Canada's game sees the return of Kelly Parker (2nd half substitute) but the absence of Tancredi who left the first Swiss game in the 7th minute.
I wouldn't read too much into that result. It was played in 3 x 25 minute spells, and the NZ girls were still finding their feet after a ten-hour flight from Sydney to Hong Kong, followed by a six-hour wait at HK airport for the three-hour flight to Jinan. Friday night's match (11.30pm NZT, 7.30pm local) will be a better guide. Cheers, JR
Wow. Suggests an interesting Euro Q group. Rep of Ireland played pretty well in their WCQ too, beat one of Swiss or Russia iirc?
The Scottish FA report says that they were missing five first choice players, although they did have Julie Fleeting back.
Last international match of Annemieke Griffioen. 1-1 equaliser in the 90th minute through Manon Melis.
China 1-0 New Zealand today. New Zealand could do with a few more matches I think. They've got a 4-team friendly tournament in Switzerland in mid-June (Colombia, Denmark, Equatorial Guinea, New Zealand).
Past week I saw two matches of North Korea agianst Belgium (1-0 Belgiam) and agianst Netherlands (1-1) Also the game on zdf vs germany bud I I talk about the two games I saw live in Stadium. I think North Korea will be No problem for USA and Sweden. The team isnt a shadow off the team of 4 years ago. there number 9 Um Sim Ra was the best player. She's one to watch. they do miss a lot of chances so if you agianst good teams like USA/Sweden you dont get so many chances and with worldclass goalkeepers Like Solo and Lindahl there scoring problem will be might even bigger on WC I think even Colombia will be be brigde to high for them this year cause that Yorely Rincom player is good
There was one non official game and one official 1-0 sweden win for the first 2-0 England win for the second
Almost correct. The full draw for the Matchroom Cup, June 15-20, reads: 15th, Saviese Football Ferns v. Wales - 6pm local, 5pm UK, 4am 16th NZ Columbia v. Denmark - 8.30pm local 18th, Apples Wales v. Denmark - 3.30pm local Football Ferns v. Columbia - 6.15pm local, 5.15pm UK, 4.15am 19th NZ 20th, Naters Football Ferns v. Denmark - 5.30pm local, 4.30pm UK, 3.30am 21st NZ Columbia v. Wales - 8pm local Some early mornings coming up for me! ) Cheers, JR
Yeah, Equatorial Guinea was originally announced by the Danish Football Association, but it seems they've opted for Wales instead. Not sure what's happening with Equatorial Guinea. They're the least experienced team, technically the most in need of friendly matches, yet they don't seem to be playing. They were the first team to arrive in Germany (I think they've been there for the last week now) and they also had a match announced against Belgium on 24th May (but Belgium ended up playing North Korea instead). Maybe they believe they can use the element of surprise against the other teams.
Yeah, right. Like the mysteriously good women's national team, that got regularly accused with selecting dudes in WWC qualifying, needs any more elements of surprise . If the threat of a few random penises in a women's football team can't be considered a element of surprise, then goodness knows what Equatorial Guinea are hiding now.
I wouldn't take accusations of using male players at all seriously. I've seen such charges thrown about recklessly between African associations for a decade, and they have never proved true. Equatorial Guinea's truly serious problem is the accusation that they use players who are ineligible because of nationality. On that note, it seems significant that Salimata and Bilguisa Simpore, who starred for the team in the last two African Championships, appear to be missing from the squad training in Germany. There was some question about whether Salimata Simpore, and perhaps her sister, were already cap-tied to Burkina Faso. There are also as many as eight Brasilian-born players in the squad, but there hasn't been any suggestion that they are cap-tied to Brasil. A useful source of information here: http://futboldeguinea.wordpress.com/
Salimata definitely played for Burkina Faso (After playing for Equatorial Guinea), and playing for Equatorial Guinea again subsequently was definitely against FIFA rules (Awa Tou was the other player who did the same thing). It's whether FIFA decide to act on this information or not that is the main question. The facts are all there for anyone to see - FIFA are aware of them - if they choose to ignore them and let Salimata play, then there is something not quite right. Judging by what you've just said though, it seems FIFA may have spoken to the federation and not allowed them to play.