Creative talents ready to raise the stakes in Women’s Euro title showdown

With Lauren James of England and Aitana Bonmati of Spain set to clash in Sunday’s Women’s Euro final, the match will showcase two of the modern game’s premier creative dribblers vying for one of football’s biggest prizes.

Both sides boast a host of players who are more than comfortable with the ball at their feet and capable of bringing the crowd to theirs every time they take on an opponent, as well as defenders ready to stop them.

“You have to try to read the situation -- what’s the right thing to do? Can you go at two (players) or should you pass the ball? We just have to analyse where the space is and what’s possible,” Caroline Graham-Hansen, a teammate of Bonmati’s at Barcelona, said.

“Just believe in yourself. Like, if you have two (players marking you), somebody else has more space, so just try to exploit that advantage or disadvantage that they try to give you,” she added.

Graham-Hansen is one of many dribblers who have lit up the Women’s Euros with her skills which she discovered and sharpened while playing with friends as a child.

“I just enjoyed dribbling. Going out, playing with the ball made me happy, it was something fun to do every time. I guess the playfulness of just enjoying the ball alone is part of my game today too,” Graham-Hansen explained.

Both James and Bonmati love to run at defenders, using changes of pace and direction to wrong-foot opponents and open up space for themselves. But though the world’s top dribblers are often given license to attack in unorthodox ways, they still have to fit into tactical systems.

With so many teams trying to win the ball and then play in transition, the dribblers have to weigh up when to back themselves and when to play it safe.

“It’s about trying to make the other team make mistakes, and the most difficult thing is obviously to dribble when there’s a high risk of losing the ball, but you have to try. If you can beat your defender, it’s always a big advantage,” Graham-Hansen said.

Sunday’s final will be the most high-pressure game of the tournament, but Graham-Hansen said that dribbling specialists are well-used to performing in such circumstances.

“Obviously you feel the pressure -- it’s possible that you don’t feel it, but it’s still as much fun when you win, so it’s worth it,” she said, smiling.

England’s leads youthful charge at Women’s Euros: In a few short years, striker Michelle Agyemang has gone from being a ball girl at Wembley to scoring vital goals for England that will see them contest the Women’s European Championship final on Sunday as she leads the charge for young players in Switzerland.

The 19-year-old came off the bench to score two crucial equalisers in the knockout stage against Sweden and Italy that helped them into the decider against Spain, playing with a youthful freedom and swagger that has lit up the competition.

“What a tournament from Michelle, especially coming in with the seniors just a couple of months ago ... what a great player, what a bright future she’s got,” England defender Lucy Bronze said.

“She’s a little bit of the unknown and she brings something different ... I think it gives her a lot of confidence and the team give her a lot of freedom,” Bronze added.

Unburdened by expectations, young players like Agyemang may be able to play freely but there is still pressure, with Norway’s Signe Gaupset telling Reuters that playing with the likes of Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen took some getting used to.

Reuters