2012 Algarve Cup

Teams pretty much as usual:

29th Feb-7th March
China, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, USA

'C' Group will be Portugal + 3 yet to be decided teams of similar rank to Portugal.

It would be nice to see all continents involved - Africa, South America (apart from Chile last year) and Oceania all seem to be absent from this.

The Cyprus Cup will be held at about the same time (28th Feb-6th March in 2012)

Odd, no Finland this year

Well someone had to be pushed out when both Germany and Japan want to play. They lost to Portugal last year so should probably be in the C group

with South Africa heading to the Olympics, this would be a good tournament for them as well as Colombia. Finland would be my final team.

South Africa have chosen to play the Cyprus Cup in the past, so might prefer this option, as they'll get to face better sides (England, Netherlands, Canada, Scotland, France, Italy, etc.) rather than Portugal, which will prepare them better for the Olympics.

Since the advent of 3 groups, the Algarve Cup has pretty much always been a North America/Northern Europe/East Asia affair.

5 teams have been ever present since the 3-group format was introduced, with the other 3 teams changing over the years, but mostly being Finland, Germany + 1 other team.

Participations (1994-2012) (3 participants of 2012 not known yet)
DENMARK 19
NORWAY 19
PORTUGAL 19
SWEDEN 19
FINLAND 18
CHINA 17
USA 17
GERMANY 8
ICELAND 8
FRANCE 5
WALES 5
CANADA 4
IRELAND 4
ITALY 4
NETHERLANDS 3
AUSTRIA 2
ENGLAND 2
JAPAN 2
GREECE 2
MEXICO 2
NORTHERN IRELAND 2
POLAND 2
ROMANIA 2
AUSTRALIA 1
CHILE 1
FAROE ISLANDS 1
RUSSIA 1
SCOTLAND 1

oh...

China.you are here

Schedule :

Group A:

29. Feb Iceland - Germany
China - Sweden

2. March Iceland - Sweden
China - Germany

5. March Iceland - China
Germany - Sweden


USA , Japan , Norway and Denmark in group B


http://www.ksi.is/landslid/nr/9790


http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500014&tx_dfbnews_pi1[showUid]=30552&tx_dfbnews_pi4[cat]=57

any idea who'll be joining Portugal in Group C???

Possible Belgium in group C ?

Belgium also tried to get into the 2012 Cyprus Women's Cup, but they chose Northern Ireland instead.
Belgium says they will again for the 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup.

From DBU, the schedule for Group B

29 Feb: Japan vs Norway; US vs Denmark
2 Mar: Denmark vs Japan; Norway vs US
5 Mar: US vs Japan; Denmark vs Norway

http://www.dbu.dk/landshold/kvindelandshold/A-landsholdstruppen/program.aspx

Portugal, Wales Hungary and Ireland according to she kicks tweet :

@SheKicksdotnet




Confirmation of teams in Algarve Cup 2012, Rep of Ireland make 1st app since 2008, Wales return. Grp C: PORTUGAL, WALES, HUNGARY & IRELAND.

http://www.f-paper.com/?i1069597-Yi...e-Cup-play-against-Germanys-Xu-Yuan-Ma-Xiaoxu

Confirmed here in this 14th December report from China.

USA vs Japan, the neverending challenge

How I wish I could be there... what week-day the 5th of march is? (I am too much lazy to go watching a calendar )

Go to google.com

Type "5th march 2012"

Are you so lazy that you can't do this?

It's taken you longer to type out that sentence than it would have taken you to look it up yourself.

Lol, is it so simple that even I can do it?

Mmm, it seems like it's a monday... not a perfect day to plan to skip working... I'd have preferred the match to be in the week-end...

Oh, well, i'll consider a short holiday in Portugal, but I am really not sure.

There will be three group matches in group C as follows:

Wednesday 29th February v Portugal
Friday 2nd March v Republic of Ireland
Monday 5th March v Hungary

http://www.faw.org.uk/news/FAW82043.ink

Rematch, mmmh? Well, we can't really say that there are the same goods at stake, but, as a Nadeshiko Japan's fan, I accept the defy!

It seems you are devastating with weaker teams, US squad (see CONCACAF qualifiers), but we are the World Champions, and we're waiting for you! ^__^

1-22 life-time but fairy tales do happen at the right time like a championship match.

The Irish squad was named yesterday http://www.fai.ie/international/senior-women/102351.html

I guess we get to see whether it really was a Cinderella story at both the Algarve and the Olympics.

O and WC are major. What is the Algarve? That's no different than the USA just wrecking all those teams in the last tournament. God knows who will win that. USA won the last two. I didnt even remember that. Guaranteed they route Japan in the Olympics. Amazing Japan became the USA's chief competition with a record of 1-22 or something like. Like i said, only on this board and in women's soccer. in any other sport, it's a cinderella story, even in the NFL.

Complete schedule with venues

http://www.dfb.de/fileadmin/user_upload/2012/02/algarve_cup_-_spielplan.pdf

I guess you mean "rout" not "route". Anyway, I think you said something similar before the World Cup, right?

At the highest levels (Olympics and WWC), I would not go as far as to say that any result is guaranteed anymore.
Maybe Japan had a Cinderella story at WC, we will see what happens at Olympics.