{"id":36953,"date":"2014-08-05T08:08:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T08:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=36953"},"modified":"2014-08-05T08:08:41","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T08:08:41","slug":"fact-sheet-all-16-teams-of-canada-2014-womens-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/08\/fact-sheet-all-16-teams-of-canada-2014-womens-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact sheet: all 16 teams of Canada 2014 Women’s World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Ghana is in international competition. Yes, again.<\/p>\n
Would it be good news in the end or another shameful story about in-fighting as has been since in the last World Cup in Brazil or the just-ended Commonwealth Games?<\/p>\n
We’d soon know.<\/p>\n
The Women’s World Cup begins today in Canada play the opening game at midnight GMT.<\/p>\n
This is a warm-up for the big event next year, the 2015 Women\u2019s World Cup, and a large portion of these players will be there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Canada<\/strong> Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n Qualified<\/strong>\u00a0Beat Equatorial Guinea on penalties for one of two African berths Finland<\/strong><\/p>\n Qualified<\/strong>\u00a0Finished as a semi-finalist in the 2013 UEFA European Women\u2019s Under-19 Championship for one of the four European tickets <\/p>\n North Korea<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0As hosts
\nCanada comes into the tournament with five teenagers who have already played for the senior team. Jessie Fleming is one. Fleming served as captain of the Under-17 women\u2019s team, which made it to the quarter-finals. She turned 16 in March, but senior coach John Herdman told the\u00a0London Free-Press<\/em>: \u201cHer football age is up there. In terms of her cognitive ability, what she sees on the pitch, her perception, her skill set, her footwork, she has all these things in her locker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThis is Ghana\u2019s third appearance at the Under-20 event. But it did not take much to get here. They only scored one goal in qualifying, and they won their first two qualifiers by default. The Black Princesses made the trip to Canada earlier in the month, spending two weeks acclimatizing before their first game at BMO Field against the Canadians on August 6.<\/p>\n
\nThe Finns have never played in a senior World Cup on either the men\u2019s or women\u2019s side before. So any time they play on the international level is \u201cfantastic for all of girls\u2019 and women\u2019s football in Finland, not just for this team,\u201d said coach Marianne Miettinen. But their last appearance in this competition was not kind. Finland conceded 12 goals and scored just once in three defeats in 2006.<\/p>\n
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Claimed one of three berths in Asia after finishing second in a group of six in the 2013 AFC Under-19 Women\u2019s Championship
\nNorth Korea does not look like a soccer nation, but they are a force at the Under-20 level. They won the 2006 title as tournament debutantes, and they have progressed past the group stage in each of their last three appearances since then. North Korea beat China and blew out Australia to get here. It will be the fifth time they have participated in the competition.<\/p>\n