{"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>
\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

Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n

Qualified<\/strong>\u00a0Beat Equatorial Guinea on penalties for one of two African berths
\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

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
\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

 <\/p>\n

North Korea<\/strong>
\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

\"ghh\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Germany<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Finished as a semi-finalist in the the UEFA European Women\u2019s Under-19 Championship
\nThree-time finalists and two-time winners of the Under-20 World Cup, Germany is never out of it. They have won five out of the past six titles with the U.S. Several of its players have already suited up for the senior squad. Pauline Bremer plays for one of the most successful women\u2019s teams in Germany, 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, and she was also the top scorer last year at the UEFA Under-19 Women\u2019s Championship, which Germany naturally won.<\/p>\n

U.S.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Qualified<\/strong>\u00a0Took one of three spots in North America after winning the 2014 CONCACAF Under-20 Women\u2019s Championship
\nThe Americans won the first competition back in Edmonton in 1992, and they are coming back to Canada in search of a record fourth title. They are one of four nations that has played in all six previous tournaments, and they had a relatively time getting here, scoring 10 goals in the semi-final and final of the Under-20 CONCACAF Women\u2019s Championship. Most of the current roster is playing with college teams, but forward Lindsey Horan is the only one playing abroad with Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n

China<\/strong><\/p>\n

Qualified<\/strong>\u00a0Finished third in the 2013 AFC Under-19 Women\u2019s Championship
\nThe Chinese men have only qualified for the World Cup once. It is the women\u2019s game that is their strength. But \u201cthere is still a long way to go,\u201d coach Wang Jun told FIFA.com. China has not progressed past the group stage of this tournament since 2006, and this year will not be not much easier. They will play Brazil, Germany and the U.S., and they will travel for several days before their first game \u2014 the longest journey of all participating nations \u2014 to reach Edmonton\u2019s Commonwealth Stadium, where they contest their opening Group B match on August 5.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brazil<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Earned one of Conmebol\u2019s two berths by winning the final of the South American Under-20 Women\u2019s Championship
\nCoach Doriva Bueno Pacheco has his sights on a bigger prize: the Olympics. \u201cSome of our players could be competing there,\u201d he told FIFA.com. \u201cWe\u2019ve even had the women\u2019s senior team coach along to watch us train and play.\u201d So Canada is almost a testing ground for these players, who will go back to Brazil and possibly do what the Brazilian men could not: win at home. The women have participated in every edition of the Under-20 Women\u2019s World Cup but they have never won.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Canada<\/a>
Canada captain Kinley McNicoll<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

England<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Finished as runners-up in the the UEFA European Women\u2019s Under-19 Championship
\nThis is a team based on meritocracy: Every squad member has represented England at the youth level previously at some point. The team is coached by Mo Marley, who made 41 appearances with the England senior squad, and also coached the Everton Ladies. And she is tough: In 2002, once she was in a position to make personnel decisions at the club, Marley fired her own husband to take that Everton coaching job for herself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

South Korea<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Topped the group in the 2013 AFC Under-19 Women\u2019s Championship
\nJang Selgi used to play defence. Now South Korea is relying on her to score. An offside call was once a good thing for Selgi; and then there she was last year, eluding the offside trap to get a goal as a striker. She was the MVP and the top scorer at the 2013 AFC Under-19 championship, netting eight goals as South Korea finished as champion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mexico<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Finished as runners-up in the 2014 CONCACAF Under-20 Women\u2019s Championship
\nFor Mexico, it is all about progress. \u201cWe have come through the group stages in the last two World Cups,\u201d said coach Christopher Cuellar, \u201cso that has to be our objective.\u201d They will have to score to do it. In the CONCACAF tournament earlier this year, Mexico registered more shots on goal (113) than any other country, and Tanya Samarzich scored a pair of hat tricks. Samarzich\u2019s father is Serbian, and she was born in California, but she will be leading her mother\u2019s country in Canada.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nigeria<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Beat South Africa 7-0 on aggregate to progress
\nNigeria is the only African nation to appear in every edition of this tournament. In 2010, they lost in the final to host country Germany, and in 2012 they fell in the semi-finals to the U.S. But there is perhaps more pressure on this current roster than any before them to break through and finally claim a title of their own. Coach Peter Dedevbo calls it \u201cthe baby team of the federation, they like the team so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Team<\/a>
Team Nigeria are quietly building a reputation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Zealand<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Beat Papua New Guinea in the final of the 2014 OFC Under-20 Women\u2019s Championship to claim Oceania\u2019s only berth in this World Cup
\nNo team from New Zealand has ever made the knockout round of a FIFA tournament. They are still a young soccer nation. So they are looking to make history in Canada, where they will make their fifth appearance in the competition. To get here, the New Zealanders only had to beat the lesser nations of Oceania, including the small island of Vanuatu, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n

Paraguay<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Finished as runners-up in the South American Under-20 Women\u2019s Championship
\nParaguay is the second South American team to qualify for this year\u2019s tournament, and that alone is a triumph. Their success in qualifying \u2014 which is usually dominated by Chile, Colombia and Brazil \u2014 earned them a spot in the Under-20 women\u2019s World Cup for the first time. They scored 15 goals in that qualifying campaign, and they will likely gun for more. \u201cWe want to reach the last four,\u201d said striker Jessica Martinez.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

France<\/strong>
\nQualified<\/strong>\u00a0Beat England in the final of the 2013 UEFA European Women\u2019s Under-19
\nFourth place is usually theirs. The French finished in fourth at both the 2011 women\u2019s World Cup and the 2012 Olympics, and fourth is the highest they have finished at any of the four Under-20 events for which they qualified. But there is some hope. They won the Under-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan in 2012. A good chunk of the current roster comes from that championship team, and several players suit up for one of the best French squads in Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n

Costa Rica<\/strong><\/p>\n

Qualified<\/strong>\u00a0Beat Trinidad and Tobago 7-3 in the third-place match of the 2014 CONCACAF Under-20 Women\u2019s Championship
\nCosta Rica is almost a forgotten thought in the CONCACAF region. Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are the mainstays, and yet here are the Costa Ricans, making their second appearance at the Under-20 women\u2019s World Cup. Qualifying was easier without Canada, which qualified automatically as the host nation. Costa Rica\u2019s men made it all the way to the quarter-finals in the World Cup in Brazil, and perhaps there is magic in the ladies, too.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Compiled by the Citi Sports desk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Ghana is in international competition. Yes, again. 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? We’d soon know. The Women’s World Cup begins today in Canada play the opening game at midnight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":36958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1949,29,3,1950],"yoast_head":"\nFact sheet: all 16 teams of Canada 2014 Women's World Cup - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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