Archive for World Cup
Canada advances to Round 3 of World Cup qualifying play…
Posted by: | CommentsCanada won its group in Round 2 with 4 wins and 2 ties.
There are 12 teams remaining: Canada and the five other pool winners from the second qualifying round have been joined by the region’s six top-ranked teams, as of the March 2011 FIFA ratings.
Canada, ranked 83rd in the world, has been drawn in Group C along with No. 53 Panama, No. 57 Honduras, and No. 100 Cuba.
The top two in each pool advance to the final round in the region. That means the Canadians, should they progress, have a minimum of 16 matches ahead in the road to Brazil.
In Round 3, Canada will play in Group C.
June 8th, 2012 at Cuba
June 12th vs Honduras
September 7th vs Panama
September 11th at Panama
October 12th vs Cuba
October 16th at Honduras
Canada’s path to Brazil – 2014
Posted by: | CommentsToday in Rio de Janeiro, Canada learned the path it will need to follow if it wants to play in the World Cup 2014 to be held in Brazil.
On paper, it looks good for Canada. There are 3.5 spots up for grabs among the CONCACAF teams.
CONCACAF, the soccer confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean, receives three automatic berths for the World Cup.
The fourth-place team from CONCACAF will play a two-game, home-and-away playoff against the winner of the Oceania region in order to qualify.
The CONCACAF teams will have 4 qualifying rounds. Canada starts qualifying play in Round 2. Canada is in a group with St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico and St. Lucia.
Canada must win this group to advance to Round 3. It would be quite the embarrassment if Canada does not win its Round 2 group.
In Round 3, Canada would be in a group with Honduras, Cuba and the winner of Round 2′s Group C. (Panama, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Dominican Republic)
The advantage Canada gets out of this draw is that we avoid playing the USA, Mexico and….Guatemala(!) until Round 4.
Morace quits on Canada…
Posted by: | CommentsI was catching up on some reading Sunday afternoon.
I was very surprised to see in the Globe and Mail that Carolina Morace (and her entire coaching staff) had quit as coach of Canada’s Women’s National Soccer Team.
With Morace’s departure, the CSA will now have to work quickly to find a successor. Qualifying for London 2012 takes place in Vancouver in January. Two teams from the CONCACAF region which includes the United States and Mexico will advance to the Olympics.
Carolina Morace
From Richard Starnes of the Ottawa Citizen.
Because of the failure, Wednesday’s debriefing was bound to get a little tough.
Although none of those at Wednesday’s day-long Ottawa meeting was prepared to discuss what happened, it appeared clear that aspects of training, tournament preparation, performances and how to refine the program to avoid a repeat of what had happened in Germany were under close scrutiny.
“It is normal after major competitions we would review and debrief,” CSA general secretary Peter Montopoli said Friday. “In this case, it was a little more formal than usual since we have partners in the program.
Canada’s 2011 World Cup Group….
Posted by: | CommentsThe Canadian Women were in Group A of the FIFA 2011 World Cup.
Hosts and defending Champions Germany, along with France and Nigeria were the other teams in the group.
Would it be fair to say that not many folks would have picked France to be the last team standing from this group?
Canada’s World Cup was a massive disaster! Germany had three wins and then got knocked out by Japan in the quarter finals.
France had two wins and a loss in round play before beating England in the quarter finals. Of the four quarter finals, I enjoyed the France/England game the most.
One of the reasons was the play of Gaëtane Thiney.
Gaetane is an impressive player…and mighty cute to boot.
The France/USA semi final should be quite interesting.
Gaetane Thiney scored
two goals against Canada
Canada’s disaster in Germany…
Posted by: | CommentsThe 2011 Women’s World Cup has turned into a disaster for Canada.
The must win game on Thursday June 30th ended up turning into a brutal 4-0 loss to France.
Christine Sinclair after
Canada's brutal loss to France
Here are three links on the story.
I’ll start with the CBC.
Here’s George Johnson’s latest writeup.
Richard Starnes from the Ottawa Citizen has a good read on the topic.
We need big business to recognize that this is the most played women’s game in the country — by far.
More than 400,000 females are registered players, which represents an extremely attractive demographic.
The English Premier League is sponsored by Barclay’s Bank.
So where is a Canadian bank ready to pump in a few million of its marketing dollars?
And as Starnes concludes…..
Remember, Canada is the host for the next World Cup finals.
We need to make absolutely certain that we are not an international embarrassment in 2015.
We have the participation and we almost certainly have the talent.
So let Morace lead the way in unearthing it.
Countdown to Germany…
Posted by: | CommentsThe FIFA Women’s World Cup begins Sunday June 26th.
Stephen Brunt has a good read leading up to the next weekend’s opening matches, Canada plays host Germany, Sunday June 26th at 10am Calgary time.
Brunt interviews one of the top players in the world, Canada’s Christine Sinclair and the impact that coach Carolina Morace has had on the players.
Morace, who played internationally for Italy, decided to start from scratch, breaking down the players’ skills, making them relearn the basics, teaching them a possession-oriented, short-passing style, all of which is easier said than done given that the team is together only occasionally, and then not at home, but at their training base in Italy.
Both Morace and the game she has brought with her have been a revelation for Sinclair.
Carolina Morace – not one for empty gestures…..
Posted by: | CommentsCarolina Morace is the coach of Canada’s Women’s Soccer Team.
She has been doing a very good job in succeeding Evan Pellerud’s 2000-2008 stint as coach.
The article is from Saturday, May 7th Globe and Mail.
The Women’s World Cup starts June 26th in Germany. Canada’s opening game is against the host Germans in Berlin.
Carolina Morace
Coach of the Canadian
Women's Soccer Team
Canada awarded 2015 Women’s World Cup
Posted by: | CommentsI’m very pleased that Canada will host the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
Here’s a link to an article last November just after Canada won the CONCACAF tournament to qualify for the 2011 World Cup to be held in Germany starting June 26th.
Jeff Blair writes in Saturday’s Globe and Mail about soccer finally coming of age in Canada.
Canada's coach Carolina Morache (L) passes the trophy after their
team beat Mexico to win the CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifying
tournament soccer match in Cancun November 8, 2010
FIFA Follies…..
Posted by: | CommentsFirst FIFA made the odd choice of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
It now occurs to FIFA that it’s hot, very, very hot in Qatar.
Too hot for soccer?
World Cup hosts named for 2018, 2022
Posted by: | CommentsI would like to attend a World Cup.
Russia will host the 2018 World Cup
What are my choices? Brazil in 2014
Russia in 2018. They are rather sad in England over this.
And Qatar in 2022.
Yikes! I’m not sure any of these locations is a good choice for a Canadian tourist.
