by Sylvain Jamet
The club versus country debate has been reignited this week with England u19 starting their Euro finals on the 15th July against Germany as two Arsenal players will be missing as they have not been allowed to travel.
It is a shame that two very important players like Carla Humphrey and regular penalty taker Leah Williamson are being made to miss such an important tournament for their development. Especially as it acts as a qualifying one for the u20 World Cup to be played in Papua New Guinea in 2016.
It basically deprives the two girls of two big chances of development that would help them once they reach England seniors. A lot of England’s successful players at the FIFA WC 2015 went through the age group tournament at with Euros at u17 and u19 levels and also World Cup at u17 and u20 before graduating to the senior side.
On other side Arsenal Ladies are so short of players at the moment, due to injuries, that all the available players from the World Cup started the game against Liverpool on Sunday with no proper rest. We can also note that Pedro Losa had to select two development squad players in Evie Clarke and Chloe Kelly as well two Center of Excellence u17 players Rianna Dean and Lotte Wubben-Moy.
In a big game like the Liverpool one it was difficult to give some minutes to the young girls although Chloe Kelly did get on the pitch late in the game for Danielle Carter.
It is quite unfortunate that Arsenal had to prevent Leah and Carla to travelling to Israel, especially as England are drawn in Group one that includes Germany, Spain and Norway while the other group is weaker with France, Denmark, Israel and Sweden. So reaching the semi-final and therefore qualifying for the u20 World Cup might sadly be a difficult task for England u19 team.