Whilst domestic competitions have been providing fans of the women’s game with plenty to enjoy over the past few weeks, this weekend sees rivalries put aside for a short period of time as clubs take a well-earned break and players reconvene with their national sides for the second international break of the year.
For many, the programme will consist of either friendly matches or a low-key tournament, but Europe will be in full competition mode as the Euro 2025 qualifying stages get underway, with every team setting out on the long road to Switzerland over the coming days and harbouring hopes of securing their place in next summer’s finals.
The higher-profile nations will understandably attract a great deal of attention over the coming weeks, but it is worth remembering that, with qualifying following the same format as the recent Women’s Nations League campaign, there will be plenty of mouthwatering encounters to take in in every corner of the continent, with nations coming up against those closer to their own ability and some tighter battles therefore expected. With that in mind, this tactical analysis will highlight some of those players who might not be as familiar to the wider fanbase for a variety of reasons and yet who could play a pivotal role in helping their teams to achieve their targets.
Sharon Beck
Whilst Spain were ultimately crowned the inaugural winners of the Nations League after beating France in the final, the top scorer for the competition actually came from a team who competed in Tier C during the competition, with Israel’s Sharon Beck finding the net on nine separate occasions during their meetings with Estonia, Kazakhstan and Armenia and quickly attracting attention from different areas of the continent for the quality of her performances.
What was particularly impressive about that feat was that, whilst she plays in the forward line for her country, Beck is not an attacker by trade, with her featuring mainly in the midfield for club side Köln Frauen. However, that is not to say that Israel have ignored that side of her game, and it has actually been integrated into their own tactics when it has suited them to do so.
Their trip to face Armenia was one match when her central third qualities really came into their own. The home side set up with a high backline throughout the match, and Israel knew, therefore, that they would always have a chance of breaking them down if they could find a way of playing the ball into the unguarded territory behind them.
With her ability to spread the ball around the pitch (she has registered a 72.5% passing accuracy for Köln since the turn of the year), Beck was the perfect player to make that game plan work to its full potential, and so it was common to see her dropping back into spaces such as this and then getting her head up to look for teammates making runs ahead of her.
In this case, she has managed to evade the attempt made by Armenian left-back Ani Ghukasyan to tackle her before sending the ball across the pitch and towards Noa Selimhodzic, having identified the Turbine Potsdam player as a viable passing option. Even though it didn’t work out on this occasion, with the pass being successfully intercepted by right-back Marine Karapetyan, there were plenty of other times when it did and Israel were able to breach their opponents’ back line. Beck was at the heart of each one.
The thing that makes Beck one to watch, though, is that she is tactically versatile and can adapt to different needs and systems, and that is why there is rarely an Israel match that takes place without her being involved in some way. Against Armenia, it was her passing quality that was required, but there have been some games when Israel have not looked to play at the same pace and have instead sought to keep hold of the ball for extended periods of play due to their opponents sitting back more and allowing them additional time on the ball.
As this graphic shows, Beck has played just as critical a role in those games, with her making several dribbles and progressive runs as the Nations League went on and from all different areas of the field. Therefore, regardless of how Israel look to play and what their game plan centres around, it can be expected that she will be at the heart of everything that they look to implement and will be someone that all three of Scotland, Serbia and Slovakia will need to work hard to limit the influence of.
As mentioned, though, her attacking threat has really led to her attracting the attention of many up and down Europe, with her not only being an effective creator of chances but also someone who can put them away on a consistent basis. With Armenia playing with such a high line, it was to be expected that she would have plenty of chances to test her luck, and so it proved as she ended up scoring three of the four goals that Israel netted in Armavir.
This situation shows the build-up to the first of them, and it came through the Köln player firstly reading what teammate Talia Sommer is looking to do once the ball reaches her further out and then locating a gap between centre-backs Liana Ghazaryan and Hasmik Grigoryan that she can exploit. Once she had made her run and the ball had come to her, it then becomes about staying composed and on not making a mistake with the ball at her feet, and she ended up taking it around goalkeeper Yana Harutyunyan before firing in from a tight angle here.
It would have been a disappointing goal for Armenia to concede, but it was one that showed just how potent Beck is when the ball comes to her in the right areas, and it is not hard to see why Israel have come to use her in these forward areas and why she ended up as the Nations League’s top scorer when breaking down the ease with which she found the net here.
Erëleta Memeti
Another team that will be competing at a higher tier during the Euro 2025 qualifying campaign are Kosovo, with them also being promoted from Tier C after winning a three-team group that also included Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Like Israel, they are not a team stacked with high-profile players, but one or two members of their squad could catch the eye over the coming months, with one undoubtedly being Erëleta Memeti.
Like Beck, Memeti plies her trade in the Frauen-Bundesliga. She is currently on the books of Champions League-chasing Hoffenheim Frauen. Last season, she really stood out in the contest to be “best of the rest” in the German top flight, behind Bayern Munich Frauen and Wolfsburg Frauen.
With Kosovo lacking an overall attacking threat, Memeti (like Beck) has often been asked to play in higher positions than she is used to, and yet that has never phased her; instead, it has allowed her to demonstrate other qualities to her game that might not be as prominent when playing for Hoffenheim. One of those is her pace and ability in 1-v-1 battles, with her constantly seen driving past opponents when in possession of the ball and looking to access the areas behind them in order to allow her side to pose as significant a threat as possible.
However, there is a lot of intelligence in the way that she makes runs up the pitch, with her not simply running in a straight line and instead angling her movement in order to manipulate defenders into leaving spaces open. In this clash with Estonia during the 2024 Turkish Women’s Cup (an annual tournament held in Alanya, which Kosovo won this year’s edition), she has looked to run away from goal, having already beaten captain Kairi Himanen. She has tempted Eva-Maria Niit and Rahel Repkin towards her and away from Elizabeta Ejupi, giving her more time to control the ball and, therefore, a better chance of scoring once Memeti sends the ball into her path.
In the end, this chance came to nothing due to the Sunderland Women forward firing disappointingly over from close range. However, the point still stands that Memeti created this chance through her ability to make an intelligent run whilst competing in a 1-v-1 duel, and it is that that highlights how much of a threat she poses whenever given space like this to attack into.
However, despite scoring one goal against India in that tournament and netting three times during the Nations League, it is worth remembering once again that Memeti is not a striker by trade. Like Israel, though, that has never troubled Kosovo; instead, it has allowed them to build different layers into their game plan, with their aim always being as unpredictable to play against as possible.
With that in mind, it has been common for Memeti to drift between thirds whenever her team is in possession, keeping defenders guessing and forcing them into deciding whether to follow her or to hold their positions. In this case, during a friendly against Latvia last year, she had received the ball from Fatlinda Ramaj before then passing back out to Eintracht Frankfurt Frauen forward Valentina Limani and following it into the open spaces behind her, partly due to the press from defender Anastasija Ročāne. However, by doing so, she took herself out of the attacking equation and gave Latvia a choice, which is the crucial point to note here.
To say that she took herself out of the equation there might imply that she is only capable of having an effect when high up the field for her national team, but that is not the case, and she is just as capable of affecting play from further out, too. As mentioned, this is where Hoffenheim tend to use her, with them relying less on her goalscoring instincts (though they do have their uses on plenty of occasions) and more on her ability to progress the ball around the field (with her having a 66.2% passing accuracy for them in 2024 alone).
This graphic indicates how critical she has been to that aspect of the German club’s play this season. There is a simple reason that Hoffenheim like her to stay in deeper positions like this, which is that they already have two strikers at the top of the field in Germany’s Melissa Kössler and Austria’s Nicole Billa who have shown themselves to be consistent threats in front of goal. Therefore, what Hoffenheim need is someone to provide them with opportunities, and that is where Memeti has really stood out for them.
Regardless of which area of the field she operates in for Kosovo, there is no doubt that she will be a tough player to contain whenever she does get on the ball, and she will definitely be someone that all three of Wales, Croatia and Ukraine will need to look out for when the campaign gets underway.
Sari Kees
At the beginning of the scout report, it was mentioned that this analysis would focus on players that fans may not have encountered often. Therefore, it might seem strange to include Belgium in this list, given that they were at Euro 2022 and are one of the stronger teams on the continent. However, they are a side with several players still establishing themselves on the international stage, and one of those who fit into that category is OH Leuven Féminines centre-back Sari Kees.
During her short time with the national team, Kees has furnished a reputation as a combative player who always looks to win the ball early rather than waiting for it to come to her, and that proactive nature has served her well of late and is one reason that she has become a vital part of the Belgium setup in the last few games.
It has been especially useful for the national side when facing opponents who are known for looking to break through defences at pace, with the Netherlands here trying to move the ball behind the Belgian lines before they have had a chance to react and to get back into their defensive shape. With the ball now at the feet of Lineth Beerensteyn, many would have expected the Juventus Femminile forward to turn and to run towards the goal in the same manner as she has done for the Italian side this season, with her scoring plenty of goals from similar situations.
However, to think that way would be to discount the presence of Kees, who has read the danger here and who has come out to close Beerensteyn down before she can turn around. As a result, the ball goes loose and the attack breaks down, and that is the effect that she has on opponents whenever she does move out of line and gets tight to them in this way.
However, Kees’ involvement never stops there, and instead, she is always looking at the next phase of these situations, with her not only looking to win the ball but to then clear it from danger. In this case, she did just that by blocking the shot from Italy left-back Lisa Boattin and then reacting quickest to reach the ball before the Juventus player could, feeding it into the feet of Leuven teammate Marie Detruyer ahead of her and ending Italy’s attack in a swift manner.
What this highlights is just how well-rounded Kees is as a player, with her capable of ending attacks, reading danger, and working hard to bring situations under control. The fact that she succeeded in 61.9% of her defensive duels and registered a 71% passing accuracy during Belgium’s Nations League campaign highlights that point, and there is no doubting the quality that she brings in all aspects of their play.
However, there is yet more to her game that needs to be pointed out, with her not only capable of making clever passes in high-pressured situations like that previous one, but of also playing out from the back in a manner that allows her team to play with a blend of progressive and direct tactics. In this graphic, it is clear to see how many times the ball has traversed the halfway line from her boot, and the fact that she picked up a 78.6% accuracy specifically for passes to the final third in the Nations League highlights how this is another of her strengths that Belgium have really integrated into their play.
Therefore, there is no doubt that Kees is one to watch over the coming months, with it clear that she is an important player for them to have on the field, both with and without the ball. Given that they will be facing some tough qualifying matches in the coming months, with Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic in their group, her ability to stay strong and to break opposing attacks up could be crucial to any hope that they have of qualifying automatically and of avoiding the play-offs.
Emőke Pápai
There are a number of national sides around Europe that have always been capable of troubling those who come across them, and one who falls squarely into that group is Hungary. Whilst they will be in Tier B for this qualifying campaign, having lost out on a place in Tier A in a two-legged play-off defeat to Belgium earlier this year, they will definitely be worth keeping an eye on, with it likely that they could cause a few surprise results as the matches progress.
The thing that has always made them such a dangerous opponent is the collective threat that they pose with the ball, but that does not mean that there are not one or two players that they would struggle to operate the same way without. One of those is undoubtedly Emőke Pápai, who can play as a defender but who has tended to operate mostly as a centre forward in her career, and it is a position that she had really thrived in recent games due to her constant desire to break through opposing defensive lines wherever she can.
What really allows her to be such an effective striker is her speed and anticipation of what is happening around her, with it always clear that she thinks ahead of those in her vicinity, and so ensures that she is in the right place at the right time to help her team to be as effective as possible whenever they have the ball.
In this case, she had recognised that Zsanett Kaján had received the ball and that she would need a passing option in the forward areas, whilst she had also noticed that Northern Ireland had left a lot of space open behind them that she could exploit. As a result, she accelerated up the field. She managed to get beyond the home side before they had realised what her intention was, with neither Caragh Hamilton nor Chloe McCarron able to match the Grasshopper Zürich Frauen player’s pace here.
The fact that Pápai failed to find the net in the Nations League campaign does need to be highlighted, with this effort sailing wide of the goal, but it does not mean that her potency should be doubted. Instead, as this graphic shows, it is likely down to the range of distances that she was shooting from, and the fact that a number of those efforts that came from further out were on target indicates that she can never be given any freedom to control the ball.
It should also be pointed out that she is in good form domestically in front of goal too, with her scoring 10 times for Grasshopper to date whilst she found the net five times in one match for the U17 national side against Bulgaria back in 2019. Therefore, despite her lack of productivity during the Nations League games, all three of Switzerland, Turkey and Azerbaijan will need to be on their guard against Hungary and will need to ensure that she is never given a chance to get behind them in the same way as Northern Ireland allowed her to here.
One reason that a number of Pápai’s shots have come from deeper positions is because Hungary’s tactics are built around their midfielders and forwards continually rotating with each other. That mindset seems unlikely to change under new head coach Alex Szarvas.
In short, what has been very common to see in their play is that players make underlapping and overlapping runs and both push forward and drop back, just as Pápai and Boglárka Vida have done here by swapping with each other. It was this that made them such a difficult prospect for Albania, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to work out at times, and there is no doubt that it will give their upcoming Euro 2025 qualifying opponents a tough time as well.
With regards to Pápai, it shows here how she might be the main focal point in her nation’s attacking line, but that does not mean that she is always in advanced positions. Therefore, again, there is an unpredictability to their play that others who come up against them constantly have to unpack, and Pápai is central to that working in their favour.
Lúcia Alves
One final player to look out for when qualifying gets underway is Portugal right-back Lúcia Alves. Although she has not been a regular in the national setup, she has shown whenever she has been called upon that she has the quality to thrive in their fast-paced tactics.
What helps her in many ways is that club side Benfica Feminino and Portugal share the same basic principles, with both utilising wing-backs or attacking full-backs and putting a heavy reliance on controlling the wings in order to create space inside the field.
Whilst Alves has really thrived at cutting inside and providing additional support in central spaces, she was asked during a friendly against South Korea last year to stay tighter to the touchline and to ensure that Portugal could make the pitch as big as possible whenever they had the ball. It might be imagined that this would limit her effectiveness, but that actually wasn’t the case, with it instead allowing her to demonstrate another side to her game in her ability to deliver balls into the middle and to provide her teammates with constant service inside the final third.
With South Korea sitting back at times and looking to stay rigid and compact, she did have some narrow corridors through which to send the ball through (which was one of the main reasons that only two of her nine deliveries was on target), but the fact that three of her four crosses against Vietnam at last year’s Women’s World Cup clash found their intended targets shows how dangerous she can be from these positions.
That threat is further highlighted when inspecting her shot assist map for Benfica this season, with it clear that she has been responsible for a significant portion of their attacking opportunities and that she has been a critical reason for them having a positive campaign so far, with 15 assists picked up in all competitions and three goals of her own contributed.
Therefore, if she is given a chance to show what she can do, she will undoubtedly be a crucial player for Portugal when they are on the front foot during their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign. She is definitely someone that all three of Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and Malta will need to keep a close eye on if she is deployed during their outings over the coming months.
However, she will not only affect Portugal’s performances in attacking situations; she is just as important without the ball, too. In this case, she has recognised that Vietnam has won the ball in a dangerous position and that prolific forward Huỳnh Như is open and has a clear route through to goal once it reaches her.
As a result, Alves rushes to get back here and ends up forcing the ball to be dislodged once it enters her channel, bringing the attack to a swift end, and the fact that she has won 68.8% of her defensive duels for Benfica this season highlights how this is not a one-off and that she is just as good without the ball as she is with it. Therefore, in all aspects of her game, she will be a handful for the other three teams in the group to contain if given a chance to play, and she is the type of player who can make the difference between victory and defeat.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has picked out five players who might not be as well-known to fans around Europe at this moment in time but who will all play a key role in their sides’ fortunes if handed opportunities to play in the Euro 2025 qualifying campaign. Not all of them will feature and some might only play in a handful of games, but what the scout report has sought to show is what each will bring to their teams’ play if they are called upon at one time or another.
Looking at the qualifying campaign as a whole, it is certainly shaping up to be a very interesting few months of international action. There are the prospect of some close fights between teams in all three tiers and plenty for fans to get into over the coming months. It will certainly be worth watching to see how each gets on as they strive to make it to next summer’s finals.
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