Fran Kirby

[Norfolk Royal]

I'm far from being an expert on this but I would guess if you have a period every month you would know when it is due and if there were a chance that it was going to happen during a football match you would take the necessary precautions beforehand.

[WoodleyRoyal]

where's RL when you need her? mind you it's probably been so long since she had one she's forgotten

[Lacoste]

Do lesbian footballers even have periods?

[Hampshire Royal]

Fran Kirby scores!! 1-0 against Mexico.

[Royalcop]

Brilliant finish for her goal, Romario-esque - can we get her in our men's side please?

[Royal Rother]

Superb performance. Mini Messi!!

[Todd Margaret]

So happy for her. Hope they're still in it when I'm up for the quarter and semi rounds (but I want to see USA playing too!)

[Libertine]

Fran! YaY...

[The Prisoner]

Excellent finish for her goal and could have had more.

What with her and the guys turning out for Jamaica tonight decent stuff across the board.

Looking at Fran and Hector tonight maybe the "Reading Way" isn't as dead as we thought?

[buckingham royal]

Re: Fran...............Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant .So pleased form her - great for her and great for the club. Good to see suppotrive comments - a big shame that some twats that look to poke fun at womans football......must say something about their life !!!

[leon]

Good to see a Reading FC girl doing the business at the highest level. That's what it's all about. Great stuff.

[Brosef Stalin]

Re: Fran...............Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant .So pleased form her - great for her and great for the club. Good to see suppotrive comments - a big shame that some twats that look to poke fun at womans football......must say something about their life !!!

I went to school just out side of Buckingham

[Norfolk Royal]

We desperately need a player like Fran Kirby in the men's team. What a star, mini Messi.

[Royal Rother]

Her touch, awareness and all round intelligence puts her streets ahead of Aluko, who I thought was highly rated.

[From Despair To Where?]

Aluko was the bright young thing of women's football ten years ago but to my mind has never justified the hype, too blinkered and too much running down blind alleys.

I think it is easy for us to big Fran up because she is Reading but on the evidence of last night, she is very much the real deal. Her technique and reading of the game was streets ahead of everyone (with the possible exception of Karen Carney) and i wonder if staying at Reading and training and playing with men every day has had an impact on that

[Norfolk Royal]

Agree with RR and FDTW's comments about Aluko. Although she had the odd good moment she was going down blind alleys half the time and losing the ball.

it occurred to me at one point that Fran was playing far too far away from her to get any knock downs or second ball, but then Aluko is not what you might call a 'target woman,' so that was not so relevant really.

The whole game seemed very stretched at times and the England defence could do with pushing up to compress the play. That would bring Fran into it more who seemed easily the most skilful player on the pitch for my money.

Very impressed with Jill Scott in midfield, very Crouchesque as the summariser pointed out, apparently her nickname is Crouchy.

The left back who came on made a big difference as did Carney who also looks the real deal, although apparently she hasn't played much this season due to injury so may be used as a sub throughout the tournament.

Looking forward to the next game now. Once you get to know the characters it's so much more interesting.

[Kitsondinho]

Jill Scott's technical ability is right up there with the best in the game. It has been the case for several years that when Scott plays well, England do. I am also in agreement about Aluko. She is incredibly gifted, but is also hugely frustrating. She seems determined to beat at least 2 players everytime she gets the ball.

As for Fran, she is doing superbly! It really is great to see a Reading player doing so well for England!

[Royal Rother]

In the 2nd half I thought Fara Williams was excellent too, pinging accurate passes around on a surface that, let's face it, is not really ideal for long passes.

The number of times Fran took up great positions only to be ignored had me cursing, but Aluko was not the only one guilty of that.

[Murts-is-Lej]

For those of you that missed the game (what do you mean you weren't watching an England match featuring a player-of-the-match performance on full World Cup debut by a Reading player?!) here is Fran's superb goal.
http://youtu.be/-Qsae079-uc

[RoyalBlue]

Aluko was the bright young thing of women's football ten years ago but to my mind has never justified the hype, too blinkered and too much running down blind alleys.

I think it is easy for us to big Fran up because she is Reading but on the evidence of last night, she is very much the real deal. Her technique and reading of the game was streets ahead of everyone (with the possible exception of Karen Carney) and i wonder if staying at Reading and training and playing with men every day has had an impact on that

It's probably helped but she was displaying that sort of talent and ability a couple of seasons ago before she went full time and started training with the men.