Congrats to both teams for making it to the very first U19 WWC final. This match will be played at 1pm EDT up in Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. The match will be carried live on Fox Sports World as well as some Canadian TV station. Canada got to this point by winning on PKs against a dirty Brasilian team. The American squad beat Germany. I am not extremely familiar with either team but I do believe Canada's main weapons are 15 y.o. phenom Karie?? Lang and Christine Sinclair. The US squad seems to be stacked with up-and-coming young guns such as Heather O' Reilly and Kelly Wilson. And Commonwealth Stadium should be rocking for this match. Last night I said I may do a PBP for this match on Sunday but I just remembered that my GF will be giving birth to our second child that afternoon so I may not be able to do this.
How much of a need/desire is there for a PbP? I can help out with some PbP and irreverent analysis but I would need others to help as I get caught up in the game at times and miss posting expeditiously.
Canadians to watch. In addition to Christine Sinclair and Kara Lang, Carmelina Moscato is an amazingly talented midfielder who excels at picking out Lang and Sinclair and others with her crosses and off set pieces. She went out with a foot injury at the 35 minute mark against Brazil. Another to watch is Candace Chapman who normally plays fullback but lined up in the midfield against Brazil. Very skilled and very fast. Likes to join the attack whenever the possibility presents itself.
Haha. You might want to be there for that. You will be paying her back for a long time if you are not there.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/story/10307558143807.shtml?sport=soccer&STORY_OID=10307558143807 A Canadian team perspective on the final.
What happened in the Brazil-Canada game? I read that Brazil played very scrappy and the coach was ejected.
Very scrappy indeed. We saw the best and the worst of Brazilian soccer all rolled up into one game. Compounded by a ref who was clearly out of her league. Beautiful skills and possession soccer displayed by Brazil for the last 35 minutes or so spoiled by a total disregard for fair play and player safety. Quite disgusting at times: clutching grabbing, elbows, dirty tackles whinning, complaining, play acting, the whole nine yards. The ref lost control early. The coach thatwas ejected was constantly running out onto the field screaming at the officials. The Ref blew a penalty call each way, and while the Brazilian assistant was gracious about the called missed in the Brazilian end, he went absolutely balistic when a Canadian back clearly fouled a Brazilian in the Canadian penalty area. I guess he could only tolerate the one mistake The Canadian penalty awarded in extra time was questionabe too given the number of similar offences the ref had allowed over the course of the game. In a properly controled game it was a penalty, in this one questionable only because standards had deteriorated so far. Sinclair had a weak go at it and it was saved, and that was probably a just result over all. A real barn burner though, with Canada just hanging on desperately for the last 30 minutes after carying play for the first half.
gousa9 did a wonderful pbp of the Brazil-Canada game in the National Teams forum. You can relive the excitement here.
hi there! just thought i'd put in my two cents... as ppl have mentioned above, sinclair and lang will definitly be looked to to score, but i must point out two other players from team canada who i think is super essential to the team: 1. CLARE RUSTAD in my opinion, clare was POTM vs. brasil. she's a very steady player in the defense, and got lots of height to challenge for set pieces and defensive clearences. she's also very tatically scound and very mature, and is a leader on the field. 2. SASHA ANDREWS she's our rock in the back. i think she did an amazing job last game and came up with some very big saves in 1v1 situations, and is physical and a tough defender to go up against. in regards to the status of sinclair and moscato for the final, both players should be ready to go. sincy has healed up from the ankle injury, and carm should also be ready to go. moscato is essential on corner kicks and set pieces, as her service is first rate. i think, a key for canada is if they can keep the score low and/or close, they might just sneak out with a win. we'll be the underdogs going in, having lost the last 3 games vs. the US, (w/o being @ full strength), but the team has exceeded expectations far and beyond, and you just never know....the stadium should be rockin', and with everyone behind us, it just might put us over the top! i hope to be home in time for the kickoff!!! should be a good game!!!! elaine
Sell out There are going to be 63,000+ for the game, a sell-out. That must be some type of record for U19 women, hopefully this provides a good example of why Canada could host the Women's World Cup in 2007 or the mens in 2014.