Arsenal’s centre-back, Josephine Henning, will come back to the club with an unexpected gold medal as Germany beat Sweden 2-1 in the Olympic final on Friday.
A goal from Maroszan, and an own from Sembrant, gave Germany a two goal lead before 20-year-old Backstenius got a goal back for Sweden but that was not enough to take the game to extra-time.
Canada retained their bronze medal, beating the hosts Brazil in the bronze medal game by two goals to one. Rose and Sinclair scored for Canada, while Beatriz scored for the hosts.
We made it…Olympiagold…Mir fehlen die Worte…#dfbfrauen #laudehr pic.twitter.com/ZIuBY5454F
— Anja Mittag (@mittag31) August 19, 2016
The 26-year-old Arsenal defender did not see much playing time in the tournament. In the group stage, she was an unused substitute against Zimbabwe. She then came on at half-time against Australia. She started the game against Canada and was withdrawn at half-time.
In the knock-out stage, she did not set foot on the pitch against China, Canada or Sweden. A total of 90 minutes of football over six games says it all.
She was clearly a back-up for Annike Krahn, her former team-mate at Paris St Germain.
Congratulations to Josie and it will be great to see her back with the club soon and hopefully she can translate that gold medal into excellent performances on the pitch in the FA WSL.
There is a clear question mark about her return as the ladies next game is a week away on Sunday 28th August and has we have seen with the men’s team not giving enough rest to the players, that can lead to injuries.
Considering the amount of injuries Josie has had in the last two years, rushing her into a game next week might not be the greatest idea unless the club wants to do another Aaron Ramsey.
It might be better to target the Conti Cup semi-final on 4th September, away to Manchester City, especially as Jemma Rose is a good understudy.
Over to you, Serge.