cautions, but Lyon held firm.
Eugenie Le Sommer replaced Parris
in the final, and scored the opening
goal, set up by Delphine Cascarino who
combined with Bronze on the right to
devastating effect. Cascarino also
created the second, finished by Saki
Kumagai. It looked all over at half-time
but Wolfsburg rallied, Alexandra Popp
heading in just before the hour. Their
hope persisted until the 88th minute
before being cruelly dashed as Le
Sommer’s wide shot was smartly
deflected in by Gunnarsdottir, so
recently their team-mate.
Lyon last lost in May 2018, but if
the constant diet of success has jaded
appetites they hid it well. Le Sommer,
Renard and Sarah Bouhaddi have
played in all seven Champions League
successes but they celebrated as if it
was the first. “My players have a thirst
for trophies, I’ve never seen that so
apparent as now,” saidJean-Luc
Vasseur, the Lyon coach.
They’ve now lost the departed Bronze
and Alex Greenwood to Manchester City,
but Bouhaddi and Dzsenifer Marozsan
have signed new deals after flirting with
NWSL, Hegerberg took advantage of
the COVID break to have surgery on
a niggling injury, and talented young
Australian Ellie Carpenter has joined.
Lyon may have missed out on the likes
of Rose Lavelle, Sam Kerr and Harder,
but they remain the team to beat.
CHELSEA WIN
AT WEMBLEY
A closed-doors Wembley
hosted a unique Community
Shield double-bill, staging
the men’s and the women’s
event on the same day for the
first time. With the 2020 FA
Cup still to be decided, WSL
champions Chelsea were paired
with 2019 FA Cup winners
Manchester City, whom they
beat 2-0 with goals from Millie
Bright and Erin Cuthbert.HANSEN TO QUIT NWSL
UtahRoyalsownerDellLoy
Hansen is in the process of
selling the club. Hansen had
been the toast of NWSL after
providing the facilities for the
Challenge Cup but critical
comments about an MLS
player walk-out in support of the
Black Lives Matter movement, and
accusations he used racist language,
led to pressure on him to quit.US EXODUS CONTINUES
More of USA’s World Cup winners
crossed the Atlantic in response to the
truncated NWSL season, with
Alex Morgan signing a short-
term deal with Tottenham
and Christen Press and
Tobin Heath joining
Manchester United.
There were also a
series of loan moves
including Rachel Daly
(Houston-West Ham),
Rachel Corsie (Utah-
Birmingham), Claire Emslie
(Orlando-Everton), Emily van
Egmond (Orlando-West Ham)
and Alanna Kennedy and Shelina
Zadorsky (Orlando-Tottenham).Winners...Chelsea lift
the Community ShieldWSL bound...Christen
Press and Rachel DalyAbsent...Megan
RapinoeRAPINOE SKIPS FALL SERIES
Megan Rapinoe sat out the NWSL Fall
Series, just as she had the Challenge
Cup. The event, also designed to
provide some fixtures in this COVID-
restricted season, was scheduled as an
18-match seven-week campaign with
regionally-based three-team “pods”.EQUALITY, OF
SORTS, IN BRAZIL
The Brazilian federation
announced it will now
pay the same payments
and proportions of
World Cup prize money
to the men and women’s
teams. An equal per diem
rate is noteworthy, although
awarding equal proportions is
more symbolic, since prize money at
the men’s tournament far outstrips the
women’s; the last two winning teams
took home $38m and $4m respectively.