The table read as follows:

Team	p	w	d	l	f	a	Points
ENGLAND	8	6	2	0	24	4	20
Spain	8	5	2	1	24	7	17
Czech Republic	8	4	2	2	18	14	14
Belarus	8	1	1	6	10	27	4
Northern Ireland	8	0	1	7	2	26	1

Amongst those certain to be competing for a place in the squad for Finland are young black strikers Lianne Sanderson and Eniola Aluko. Both were in the final sixteen against Spain on October 1st with the latter playing the first half before being substituted at half time, an experience Sanderson also endured a few days earlier as England recovered from one nil down to beat the Czech Republic away 5-1. Shenow hopes that this will be her chance to put behind her the disappointment of only getting on for the last nine minutes of the final game of England's World Cup tournament in China last year as the side, drawn from players playing semi-professionally, slipped out of the competition at the Quarter Final stage beaten by a fully professional USA side.

"I would have liked to have played more. But at the Euro Final's I am determined to get in the side and do well," said the 20 year old who is following in her father's footsteps - Jeff Sanderson having been a professional player at Crystal Palace and Southend United. "All my family members have played Sunday football, and my mum likes the game as well," says Lianne Sanderson, "so you could say it was in my blood. I started playing for a boy's team when I was 6 years old in Catford but the rules meant I had to stop at 9. Nowadays you can play together till you're 12. I was lucky though because Arsenal had seen me play and I was invited over to a trial, I did well and then worked my way up to play in the first team at the tender age of 14."

Forty years ago this would have been unthinkable as it wasn't until November 1969 that the Women's Football Association (FA) was formed with just 44 member clubs. It wasn't girls hadn't been playing football for sometime – the first women's football match is recorded as having taken place in March 1895 when a northern-based side beat one from the south 7-1. However, 26 years later in December 1921 the FA banned women from playing on Football League grounds. Though women continued to play the game general interest in it declined appreciably.
Now however it is booming as more and more girls take up the sport with the Football Association recently stating that over 1.3 million girls and women now play some form of football and The FA has 52 licensed FA Centres of Excellence in operation across England, providing weekly quality coaching and a localised fixture programme for talented girls from the age of 8-16.

"Football gives you more confidence and you grow up a lot quicker as you mix with older girls," said Sanderson who has just left Arsenal to join local rivals Chelsea saying she needs a fresh challenge after winning everything with the Gunners. This included being part of the first British team to win the UEFA Women's Cup when Umea IK of Sweden were beaten 1-0 over two legs in 2007. "It also keeps you fit and active and healthy. I'd say to any young girl thinking of taking up the sport to approach their nearest club as I am sure they'll enjoy playing."

Joining her at Chelsea this season from Charlton is Eniola Aluko, England's numbernine who has already played more thanthirty times for England, includingthree appearancesat the World Cup last year, despite having only just turned twenty-one. Born in Lagos in Nigeria her father Daniel Aluko was previously a Senator in the country where he is now working as the director of Political Affairs for the Chevron Oil Company. Aluko's mother runs a private health company based in Birmingham.

Alukostarted playing whenshe was about 7. "Me and my brother were a couple of years apart and he loved playing football so we started playing together," she says."It helped us to communicate with other people and I found out I was quite good at it and my parents encouraged me to play, which was great because it's not a normal thing for girls to play football. My mum was particularly keen".

At the start of the season her brother, Sone,signed a three-year deal to play for Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen where he did well last season on loan from Birmingham, scoring against German giants Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup. After a bright start in which they won three and drew one of their first five fixtures 'The Dons' have lost the next five and currently lie at the foot of the Scottish Premier League.

"My favourite game has to be the FA Cup Final in 2005 when I scored the winning goal and also when we qualified to play in the World Cup finals by drawing in France in September 2006," she said. "I have never felt such exhilaration, it was such a happy time, to play on the World Stage at especially such a young age was amazing. My ambition is to become one of the hest players in the world, and to be recognised as such. I'd love to be able to play football full time, we train every day but the game here is someway behind the USA so finding other work is vital. I've just graduated in law and now I am going to go into legal recruitment consultancy and then eventually become a barrister."

Only days before she spoke to me the FA approved three new initiatives in principle for women's football. These are the launch in 2010 of a new Women's 'Super League' to run during the summer, the appointment of a Women's Performance Manager to lead a new Women's Performance Unit focusing on national teams and talent development and finally National Player central contracts not dissimilar to that operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board. According to a FA spokesperson the latter will allow players to dedicate themselves to England training programmes as part of The FA's strategic vision to create winning England teams for the future. England Women's coach Hope Powell - the architect of the heroics in China that belatedly put English women's football on the sporting map welcomed the initiative."This is another massive step forward for women's football and the England teams," said Powell. "I also hope that it will prevent our best players from joining the Women's Professional Soccer organisation in the USA. Our teams will now arrive at tournaments in early or mid-season, rather than at the end of a long 9-10 months, as was the case at Euro 2005 and in last September's FIFA World Cup in China. These are very exciting times for everyone involved in the women's game."

Joining both Sanderson and Aluko at Chelsea at the start of the season was Sanderson's Arsenal colleague and England defender Anita Asante. Their presence might ensure that for the first time in a number of years the Women's title race is not over before it starts. The partnership between the pair up front will be crucial to Chelsea's prospects.Sanderson -who runs her own soccer school for girls -said, "We've started well together. We've both got good pace, Eniola is the more advanced of the two of us on the pitch, but we have both managed to grab some goals so far. There's no doubt that Arsenal are the team to beat but I think we can match them this season and win the title at the end of the season."

Both London sides have started well, and as of October 12th Chelsea lie just two points behind their rivals having won six and drawn one, against Birmingham City. In addition to Arsenal, Everton also have ahundred percent record with five wins from five, but the Merseysiders having played two games less. Chelsea and Arsenal are due to meet for the first time in the League on Sunday December 7th. In addition to making a fine start in the League the Gunners have also progressed tothe Quarter Finals of the UEFA Women's Cup after recently beating Austrian side SV Neulengbach by six goals to nil. Hopes are high they can recapture the trophy they first won in 2007