West Ham head coach Rita Guarino has lauded ‘special’ Viviane Asseyi after the French striker scored a wonder-goal on Wednesday night.
The goal was not enough for West Ham to emerge victorious on the night in the Subway Players Cup after goals from Izzy Goodwin and Nicole Anyomi sealed victory in East London for London City Lionesses. After the match Rita Guarino spoke to the media and The Halfway Line was there to hear from her.
Guarino lauds ‘unbelievable’ Asseyi strike
Viviane Asseyi’s goal was a thing of beauty, as the ball was swung into the box, Asseyi peeled off the back post taking it on the volley and firing past a hapless Mary Earps. The Halfway Line asked Guarino what she thought of the strike,
“Yeah, unbelievable, unbelievable” Guarino smiled. “But the quality of Vivi [Asseyi] is something special, and also in training, sometimes she tried to do this kind of volley shot, in this game [it] was brilliant to see her score this kind of goal, it is not easy you know!”
Rita Guarino ‘happy with the reaction’ to late first half goal from London City
West Ham were eventually defeated 2-1 and The Halfway Line asked Guarino for her reaction following a close encounter, decided by a single goal,
“Happy for the reaction of of the team” Guarino explained, because we concede the second goal in the last second of the first half, but I saw the reaction of the team in the second half. So happy for the performance. So very happy for the reaction, the fighting during the game. I saw we create also some good chances.”
As far as what West Ham can improve on ahead of a clash with Brighton on the weekend, “Yeah, we need to we need to improve our quality with the ball in progression” Guarino explained. “Especially because in the first half we lose a lot of we lost a lot a lot of balls, so we need to improve this. But another positive things that we can bring in the game is the this kind of reaction that that players have the the personality that they have.
Guarino would not be drawn on the question of whether West Ham are serious contenders to win the competition, “We think step by step, game by game, you know” she said. “It’s so so far away from [the final] but obviously, we want to compete. We want to try to to win games, and then we will see where we can go far or not. But for sure, for sure, we will we want to compete.”
