The WSL Hall of Famer also weighed in on the huge role played by Sarina Wiegman and how the Spain game was the coming of age for Kiera Walsh. You can read the full column here.

Asked about the physical challenge of Sweden Rachel said: “In beating Spain, they have now shown they have the character to come back when things aren’t going to plan. Spain had loads and loads of possession, the semi-final with Sweden is going be much more of a physical battle.

“The England players will be more used to coming up against the style Sweden play which, fingers crossed, will suit them.

“We are yet to see the best of Peter Gerhardsson’s team. They haven’t shown their quality as of yet in this tournament, which I suppose you could be quite wary of. Hopefully they don’t turn it on against England!

“There are elements to how they’ve played where England will feel quite confident they can exploit if they set up and execute their game plan correctly. If you look at their quarter-final and Belgium actually kept the ball quite well against them. They had attacks and were able to break free. England have got players of a much higher than calibre than Belgium and I think they can look at that game and take a lot of positives.”

Rachel’s thoughts on the big role played by Sarina Wiegman: “I said previously that I didn’t think Sarina Wiegman’s potential absence from the Spain game with coronavirus would make too much of a difference, but the fact she was on the bench in Brighton probably played a big part in helping England turn that game around.

“She had those emotions with the players on the field and it probably led her to identify what was going wrong and make those substitutions. It really was those changes that put the game back in England’s favour. It gave them that energy and belief needed to get themselves back in the game.

“A lot of people from the Netherlands have said they have never seen Sarina show the emotion that she did at the final whistle. Maybe it’s something about this team and the home tournament that is changing the way she’s managing as well.”

 And, on Kiera Walsh’s coming of age vs. Spain:  “Keira is really important to how England want to play and she will have learnt a lot from her midfield battle with Aitana Bonmati. She is a world class midfielder for Barcelona and reads the game so well. There was no wonder Keira was getting cramp at the end of the game!”

“She won’t have played against a player like that too many times, she’s started for Man City for several years. But due to being tournament hosts, England haven’t come up against a team like Spain too often. Playing at international level is a lot different to the WSL so that game would have been fantastic for Keira to learn where she is at and how to play that midfield role even better than she already has.”

 Rachel Yankey was speaking to LiveScore. To read her full column, click here.

With thanks to Matchfit

Yankey also spoke on how Spain’s attack will threaten a so far untested England defence and Beth Mead’s Golden Boot potential. You can read the full column here.

On who should start for England Rachel Yankey said: “You look at [Alessia] Russo’s impact off the bench. The two headers in each game are fantastic but the touch and finish for her second against Northern Ireland, anyone would be proud of that. It was a great goal.

 “I would still start with Ellen White against Spain but it’s a team game and England have really good starters and finishers.

 “You could quite easily play Russo over White and she would do a fantastic job. Equally, I know Beth England hasn’t played a minute yet but she could quite easily come into this team. She’s really suited to our style of play with the way that the wingers get crosses in. I hope she gets an opportunity to get on the pitch to prove how good she is.”

Her view on on Spain’s attack testing England’s defence:  “The only worry for me at the moment is the fact that England haven’t really been tested at the back.

“Northern Ireland have probably done that the most and certainly had some opportunities. They broke away and found gaps in England’s defence. Against Spain, who are a team who love to play in between those gaps in defence and midfield, England need to make sure they are totally switched on – not that they haven’t been so far!”

And on Beth Mead going for Golden Boot:  “I know she will have eyes on the Golden Boot, but I hope she just keeps playing the way has been doing.

“She was always going to be a contender for the award because she’s a great finisher. But whatever her mindset was going into the tournament, I hope that doesn’t change because it’s been refreshing so far.

“Sometimes you can get distracted when people talk about breaking records and awards and it can put too much pressure on her. I just want to see her play and keep performing because she looks like she’s having fun out there, which is a real positive for England.”

Rachel Yankey was speaking to LiveScore. To read her full column, click here.

Lead photo shows Rachel Yankey, OBE posing for a photograph with her WSL Hall of Fame award at Wembley Stadium on September 29, 2021 in London, England. 

Yankey is one of the country’s most decorated players having won every competition available with Arsenal, which included two FA Women’s Super League titles in 2011 and 2012.

Many may also recall her starring role in the very first FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup Final, when she scored a double in the Gunners’ 4-1 win over Birmingham City – one of them a stunning volley.

A skilful winger with a wand of a left-foot, Yankey was a standout in the inaugural season of the FA Women’s Super league, creating more chances than any other player during her team’s title winning campaign.

Her two league titles in the FA Women’s Super League would contribute to an overall tally of eight during her career.

The Barclays FA Women’s Super League Hall of Fame expert selection panel agreed that Yankey was a worthy inductee based on her incredible statistic of winning every competition available with Arsenal, and her consistent performances on the pitch.

 Suzanne Wrack, journalist and member of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League Hall of Fame selection panel, said: “I am delighted that Rachel Yankey has been unveiled as one of the first ever Barclays FA Women’s Super League Hall of Fame inductees.

“She was always a player I admired and one of those individuals who you could tell genuinely enjoyed every minute she had on the pitch.

“Watching her as a player was an absolute pleasure and I am thrilled she is taking that knowledge into coaching. She is fully deserving of her induction into the inaugural Barclays FA Women’s Super League Hall of Fame.”

Two more individuals are to be inducted by lunch time tomorrow following the already announced Yankey and Fara Williams, with extended interviews available to watch on Sky Sports’ ‘Inside the WSL’ show at 6pm tomorrow evening (Thursday 7 October) on Sky Sports Premier League.

A dedicated website to the Barclays FA Women’s Super League Hall of Fame will launch to coincide with the final inductee being unveiled at wslhalloffame.thefa.com.  You can keep up with the latest inductee unveilings on the Barclays FA WSL Twitter page.

Courtesy of The FA

The long-term aim of the Fairer Game campaign is to address gender imbalance and increase diversity in coaching by doubling the number of female coaches with UEFA A licences [currently there are just 29 female coaches compared to 1,484 male].

Betfair are funding 50 coaches, from across England, with an investment of £50,000, to complete their UEFA B Licences [at the moment there are just 310 women with B Licences to 10,000 men].

Rachel has always already completed her level B Licence and is working on her UEFA A Licence.

I asked her if they had any trouble finding 50 suitably qualified female coaches ready to work for their UEFA B Licence and was a little surprised and very pleased by her response: ‘not at all, if we had been looking for 100, we would have easily filled the allocation.’

When asked why so few women go into coaching Rachel cited various reasons; notably it’s not that easy currently to get on a course, the cost of the courses is also high, which for many will be prohibitive and then combined with the fact that there are so few paid coaching positions available to women.  You also have to have reached the relevant qualification in order to progress further and often there is the chicken and egg situation where you can’t get on a course because  you lack experience of coaching at a certain level, but to get that experience you need to get on a course.

Rachel said she believes that it is incredibly important to show that it is totally acceptable for girls as well as boys to be able to follow their dreams be that playing a sport or coaching.  We have somehow to break the mould, which means we have to convince mums as well as dads that taking part in sport offers so many benefits to all children.  Obviously not all of them will be very good at it, but that is not the point.

Most football fans will know that when a youngster Rachel cut her hair, called herself Ray in order to get on a team to play football.  Her passion for the game is clear and as well as enjoying a stellar career, she enjoys coaching at grassroots level and would encourage would-be coaches to do the same, volunteer  get down to their local clubs and help out.  It is incredibly rewarding to get involved.

As part of the Fairer Game campaign Betfair will provide the £50,000 required to place the 50 coaches on relevant courses, but in addition to this will also set the coaches up with teams through the Betfair Cash 4 Clubs scheme to complete their licence should they not already have an affiliated club and provide a network of women, supported by Women in Football, that can support each other as they make strides in the game.

This says Rachel is an essential part of the scheme linking the coaches with clubs will create an essential pathway for them.

The hope is that by increasing the percentage of women with a UEFA B, Betfair’s ultimate goal of increasing the number of women at the top of the coaching pyramid in England can be achieved over the coming years.

Betfair have chosen their ambassador very well, Rachel is committed and passionate in her love for the game and desire to try and level the playing field.

Here are official quotes from all the parties involved in this great campaign:

Rachel Yankey commented, “I’m looking forward to helping the selected 50 females follow their passion just like I did. I think this is a really unique and empowering opportunity for them. That first day of training, or the first time at a new club is much easier if you see a friendly face and these women will now have 50 faces they know doing the same journey. I personally feel like having more women in positions throughout football will benefit the game as a whole. We need balance in life and women can bring a different perspective.”

The chosen beneficiaries of the Fairer Game campaign were selected from hundreds of applicants who registered their interest up and down the UK. Coaches from Swindon and Sutton Coldfield have been selected and will benefit from the funding to cover their regional FA courses. See below for some of the inspiring stories from the 50 coaches selected;

Naomi Totten commented on behalf of Betfair, “Betfair is recognised for its transformational approach to its campaigns and the Fairer Game campaign is no different. The Fairer Game campaign is about transforming the current landscape for female coaches by providing access and opportunity to coaching. There will be challenges that remain as we work to get each coach a place on a course. However, we wanted to give 50 female coaches the chance to break down those barriers and show that they have the support of others within the game, including Rachel who is an inspirational player and coach within the game.”

Anna Kessel commented on behalf of Women in Football, “Women in Football is extremely proud to be part of a campaign dedicated to increasing the number of female coaches in the game. To date female coaching talent has been under-supported and under-represented in football so it is brilliant to see Betfair and Rachel Yankey adopting such a practical approach to creating change in our industry. WiF are committed to supporting this exciting new crop of coaches, their success will pave the way for another generation to follow.”

Kerry Walkett – Swindon

Having completed her level one training at 16, Kerry relaunched her club that had previously folded. With no players, funds or kit Kerry restarted the club from scratch and by her second season in charge the team secured two sponsors, 19 players had signed on and gone 10 games unbeaten in the league. When her playing career took off in 2015 with WSL2 side Oxford United, coaching took the backseat for a while until Kerry was approached about restarting her old side again. She is currently in her second season coaching the club which she juggles with playing for Reading Women FC. After being selected she hopes to dedicate her time to training as a coach so she can work at a higher level.

Helen Carver – Sutton Coldfield

Helen has actively promoted women’s football throughout her life from her primary school years, when she pushed to play football instead of netball, to her current role at Birmingham & West Midlands LFC. She maintains her voluntary position at her club as a huge passion which she juggles with her day job as a police sergeant. Helen believes empowering other women is integral to being a female coach and developing the sport, something she hopes to have a greater impact upon when completing her UEFA B license.

You can follow the women on their Betfair Fairer Game journey here.