Did a World Cup hangover contribute to Arsenal Women’s EWCL defeat?

Last weekend, Arsenal Women were knocked out of the 2023–24 UEFA Women’s Champions League by Paris FC in the qualifiers through penalties.

Every win or a loss has an explanation, and for the Paris FC loss, I’ve been asking myself, Did the World Cup fatigue affect Arsenal’s effectiveness versus the French side?

Yes, it is easy to name the Arsenal players who didn’t play in the World Cup. But even so, the few like Amanda Ilestedt, Alessia Russo, Lotte Wubben Moy, Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord, Stina Blackstenius, and Lina Hurtig, who were all involved in the latter stages of the World Cup, played a huge part in the two games Arsenal have featured in the Champions League Qualifiers.

Players had to adapt to the climatic conditions in Australia and New Zealand; they had to change their sleeping patterns and forego their well-deserved relaxation following the 2022–23 season.

After all, travelling back from the other side of the world is a great upheaval and a World Cup physically and mentally exhausts a player. Expecting peak performance after a week of preparation, especially when some players are new, is a tall order.

The Gunner women gave it their all, and losing on penalties to be eliminated by Paris FC was just bad luck. As Jonas mentioned, things don’t always go as planned. Eidevall said, “You’re not going to win all the time, and sometimes we are going to be on the wrong side of taking a penalty for it.”

There’s a lot of time between now and the start of the new season, and Jonas Eidevall and his team will no doubt come back on October 1st to end Chelsea’s recent dominance in the WSL.