Byrne ready to frustrate Umeå
Friday 20 April 2007
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Arsenal goalkeeper Emma Byrne (©Arsenal LFC)
Umeå IK seldom have problems scoring goals - the fact they won their UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final 11-3 on aggregate and semi 11-1 bears that out. Quite a challenge, then, for Arsenal LFC goalkeeper Emma Byrne as her side visit northern Sweden for the first leg of the final on Saturday.
New standard
"We know how good they are," Byrne told uefa.com. "And we're aware we're playing a team of a standard we've never played before so we need to step it up a gear. We have been working towards this for a long time now in training. We've prepared ourselves mentally and physically for them and how good they are going to be."
Busy afternoon
It will be a contrast from Byrne's experience of the English league, where this season Arsenal have conceded just six goals in 18 games while scoring 102. The Irish international admits she is looking forward to taking a greater role than normal. "I prefer being more active in a game," she said. "Of course, you are glad to win and win easily. But the benefit for me is I'm quite busy when I play for Ireland, it's good I have that otherwise I'd have nothing to do the whole year!"
Study
Arsenal have never faced Umeå before, but Byrne is not unfamiliar with Hanna Ljungberg and Co. "I've seen a lot of them play in the [UEFA] European [Women's] Championship and Ireland have played [Sweden]," she said. "We've watched them on DVD for the past couple of weeks. We know they're going to be good. But we've got good players are well and are a good team, a good unit. So I'm hoping it will be a really good game and we'll have something to play for next week."
Home crowd
A rare experience for Arsenal will be the atmosphere at the packed Gammliavallen on Saturday. "It always adds to a game, a good atmosphere, big crowds," Byrne said. "I don't think it will be daunting for us, there will be a lot of Arsenal supporters as the men's side have a lot of support in Sweden. And as it is on TV we will try to put a little bit more in to prove that women's football is on the up."
'Quietly confident'
Indeed, there is no doubt Byrne and her team-mates are up for the challenge. "I'm not nervous - yet," she said. "I don't usually get nervous until the day of the game. But I'm looking forward to it, everyone is. We are playing really well at the moment, everyone's sharp. I'm quietly confident that we are going to get a good result on Saturday."
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