Women's Cup Preview

Spurs Women will take on some of the top teams in world football in Louisville | A seventh summer signing arrives | Third kit officially released

I'd hoped to have this preview post up a couple of days ago, but let's just say that my trip prep didn't go as quickly as I had planned. Instead, I am typing this up en route to Louisville, thanks to the free WiFi hotspot trial I had for my car (my mom is at the wheel at the moment, don't worry). Better late than never, right?

Spurs Women are already stateside and training for the tournament—and hopefully enjoying some sightseeing as well. When Rehanne Skinner spoke ahead of the trip to the US, she mentioned the value of using the overseas tour as an opportunity for team bonding. Many of the players on the squad were involved in summer competitions with their national teams, so everyone arrived to pre-season at different times. That's not to mention the steady trickle of incoming transfers that have joined up with the squad and only just begun to get integrated. Getting to know their new teammates on a personal level is an important part of squad development, and there's nothing like an international trip to bring people together quickly.

Of course, Rehanne will be eager to see the players working together on the pitch as well, and this tournament provides the perfect (relatively) low-stakes opportunity to see them take on a competitive challenge. There are a few new signings who could already be potential starters, whereas others are ones for the future and will be providing much-needed rotation for existing key players. Since this is technically a friendly tournament, we're likely to see everyone feature at some point. I caught a glimpse of at least one academy player in the traveling video the club shared, and this will be an exciting occasion for the younger players on the team to get some minutes.

As we progress through the tournament, Rehanne will be watching with a keen eye to troubleshoot any issues with the formations and lineups she tries out, and we should expect a certain level of experimentation.

The other perk of playing in the Women's Cup is getting to play against clubs outside of the WSL and experience some new opposition playing styles. This marks a big milestone in the team's development, that we're being invited to participate in international tournaments. This encounter with different football cultures will serve us well down the line when we eventually qualify for the Champions League (I am manifesting this, if not for next season then one in the near future!).

So to sum it up, what I'm hoping Spurs Women will get out of this tournament is:

• opportunities for team bonding

• valuable gametime for the new transfers

• occasion for Rehanne to problem solve potential new tactics/lineups for the WSL season

If you haven't checked out the fixture bracket yet, take a look below to see Tottenham's possible pathways through the tournament. If we win our first match against Club América, we'll go on to the semi-final with OL Reign. If we lose that first match, we'll play in the 5h & 6th place match. If we make and win the semi-final we'll advance to the final, otherwise we'll play in the 3rd and 4th place match. Regardless, we're guaranteed at least two matchdays.

If you're also heading to Louisville to see Spurs play but don't have your tickets yet, you can buy them here. I'm planning to be in the press box for most of the first match on Sunday, but on the other matchdays, I'll be in section 111. Come say hi!

I am also looking forward to attending the Spurs Legends Night that the Louisville Spurs supporters club is hosting on Saturday evening. Ledley King has been a passionate ambassador for the Women's team so I'm glad he was able to make the trip over here with them! Check out Louisville Spurs' full schedule of events for the tournament:

More reinforcement for the attack

Spurs Women were busy bringing in one last signing before making the trip to Louisville. Celin Bizet Ildhusøy (as always, gladly accepting pronunciation tips) has joined Spurs from PSG as our seventh signing of the summer.

While PSG Féminine aren't quite the juggernauts that PSG's men's team are (yet), they still have a lot of top talents on their roster, so the fact that Celin was at the club suggests we have a promising talent on our hands. She's only 20 but is already a full Norwegian international (featuring in the Euros this summer), and even started her professional career at the age of 14. She has experience winning silverware, having completed the double of a Toppserien league title and the Norwegian Women's cup at Valerenga.

Spurs described Celin as a versatile attacker with excellent 1v1 capabilities in the announcement of her signing, so I can't wait to see what she can bring to our offense. We are definitely not short of attacking options at this point.

Third time's the charm

Actually, I like the home kit, but you know what I mean. This new third kit is a definite improvement over the away kit.

I know I'm in the minority with this opinion, but I wasn't really a huge fan of the bright blue 2019/20 third kit—mostly because it had a collar, but also because it was just so shockingly blue, and kind of a tough color to pull off. So I appreciate that in this new third kit, the electric blue is used more sparingly in an abstract print. Honestly, this should have been the away kit.

It's my turn to drive, so that's all for now. Less than two days until Spurs Women are finally back in action!

COYS