Women’s World Cup Archive

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Moncton gets its chance to prove the city’s ready for Women’s World Cup

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/08/2012

Peter Montopoli

Moncton will get a chance to show off that it’s ready and able to be a Women’s World Cup host city.

On Thursday, the Canadian Soccer Association announced that Moncton will host a friendly between the Canadian women’s team and China on May 30 at the Stade Moncton Stadium.

“The Canadian Soccer Association is pleased to bring world-class soccer to the East Coast and to stage, on Canadian soil, this important preparatory match for the Women’s National Team on the road to the London 2012 Olympics,” said Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli in a release. “We are confident Moncton will prove to be a supportive and enthusiastic home crowd.”
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France shows off its depth in beating Canada at Cyprus Cup

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/06/2012

Marie-Laure Delie

It wasn’t as bad as the disaster from the Women’s World Cup, but France showed it’s still a level above Canada at the final of the Cyprus Cup.

France got a goal in each half as Les Bleus beat our national women’s team 2-0 in the final on Tuesday, denying Canada its bid for a third straight Cyprus Cup championship.

France used all of the players who scored against Canada in that infamous 4-0 game from the 2011 Women’s World Cup. Gaetaene Thiny, who scored twice against Canada in the WWC, got a start in Cyprus. Camille Abily also started. And Elodie Thomis came in as a late sub.

But none of the players who scored against Canada in 2011 got goals in the Cyprus Cup final. Marie-Laure Delie, France’s top threat — who averages almost a goal a game in international play — got the first half opener. And, in the second half, Louisa Necib scored from the spot after Canada’s Rhian Wilkinson fouled Sonia Bompastor in the penalty area.
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Zurrer proves worth in Cyprus Cup win over Netherlands

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/04/2012

Emily Zurrer

Emily Zurrer did her part to show women’s national team coach John Herdman that he was wrong to leave her off the roster for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers.

Zurrer scored the deciding goal as Canada defeated the Netherlands Sunday at the Cyprus Cup, a win which ensured that Big Red will be off to the final.

Zurrer, who was a starter for coach Carolina Morace at the World Cup, wasn’t part of the Canadian team that earned a spot at 2012 Olympics during the recent CONCACAF playdowns at B.C. Place. Herdman said Zurrer’s omission was a coach’s decision, but that he would remain open to bringing her back in the fold.
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Herdman selects women’s Canadian Olympic qualifying roster

By
Steven Sandor
– 12/20/2011

John Herdman

Last week, Canadian female Player of the Year Christine Sinclair enthused that the women’s national team has never had as good a relationship with its coach or the national association as it enjoys right now.

But there is still a lot of work left to be done ahead of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympics. And coach John Herdman is still working to heal the mental scars left by the team’s stunning three-and-out performance at last summer’s World Cup.

As he announced his roster for the upcoming tournament in Vancouver, he also spoke of the need to keep the team’s heads “light, bright and clean.” So, in January, he is bringing in Dr. Ceri Evans, listed on the roster as a “mental trainer” to work with the team, to help boost the player’s confidence after the morale-shattering World Cup — a tournament where the player’s mental toughness was brought into question.

It’s refreshing to see that Herdman puts a lot of stock in the mental side of the game. Right now, a lot of media attention is placed on tactics and tactics alone. The other intangibles the coach brings to a team, from motivation to preparation to helping players improve under their watches — tends to be ignored.
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Player of the Year Sinclair admits she considered taking her game to Europe

By
Steven Sandor
– 12/15/2011

Christine Sinclair with her gold medal at the Pan Am Games.

Canadian women’s player of the year Christine Sinclair admits that she was thinking about making the move to Europe because of the uncertainty surrounding the WPS.

“I’m not ready to not play professionally,” said Sinclair Thursday, as she was named Canada’s female soccer player of the year for the seventh straight year after a vote that wasn’t close. “When there were rumours that WPS might be shut down, for sure I thought about going either to Germany or to Sweden to play.”

WPS was given provisional Division-1 status by the United States Soccer Federation that will be reviewed after the season. After the magicJack franchise was revoked by the league, WPS was left with just five teams, all of them in the Eastern time zone. USSF has given the league a mandate to grow the women’s pro game or lose the sanction. But, for weeks, players and fans have endured story after story about the league’s possible demise.

“I’m thrilled that it’s back for at least one more year,” said Sinclair. “It’s important for North America that it survives, because it has such potential.”
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TSN, CTV, RDS win rights for 2018 and 2022 World Cups and 2015 WWC

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/27/2011

The Bell Media empire, which includes CTV, TSN and RDS, announced Thursday that it had secured the rights for the 2015 Women’s World Cup and the 2018 Russia and 2022 Qatar World Cups.

“This is a historic day for Bell Media and sports broadcasting in Canada . We are thrilled that FIFA has recognized our unmatched ability to produce, promote and market the World Cup to all Canadians,” said Phil King, President, CTV Programming and Sports, in a release issued by Bell Media. “Our production team has a long legacy of delivering outstanding coverage of major international events across multiple platforms. In this partnership, FIFA can expect Bell Media’s coverage to not only serve avid Canadian soccer fans but also showcase their marquee events to non-traditional sports fans. We’ll be working closely with our partners to put a national spotlight on the 2015 Women’s World Cup ensuring the event has a long-term impact on the future of soccer in Canada.”
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FC Edmonton, City officials meet to discuss stadium

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/21/2011

FC Edmonton has confirmed that owner Tom Fath and its brass met with city officials Wednesday to discuss a new venue for the NASL club to call home.

“We were in contact with the City about 24 hours ago,” said FCE general manager Tom Leip on Thursday.

“We are trying to build a relationship with the City, and are encouraging a bigger discussion than on just where we are going to play next year. Our goal is to have a facility for us not only to play in, but to host player development, where our academies can play, that can be used for both the 2014 (U-20 Women’s World Cup) and 2015 (Women’s World Cup) tournaments. We want to have a facility that we can share with other clubs, with the Alberta Soccer Association.”

And has the topic of a new FC Edmonton opening a new stadium to some kind of partnership with the Canadian Soccer Association been discussed? It sure has. Not in detail, but the topic has been broached.

“It’s not that it’s never come up with the CSA,” said Leip.
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Practice fields an issue for Canadian Women’s World Cup organizers

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/13/2011

The seven cities vying to host Women’s World Cup matches don’t just to have first-rate stadiums in place; they need to ensure that visiting teams have top-class pitches on which to train.

In an interview with The 11 on Wednesday, Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli said that the organization is taking the lessons learned from hosting the U-20 World Cup in 2007 and applying them to the plans for the 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

While a lot of the talk focuses on the readiness of stadiums in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Moncton and Halifax, Montopoli noted that Canada has a dearth of top-notch training facilities. The international sides don’t just need great venues in which to play their games — they need great venues in which they can prepare for matches.

“In essence, we need four very good training fields in each city,” said Montopoli. “They need to be at an international standard. There are many options, some can have grass or some can have artificial turf.”
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New Edmonton downtown soccer stadium highlights Heart of the Capital campaign

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/12/2011

A new soccer stadium is one of the key projects being pushed by “Heart of the Capital,” a lobby group that is urging Edmonton’s city council to revitalize the downtown core.

The group of anonymous “young professional advertising executives who chose to remain in Edmonton” have launched a website that advocates the continued revitalization of the city’s downtown. That includes expanded LRT service (already under construction) and a new Royal Alberta Museum (for which the province has already earmarked $500 million). As expected, the proposed downtown arena for the Edmonton Oilers is on the list, but right next to it is the soccer stadium. See it HERE.

FC Edmonton owner Tom Fath confirmed that he’s had no contact with the Heart of the Capital group — that it has taken on this PR blitz without any incentives from the club, which just completed its first NASL season.
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FIFA head of women’s competition gives Edmonton stamp of approval for WWC

By
Steven Sandor
– 09/26/2011

Stephen Mandel with the new slogan, "Edmonton Always Game"

A FIFA delegation that inspected Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium said Monday that it is delighted with the progress the city has made as it prepares to be one of the host cities of the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

“It’s absolutely acceptable to us,” said Tatjana Haenni, FIFA’s head of women’s competitions, in a press conference held Monday in the Alberta capital.

And the former Swiss national teamer said that there is no issue with Commonwealth having an artificial surface.

“The discussion between artificial turf and natural turf is completely open,” she said.
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