we weren't exposed to. I think the more that the younger generation are exposed to women playing
04:28 football and really performing at an elite level, it can only be beneficial for the game finding
04:33 a quality. I think that's why we've seen the numbers in the stadium because people enjoy the
04:37 product and on top of that, people are getting inspired across the board.
04:40 We can see in the background that the England match is ongoing as we record this
04:46 video bulletin live. It was an unfortunate injury earlier in the match though.
04:52 Yeah, Kiera Walsh, who in my opinion is England's key player, Barcelona midfielder,
04:58 the most expensive player in the world at present. All of that is changing, I think,
05:01 by the day and certainly well after the World Cup. I think you don't want to speculate,
05:06 but it didn't look great. I think with England's ACL curse, obviously Leah Williamson and Beth
05:11 Mead both out of this tournament because of that, you do worry that it's another one like that.
05:16 As soon as she went down, she sort of overstretched a knee. She sort of waved immediately and just did
05:21 that and that's never good news. That'll be a huge blow for England and when we're talking about
05:25 tournament chances for the likes of England, when you're missing arguably your best player,
05:30 that's going to be massive. But I think it's another, on a more serious note, maybe in taking
05:35 away from the actual game itself, it's another thing to look at. It's another ACL injury in the
05:39 women's game and that happens far too often. What's the reason for that? I'm sure there's
05:44 a scientific reason behind it and they are putting a lot of research into it, but really
05:48 disappointing to see arguably the best defensive midfielder in the world miss out on the tournament.
05:53 We didn't see Pateas last year, who was a two-time Ballon d'Or winner because of an ACL injury just
05:58 before the tournament with Spain. If there's a negative to be taken from this tournament,
06:02 it is that so many of the world's best players are missing because of the same injury and it
06:06 seems to be continuous. But hopefully it's not as serious as it looked and hopefully she's back on
06:11 the pitch as soon as possible because a fantastic player and someone that, if you knew the women's
06:15 game, is just a joy to watch. Graham, I'm going to put you on the spot. Who do you think is going
06:20 to get all the way in the tournament? Who do you think has the goods in terms of the overall score
06:27 based on early results as well? I do have, and I tipped them before the tournament and it hasn't
06:32 really changed beforehand and a few people were surprised, I think, to give context for the people
06:36 who weren't aware, obviously. The Spanish team arguably got the best players in the world. They've
06:42 got Bonmati and Pateas, who I mentioned before, but there's also the likes of Mappi Leon, who
06:46 hasn't made the tournament. There was 15 players that decided not to take part in the tournament
06:50 because of, shall we say, disagreements with the federation and the fact that the coach is not
06:58 something necessarily that they get along with. But you can research that. I won't give the full
07:03 story. That's the kind of basics of it. Three of them, four of them, I think, came back into the
07:07 squads and it was Bonmati, it was Pateas, and there's a lot of the world's best players who
07:11 are Spanish who are not at the tournament, but the best ones probably are in terms of the best two
07:15 in the world. I feel like with those players coming back, they're not going to come back into
07:21 this tournament just to compete or just to do well or just because they want to. They all want to
07:24 prove a point that they can win this tournament despite the problems. We're such a good player,
07:29 we can look over that and there'll be a fire in their belly. I think their first two performances,
07:33 they've just looked irresistible. For me, I think the Spanish were really, really unlucky that they
07:39 didn't get... I mean, the England game last year in the Euros, England won 2-1, but Spain were the
07:45 better side for 80 minutes. The way they passed the ball around the zip that they've got, those
07:49 two midfielders, and I mentioned two players, there's another seven or eight world-class
07:53 players within that team, and they're still missing three or four that are sitting back home
07:57 due to those disagreements. But for me, Spain, I think just the way they've been playing,
08:03 the kind of freedom they seem to have, that fire in the belly that the players that left
08:08 the squad for a period of time and have now came back ahead of the World Cup are also the world's
08:12 best players. If not, I think Germany. I also feel like Germany were really unlucky in the
08:20 Euros last year. I think if Alexandra Popp is playing in the final of the Euros, it's maybe
08:25 a different game. Although you can only play who's in front of you, that's not England's fault.
08:29 But Germany and Spain look great, and I think I'd be a complete idiot to discount America with
08:36 their form and the quality that they've got in. But again, it's a real open tournament,
08:41 but I'm going to pick Spain, but it could be anyone. It could be any of the top seven nations.
08:45 I know Australia lost yesterday, but you bring in Sam Kerr, bring Sam Kerr back,
08:49 you've got the best striker in the world, arguably. And then when you've got the best
08:52 striker in the world, you've always got a chance. So I'll say Spain, but please don't put money on
08:57 it because I've never been the best at my predictions. I hate to tell you, I don't think
09:02 Australia are going all the way at this tournament. When you get an injury in the UK player, it's
09:07 just not going to happen. Graeme, thank you very much for joining us. You can read Graeme's coverage
09:15 around women's football. He's interviewed a lot of the key players in the Scottish system as well.
09:20 You'll be able to find that across the Scotsman site. Also, please follow us on Facebook,
09:27 Instagram, and Twitter. And go out and buy a copy of Saturday Scotsman tomorrow. We've got more big
09:32 promotions around the festival, particularly the EIF. We are on the eve of the Fringe and all the
09:39 key festivals program. It's an exciting time to be in Edinburgh and ready to see some shows, etc. So
09:48 please check it all out. And thanks very much for joining us.
09:52 [END]