Sarina Wiegman's success with England shows female coaches are deserving of further opportunities, says former Italy boss Carolina Morace.
Wiegman led the Lionesses to their first major tournament triumph at Euro 2022 before overseeing this year's run to the World Cup final in Australia and New Zealand, where they were beaten 1-0 by Spain.
She has earned plenty of plaudits since succeeding Phil Neville in the role in 2021, only losing two of her 39 matches at the helm (30 wins, seven draws) and overseeing a positive World Cup campaign despite injuries to key players including Leah Williamson and Beth Mead.
While the 2023 World Cup featured 32 teams for the first time, Wiegman was one of just 12 female head coaches present at the tournament.
Morace wants to see football associations judge potential bosses on their competence rather than their gender, acknowledging the dominance of men at governing bodies is an issue.
Asked about the number of promising female coaches in the game, Morace told Stats Perform: "I'll answer you one way. Sarina Weigman inherited the [England] team from Phil Neville with the same players who had unfortunately achieved nothing under Phil Neville.
"With her, they have reached the maximum. There are good, excellent female coaches and excellent male coaches.
"You need to have the intellectual honesty to choose based on competence, to choose coaches who have not always been sent away from men's teams and who don't know the world of women's football. It is obvious they will also fail in women's football.
"I believe there are many good coaches who must be valued. Unfortunately, it is always men who choose, for whom it takes a little bit of effort [to recruit women]."
Morace is one of few female coaches with notable experience in the men's game, having led Italian third-tier outfit Viterbese at the start of her coaching career in 1999 – albeit for just two games.
She felt a higher turnover of coaches in the men's game made players more receptive to her methods, adding: "Coaching men is easier. When you coach a men's team, you coach boys who come from an early age and played in all the youth teams and have changed a lot of coaches.
"You find them more ready [for change] than a girl who may have had two coaches or three coaches in her career.
"Perhaps today we can say that the little girls start from the same point as the boys. Before, it wasn't like that."
While Morace does not have an issue with male coaches working in women's football, she maintains the best candidates must be given chances regardless of their gender.
"It is one thing is to coach a national team," she said. "When you arrive in the national team, you have the World Cup, the Olympics which absolutely have another value [in the women's game].
"But now the men who are unable to enter the men's game look to the women, but they do it after seeing the stadiums full at the World Cup, it becomes very desired by them too.
"Competence is much more important. I coached the Italian national team, the Canadian national team. For me, it was much more important than coaching the professional men's team in the third division."
O'Neil confident Wolves will overachieve this season despite Newcastle setback
Gary O'Neil is confident Wolves will overachieve again in the Premier League this season despite falling to a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle on Sunday.
Mario Lemina had given the hosts a half-time lead, only for Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes' long-range efforts completing the turnaround for the Magpies.
Wolves have now failed to win any of their opening four league games this term and occupy the final place in the bottom three.
Their single point against Nottingham Forest makes this their joint-worst start to a Premier League campaign, along with 2003-04, when they were relegated in last place.
O'Neil's side have now also lost six of their last seven league games at Molineux, losing more games on home turf in 2024 than any other team in the top-flight (eight).
But the Wolves head coach, who oversaw a 14th-place finish in his debut campaign at the helm last year, is confident his players will find their groove.
"We have better depth, of course. The run is the run. The team should be judged on what they did for the whole of last season.
"I am sure we will overachieve what many people will expect of us this season.
"Everyone is desperate for our first win. That was close to being our best today.
"We have gone up against a side that have spent an awful lot of money and were in the Champions League.
"There are not a lot of teams that can go against Newcastle and look the most likely to win."
There were positives for O'Neil to take from the defeat, however, most notably the performance of new addition Andre in central midfield.
The Brazilian completed all 40 of his passes against Newcastle, the most on record by a player on their first ever Premier League start without misplacing one (since 2003-04).
"Very good, he's a good player obviously. New system today with the three midfielders in. An awful lot of positives," O'Neil said.
"Of course the only positives that people are interested in is points.
"From my point of view, to have come up with a new structure for the team and for it to look how it did against Newcastle was a big plus for us."
Al-Ittihad 7-1 Al-Wehda: Benzema treble keeps hosts perfect
Karim Benzema's hat-trick helped Al-Ittihad maintain their perfect start to the Saudi Pro League season as they thrashed Al-Wehda 7-1 on Saturday.
Benzema opened the scoring in stunning fashion with just two minutes on the clock, curling a fine effort beyond the grasp of Ignacio de Arruabarrena.
Houssem Aouar doubled the hosts' advantage, only for Youssef Amyn to half the deficit before Fabinho's header in the fourth minute of first-half injury time gave Laurent Blanc's side a comfortable advantage at the break.
Benzema struck again shortly after the restart to notch his second of the encounter before Fawaz Al Yami netted Al-Ittihad's fifth nine minutes later.
Substitute Saleh Al Shehri thought he had concluded the scoring in the 87th minute, but Benzema was not to be denied his treble.
The Frenchman was provided with the simplest of finishes after Moussa Diaby's cross into his path, with the former Aston Villa man laying on four assists during the game.
Data Debrief: French connection
An emphatic triumph for the hosts saw them register an expected goals (xG) tally of 3.69 from their 15 shots, as their French forwards took centre-stage.
Benzema contributed 1.29 xG to the hosts' total, with the Frenchman having more shots on target (five) and playing more passes in the final third (30) than any other player.
But his compatriot Diaby also impressed.
The 25-year-old ended the encounter having created more chances (five) than anyone on the pitch, with his eight touches in the opposition box the joint-most alongside Benzema.
Conte hails 'atypical' Lukaku after flying start to Napoli career
Napoli coach Antonio Conte heaped praise on Romelu Lukaku after he scored and provided two assists in their dominant 4-0 victory at Cagliari on Sunday.
Lukaku was reunited with his former Inter boss Conte, under whom he scored 24 goals as the Nerazzurri won the Scudetto in 2020-21, ahead of Napoli loaning wantaway striker Victor Osimhen to Galatasaray this month.
He has made a flying start to life in Naples, netting in a 2-1 win over Parma ahead of the international break, then getting on the scoresheet again as Cagliari were swatted aside on matchday four.
He also laid on assists for Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, just the third time he has scored and provided multiple assists in a single game in Europe's top five leagues. Two of those instances have come under Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports Italia after Sunday's game, Conte outlined why he was so keen to bring Lukaku in.
"I have always said that I wanted Romelu at Inter, had also requested him at Chelsea before he went to Manchester United, because he is an atypical striker," Conte said.
"He is extremely tall and physically strong, but also very good at sprinting forward. His condition is still nowhere near optimal, but he becomes fundamental for us."
The victory took Napoli top of the table ahead of Inter's trip to Monza later on Sunday, with the Partenopei registering three straight wins after starting with a humiliating 3-0 loss at Verona.
Conte, however, has dismissed suggestions his team are ready to compete for the Scudetto, saying they have plenty more work to do.
"I do feel that at the moment all teams are settling down still, as the transfer window closed late and we are all trying to find our shape," Conte said.
"We need to keep improving on duels all over the field, keeping focused and concentrated, because that is what you require in Serie A.
"We’ve worked hard over the last two and a half months, we’ve got to put on the blinkers and keep pushing forward without looking at anyone else."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
