When FromTheSpot spoke to Robert Vilahamn and a handful of his players at Hotspur Way last month, it didn’t appear as though the gravitas of reaching the Adobe Women’s FA Cup semifinals had truly sunk in for this Tottenham Hotspur side.
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s semifinal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, there will be a new finalist at Wembley – as neither the Lilywhites or Leicester City have ever played under the infamous arch.
Vilahamn and his squad were unsure whether the match would be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or their usual hunting ground of Brisbane Road when we spoke after their quarterfinal victory over Manchester City, and the Spurs boss expressed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that he ‘was so happy [when he found out] because we want to be there. They want us to play more games there, it’s the perfect match – it’s a big game and we are feeling that we can perform even better in that stadium.’
Embed from Getty Images‘I think now I am [aware of how much it means], I didn’t really realise it when we won the quarterfinal that it’s huge in this country to be in the semifinal for the first time. I’m proud of it – I think the girls this year are really great and we are taking such big steps to make sure we put Tottenham on the map for women’s football.’
Vilahamn’s first season in England has been one filled with remarkable success. Last year, the Lilywhites found themselves sucked into a relegation battle – as did Leicester City. Reflecting on their progress over the course of 2023/24, Vilahamn acknowledged that ‘it’s good news for a lot of people in this country because everybody wants to have a competitive league, and more teams that can beat each other.’
‘I think it’s getting quite boring in the leagues in Europe where only two teams are fighting about it. So, in one way I really like it. Of course I like it when I’m here with one of the teams with Tottenham here, but also for the fanbase and everything, we need to have more teams to compete so we can bring more fans to the stadiums.’
