GROUP A
A tough group which sees the home nation and three aptly matched teams.
Germany
Hosts have the double edged sword of often being favourites but having the pressure of, well, being the hosts. Ranked Number 2 in the world the current captain Birgit “now you’ll think of that dance video” Prinz holds 211 caps. At her club, FFC Frankfurt, Prinz has formed a formidable scoring partnership with Sandra Smisek causing them to be nicknamed Cookie and Crumb. I’m unsure why and quite frankly scared to ask.
The squad are in the Fergie mould; they’ve been around each other for a good while and have developed a good consistency, much like cookies. Coach Silvia Neid was a player and assistant coach, whatever the German is for boot-room, this is it. Traditionally strong and certainly expected to progress to the latter stages. At recent training camps coach Neid stated that she was looking to get her ‘golden formation’
Canada
The hosts of the next World Cup they also have an Italian international (Carolina Morace) as their coach, bells ringing anyone? They’ve come to the competition on a run of good form, winning all five games, scoring 17 goals and conceding none.
Perhaps then we could look to the keeper Karina “no I don’t know Joey” LeBlanc in terms of bucking the normal perceptions of female goalies. Karina has her own website which features pics of her leaping in the air in front of monuments http://www.karinaleblanc.com/. She also seems pretty useful; Time will tell.
Going forward Canada will be looking towards Christine Sinclair, 116 goals in 159 appearances (and still 28) marks her out as the obvious danger. That said her coach did once say she was the Michael Owen of Canadian Women’s football, a comment which saw stocks in physios and horse stable suppliers momentarily reach and all time high.
Don’t let that fool you, Kyle (an attacking midfielder) and Filigno (a 20 year old forward) will also pitch in if given the opportunity both are young and have shown form. The latter also has hair to make even Andy Carrol wince.
The hosts of the next World Cup they also have an Italian international (Carolina Morace) as their coach, bells ringing anyone? They’ve come to the competition on a run of good form, winning all five games, scoring 17 goals and conceding none.
Perhaps then we could look to the keeper Karina “no I don’t know Joey” LeBlanc in terms of bucking the normal perceptions of female goalies. Karina has her own website which features pics of her leaping in the air in front of monuments http://www.karinaleblanc.com/. She also seems pretty useful; Time will tell.
Going forward Canada will be looking towards Christine Sinclair, 116 goals in 159 appearances (and still 28) marks her out as the obvious danger. That said her coach did once say she was the Michael Owen of Canadian Women’s football, a comment which saw stocks in physios and horse stable suppliers momentarily reach and all time high.
Don’t let that fool you, Kyle (an attacking midfielder) and Filigno (a 20 year old forward) will also pitch in if given the opportunity both are young and have shown form. The latter also has hair to make even Andy Carrol wince.
Nigeria
The Super Falcons are looking to translate their dominance in African competitions into something more global. Most reading this will be nodding and thinking “sounds a bit like the men’s team” from years past. The outlook is good though, their U20s made the final in the U20s World Cup last year.
In terms of players it’s really about Perpetua Nkowcha, the 35 year old midfielder who has seen the last two tournaments. Aptly named she’s the dynamo of the team and will be crucial to their chances. Upfront the Falcons boast a young chick (sexist?? - Ed) in Ebere Orji. She’s every type of fast-cliché and will be worth keeping your eye on. Doubtless there’s been many a comical situation involving an invite to a party of hers and dyslexia, but I’ll allow you to imagine it.
At the back Precious Dede is a long term feature, touted as the best goalie in Africa. Given my earlier tip about LeBlanc it’ll be interesting to see how she fares. And fare she might, Nigeria may spring a surprise but with Germany in the group and Canada in form it will be anything but easy.
Interesting fact involving tranvestisism
In 2006 a man was arrested for impersonating Nkowcha in order to get loans, he was doing rather well until he asked a cousin of the real Nkowcha for some money. In his defence he did very well, taking large sums and apparently having many romantic offers.
The Super Falcons are looking to translate their dominance in African competitions into something more global. Most reading this will be nodding and thinking “sounds a bit like the men’s team” from years past. The outlook is good though, their U20s made the final in the U20s World Cup last year.
In terms of players it’s really about Perpetua Nkowcha, the 35 year old midfielder who has seen the last two tournaments. Aptly named she’s the dynamo of the team and will be crucial to their chances. Upfront the Falcons boast a young chick (sexist?? - Ed) in Ebere Orji. She’s every type of fast-cliché and will be worth keeping your eye on. Doubtless there’s been many a comical situation involving an invite to a party of hers and dyslexia, but I’ll allow you to imagine it.
At the back Precious Dede is a long term feature, touted as the best goalie in Africa. Given my earlier tip about LeBlanc it’ll be interesting to see how she fares. And fare she might, Nigeria may spring a surprise but with Germany in the group and Canada in form it will be anything but easy.
Interesting fact involving tranvestisism
In 2006 a man was arrested for impersonating Nkowcha in order to get loans, he was doing rather well until he asked a cousin of the real Nkowcha for some money. In his defence he did very well, taking large sums and apparently having many romantic offers.
France
Leaving their counterparts to do the cat-fighting the French side have made good progress under their coach Bruno Bini. Yep – a male coach but one who has done very well. In the last World Cup they were in the group of death with Norway and Germany. France held their own and finished joint top.
As seems to be the trend they qualified top of their group, scoring 50 goals and conceding none. The squad are young and this could be the chance for them to really make an impression.
As with Nigeria the centre mid boasts their key player and in this case it’s Sandrine Soubeyrand, the captain and holder of over 150 caps. The attacking ability of Eugenie Le Sommer will cause worry to most defences, she plays more off the main striker and will look to cause mayhem. In Thomis they have one of the fastest players whilst Delie has been scoring for fun (18 caps, 18 goals). The only downsides is that they haven’t played strong enough teams, the other point to note is that they aren’t the tallest of sides, with only a couple of players over 5’6. Even Wenger could handle this lot at set pieces.
Leaving their counterparts to do the cat-fighting the French side have made good progress under their coach Bruno Bini. Yep – a male coach but one who has done very well. In the last World Cup they were in the group of death with Norway and Germany. France held their own and finished joint top.
As seems to be the trend they qualified top of their group, scoring 50 goals and conceding none. The squad are young and this could be the chance for them to really make an impression.
As with Nigeria the centre mid boasts their key player and in this case it’s Sandrine Soubeyrand, the captain and holder of over 150 caps. The attacking ability of Eugenie Le Sommer will cause worry to most defences, she plays more off the main striker and will look to cause mayhem. In Thomis they have one of the fastest players whilst Delie has been scoring for fun (18 caps, 18 goals). The only downsides is that they haven’t played strong enough teams, the other point to note is that they aren’t the tallest of sides, with only a couple of players over 5’6. Even Wenger could handle this lot at set pieces.
Group A Fixtures26th June Germany v Canada 17:00 26th June Nigeria v France 14:00 30th June Germany v Nigeria 19:45 30th June Canada v France 17:00 5th July France v Germany 19:45 5th July Canada v Nigeria 19:45 (For the full Word Cup fixture list click here) |
Results2-1 0-1 1-0 0-4 2-3 0-1 |
Group A table
P W D L F A PTS
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