Many European leagues are entering the home stretch and with the Women’s Champions League kicking off momentarily here’s a recap of the week’s action:
England
Leeds Carnegie defeated Doncaster Belles 4-1 on Thursday to take a very comfortable four-point lead over Arsenal Ladies in the Women’s Premier League.
English international Jess Clarke scored first but Rachel Williams equalized four minutes later. Mel Sutcliffe, Carla Cantrell both slotted second half goals and Clarke scored her second, propelling Leeds to the victory.
Elsewhere, Arsenal Ladies defeated Millwall Lionesses 3-1 after Kim Little scored her fifth hat-trick of the season. Unbelievably, this is Little’s 37th goal of the season.
Chelsea’s Dunia Susi also scored a hat trick of her own as Chelsea won 4-1 at Birmingham City to lay claim to the fourth spot. Goal difference separates them and Sunderland.
| Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leeds Carnegie | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 45 | 8 | +37 | 37 | |||
| 2 | Arsenal | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 53 | 12 | +41 | 33 | |||
| 3 | Everton | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 12 | +36 | 33 | |||
| 4 | Chelsea | 16 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 48 | 26 | +22 | 31 | |||
| 5 | Sunderland | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 31 | |||
| 6 | Doncaster Belles | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 29 | 33 | -4 | 27 | |||
| 7 | Millwall Lionesses | 20 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 23 | 36 | -13 | 21 | |||
| 8 | Watford | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 22 | 57 | -35 | 16 | |||
| 9 | Birmingham City | 17 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 19 | 31 | -12 | 13 | |||
| 10 | Nottingham Forest | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 33 | -21 | 13 | |||
| 11 | Blackburn Rovers | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 11 | |||
| 12 | Bristol Academy | 17 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 47 | -40 | 6 |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/women/8610583.stm
Germany
Turbine Potsdam is six points clear of FCR Duisburg at the top of the table. The two will meet this Sunday in the first leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Wolfsburg defeated Frieburg with a Muller goal. Hamburger slid by Essen-Schonebeck with goals from Kameraj and Schubert. Third-place FFC Frankfurt demolished Freiburg with goals coming from Garafrekes (who scored a double), Pohlers, Wimbersky and Prinz. Duisburg also defeated Bad Neuenahr thanks to Popp, Ando and Grings. And Turbine Potsdam dismantled USV Jena as Mittag (two), Bajramaj, Odebrecht, Nagasato (two) and Bagehorn all got in the score sheet.
| Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P | |||
| 1 | Turbine Potsdam | 17 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 71 | 12 | +59 | 47 | |||
| 2 | FCR Duisburg | 18 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 56 | 15 | +41 | 42 | |||
| 3 | FFC Frankfurt | 17 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 57 | 27 | +30 | 36 | |||
| 4 | Bayern München | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 30 | 29 | +1 | 29 | |||
| 5 | Bad Neuenahr | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 31 | 30 | +1 | 28 | |||
| 6 | Wolfsburg | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 27 | 19 | +8 | 24 | |||
| 7 | USV Jena | 17 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 26 | 41 | -15 | 20 | |||
| 8 | Hamburger SV | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 21 | 39 | -18 | 20 | |||
| 9 | Essen-Schönebeck | 17 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 49 | -25 | 14 | |||
| 10 | Saarbrücken | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 24 | 43 | -19 | 12 | |||
| 11 | Freiburg | 17 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 10 | 43 | -33 | 9 | |||
| 12 | Tennis Borussia | 16 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 14 | 44 | -30 | 6 | |||
Damallsvenskan
The league is just getting under way in Sweden. KIF Obrero sit atop the table after defeating AIK 4-1. Kristianstad is second after winning a thrilling match against Sunnana 3-2. Umea IK were defeated 1-0 by Jitex.
| Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P | |||
| 1 | KIF Örebro | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 6 | |||
| 2 | Kristianstad | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 3 | |||
| 3 | Tyresö | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 3 | |||
| 4 | Jitex | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | |||
| 5 | LdB Malmö | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | |||
| 6 | Linköping | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 3 | |||
| 7 | Sunnanå | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Hammarby | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 | |||
| 9 | Göteborg FC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Umeå | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | |||
| 11 | Djurgården | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 | |||
| 12 | AIK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
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Feminine Division 1
France remains one of the most competitve leagues in the world as the top four teams are separated by only four points.
League leaders PSG were defeated by Montpollier, who were then vaulted to 4th place. Second place Juvisy blanked Nord Allier 4-0 and Olympique Lyon vanquished Henin-Beaumont 3-1.
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PSG | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 4 | +43 | 55 | |||
| 2 | Juvisy | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 41 | 17 | +24 | 53 | |||
| 3 | Olympique Lyon | 15 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 63 | 11 | +52 | 52 | |||
| 4 | Montpellier | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 9 | +26 | 51 | |||
| 5 | Nord Allier | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 40 | |||
| 6 | Saint-Étienne | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 36 | |||
| 7 | Hénin-Beaumont | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 37 | -15 | 34 | |||
| 8 | Toulouse | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 19 | 42 | -23 | 32 | |||
| 9 | Stade Briochin | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 32 | 57 | -25 | 30 | |||
| 10 | La Roche-sur-Yon | 16 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 16 | 42 | -26 | 29 | |||
| 11 | Soyaux | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 27 | -18 | 26 | |||
| 12 | Montigny-le-Bretonneux | 16 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 13 | 36 | -23 | 25 |
UEFA Women’s Champions League
Lyon and Umea are set to kick off in less than 2o minutes (come on, Swedish TV channel feed..please work). The two clubs are at the oppposite ends of their seasons and Umea have lost many key players to WPS. The official UEFA site has this to say about the affair.
Duisburg and Turbine Potsdam will likely ramp up their rivalry in the other semi-final tomorrow. Duisburg are at the top of the table, but Turbine Potsdam defeated FCR 1-0 to reach the German Cup Final days ago. Here’s UEFA’s preview and this is the reaction from a local German paper. Goofy translation therein.
Apologies about the tardiness of the Beat preview. It’ll be up along with the Independence preview later today after the CL match (I hope).