Sonia Bompastor appeared in a relaxed mood on a cheerfully sunny Friday afternoon at Cobham where she faced questions from the press. Chelsea return from the international break with a busy period waiting for them, including both the title run in and a UEFA Women’s Champions League semi final against the European champions Barcelona.
But before all that Chelsea will welcome Amber Whiteley’s Liverpool side to Kingsmeadow in the semi final of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Saturday lunch time. The Halfway Line was in Cobham to hear from the Chelsea head coach ahead of the tie.
‘Reiten is back in the squad’ but Lauren James ‘won’t be available’
The burning question on everyone’s lips this week has been for any injury updates after a punishing start to April’s calendar of women’s football. Lauren James, Maika Hamano and Mayra Ramirez all had to pull out of representing their nation owing to various injury troubles after being called up.
Bompastor provided the assembled media with an update, she reported:
“LJ [Lauren James] just came back from international break with a hamstring injury, so we already assessed her but we still need to assess her again next week, earlier next week, to see how is she recovering. So we’ll go week by week, but she won’t be available for the game tomorrow.”
Bompastor continued: “for the rest of the squad some players had some little things, but nothing serious. So everyone will be involved in the squad for the game tomorrow. Guro Reiten is back in the squad, and Maelys Mpomé and now Naomi Girma are not too far, [they are] really close to getting back to the squad maybe next week.”
On when Naomi Girma might return, Bompastor confirmed: “No, not for this weekend it’s too soon, but she’s really close. She should be included in the squad for the Barcelona game.”
Sam Kerr return is ‘still a few weeks away’
Australia’s interim head coach Tom Sermanni put it best when he noted last week: “you read a lot of stuff, you hear a lot of stuff [about Sam Kerr], the real Matildas supporters show what they think of Sam Kerr and are absolutely delighted to have her back.” This was after Sam Kerr had been cheered at every opportunity by the Tillies faithful, when appearing on the big screen during Australia’s double header against South Korea.
Of course Kerr was not fit to feature for the Matildas but Bompastor explained why she felt the trip was important for Kerr extolling:
“[It was] really important for her mentally because she had the chance to be around the national team but also she could see her family, which is really nice for someone to have the opportunity to do that.”
One of the big talking points this season has been about when Chelsea legend Sam Kerr might return to the playing squad, Bompastor admitted:
“I think we still are a few weeks away from her returning fully on the pitch.”
Bompastor expects ‘a tough game’ from Liverpool
After beating Crystal Palace 1-0 in the previous round Chelsea set up a semi final with Liverpool, the side that knocked out Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal. Bompastor was asked what she expects from Amber Whiteley’s charges, she replied:
“Liverpool is in a really good run, a really good dynamic in terms of results and performances. So we expect to face a team who will be hugely motivated for the game tomorrow. It’s a semi final for the FA Cup final in Wembley. That says a lot, just for the motivation both teams will bring into the game. We expect a tough game again, because they, as I said, they have been in a good run with good results.”
Bompastor, exuding faith in her team concluded:
“We also want to focus on ourselves. I know if we play our best version, we can qualify for the final. We play at home with the support of the fans. There’s a lot of positives.”
‘Wembley represents football in England’
Should Chelsea win on Saturday they will book their very first trip to Wembley under the management of Sonia Bompastor. The Halfway Line asked Bompastor what Wembley means to her and what the prospect of managing at Wembley would mean, she reflected:
“For me, Wembley represents football in England, and when you look at the games that have been played there for the women’s team, the men’s team, it’s a lot of history. The stadium has been almost sold out anytime the women’s team played there.”
‘Tomorrow, we need to be aggressive’
Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea reign has been close to perfect but it’s no secret in March they dropped points where they would have expected to pick up all three. Two draws against Brighton and West Ham were, by Chelsea’s exceptionally high standards, disappointing and Bompastor was asked about how the Blues will ensure those type of results are left in March, she responded:
“We had a review this morning with the team, and we talked a little bit about that. In March, we dropped four points, against Brighton in the beginning of the block, and in the last game in the block. As a team, we can’t drop our standards like we did in that games. I think it’s up to us to make sure we have this ruthless mentality as a team for the game tomorrow.
I just want to see the best version of Chelsea on the pitch, and probably the best version of ourselves is the game we had against Man City the second leg in the Champions League quarter finals, but also the 31 minutes we played against West Ham. If you analyse these games, every detail is really important. So we just need to make sure the details for tomorrow are set up and that we execute the game plan in the right way.”
When specifically asked about the result against West Ham and the manner of Shakiera Martinez’s late leveller the French head coach was firm:
“You can’t give any hope to your opponents when you are Chelsea.”
Bompastor continued: “I think in terms of high standards, you can’t concede a goal at the last minute of the stoppage time. I think you need to be more consistent. You need to be fighting until the end, and you need to win your duels when it’s needed. So yeah, we just learned that from that game, and I think tomorrow, we need to be aggressive. It’s a semi final, we will be facing a team who will be hugely motivated, in terms of mentality, it will be really important for us to show up.”
