March - tba. Gold City Women's Cup is organized by Turkish FA and Evima Football Consulting (known for hosting various youth tournaments) in GoldCity that lies at the foot of Taurus Mountains, part of Kargicak town, 10 km from Alanya, Turkey. Unofficial news: In 2nd edition of this tourney Mexico, Poland and Romania were invited along with hosts Turkey.
Latvia also had this tournament on their calendar, but I can't see it now. Istria Cup has been replaced by a 3-team tournament in Croatia (Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro).
https://ffu.ua/article/32798 France 'B' Jordan Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Mexico Northern Ireland Poland Romania Turkey Ukraine + 1 team to be decided.
Nigeria is there as per Brighton : Brighton & Hove Albion striker Ini Umotong expressed her pride after being called up to the latest Nigeria squad for a friendly tournament in Turkey next week. Umotong will link up with the Super Falcons for the Turkish Women’s Cup - Alanya 2018, and she was delighted to receive international recognition once again.
Seems that Turkey will not participate - they have been replaced by Kosovo 'B' - Kosovo is already the worst-ranked team in the tournament, so this seems a bit strange. http://www.frf.ro/feminin/echipa-na...inina-participa-la-gold-city-cup-id23621.html Group A: Mexico, Poland, Jordan, Latvia Group B: Nigeria, France 'B', Kazakhstan, Kosovo Group C: Ukraine, Romania, Northern Ireland, Kosovo 'B'
This is even stranger, considering that Turkey organized the tournament. I hope this hasn't anything to do with an express choice of un-supporting women's football in Turkey.
Kosovo B will get murdered by anyone they play. They really couldn't find another team to fill in?(Andorra? Luxembourg? Tajikistan? Azerbaijan?)
Dunno...but last minute flying tickets to Turkey gonna be rather expensive as well...Not many national fed's left out there willing to pay two or three time price of the tickets. Polish U-19's are flying there along with senior NT but they have Slovakia's U19 and Turkey's U19 scheldued for matches on 28th and 2nd. How I see it, the only option is to get Turkish fed involved and ask for their WNT...
Looks like it's down to 10 teams. No replacement for Nigeria and no Kosovo B. Still three groups. GROUP A: Mexico, Poland, Jordan, Latvia GROUP B: Kazakhstan, Kosovo, France B GROUP C: Ukraine, Northern Ireland, Romania FIXTURES 28th February Latvia V Mexico Poland V Jordan France B V Kosovo Romania V Ukraine 2nd March Poland V Latvia Mexico V Jordan France B V Kazakhstan Romania V Northern Ireland 4th March Jordan V Latvia Mexico V Poland Kosovo V Kazakhstan Ukraine V Northern Ireland
I know very little about any of these teams --- except Mexico. So, speaking from ignorance, I expect Mexico to win the tournament. It has a new coach, several new players, and several retreads. Moreover, several of the Mexican players have been getting lots of playing time in the Liga MX Femenil, so they should be in good physical condition.
Mexico are favourite but Ukraine and Poland are right behind them. Under new coach Poland has some outstanding results 11-1-1 (only loss with Switzerland 2-1 in WWCQ last year). Unfortunatelly due to injuries they lost three key players before this tournament: Pajor (Wolfsburg), Dudek (PSG) and Tarczyńska (Wolfsburg/SC Sand). Ukraine has decent team as well but in their case it's lack of practice that haunts them.(only 5 games played in a year time) Jordan may surprise with better performance than their ranking would suggest. They aim for beating Thailand in AFC Cup next month and thus to qualify for WWC.
Our B squad is : GK Elisa Launay (Lille OSC) Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (Ol. Lyonnais) DF Annaïg Butel (Paris FC) Hawa Cissoko (Ol. Marseille) Marine Dafeur (Lille OSC) Théa Greboval (Paris FC) Charlotte Lorgeré (EA Guingamp) Anaïs M'Bassidje (Ol. Marseille) MF Charlotte Bilbault (Paris FC) Anna Clérac (ASJ Soyaux) Daphné Corboz (FC Fleury 91) Kenza Dali (Lille OSC) Inès Jaurena (Paris FC) Léa Le Garrec (EA Guingamp) FW Nadjma Ali Nadjim (FC Gir. de Bordeaux) Delphine Cascarino (Ol. Lyonnais) Claire Lavogez (FC Fleury 91) Clara Matéo (Paris FC) Lindsey Thomas (FC Gir. de Bordeaux) Danielle Tolmais (ASJ Soyaux)