Category: Neighbor Watch

Notable news and analysis about the USWNT’s two North American neighbors: Canada and Mexico.

Roster Round-Up: March 2020 International Window

The first full international window of 2020 is upon us. Most active women’s national teams will be participating in friendly tournaments, such as the SheBelieves Cup, the Algarve Cup the noveau Tournoi de France, and others.  Meanwhile, six national teams, including the Matildas of Australia, will be playing in Olympic qualifying play-offs.  Over in UEFA, some teams will continue their qualifying campaigns for the 2021 Women’s Euro.

Here is a special extended edition Roster Round-Up, organized by friendly tournament.  The usual teams are covered in summary detail, while links are provided to the rosters of other notable teams. Continue reading “Roster Round-Up: March 2020 International Window”

CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: Group Stage Stats For Semifinal Teams

Ahead of tonight’s semifinals, which will decide CONCACAF’s two representatives for this Summer Olympic’s women’s soccer tournament, here are summary tournament stats for the four semifinalist squads.

Semifinals (Friday, February 7th):

  • Canada vs. Costa Rica: 7:00 p.m. ET – Fox Soccer Plus (7:06 p.m. kick-off)
  • USWNT vs. Mexico: 10:00 p.m. ET – Fox Sports 1 (10:15 p.m. kick-off)

The statistics were compiled from the CONCACAF website’s match details pages for this tournament, which feature detailed player stats for each match.

Continue reading “CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: Group Stage Stats For Semifinal Teams”

CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship: Mexico to Host; Preliminary Schedule Announced

On Friday, January 31st, CONCACAF released a preliminary schedule for this year’s edition of the CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship, which will be hosted by Mexico from April 18th to May 3rd (CONCACAF.com).*   Up for grabs at the tournament are three tickets to November’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in India. Continue reading “CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship: Mexico to Host; Preliminary Schedule Announced”

CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying: Birth Year Distribution and Comparison Charts

As seen on Twitter, here’s a quick post with charts showing the birth year distribution for each team’s rosters at this year’s CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship.

First up is a stacked bar chart showing the overall distribution, with each team represented by a unique color. Teams are roughly in order of oldest to youngest, based on each squad’s average and median age.

Continue reading “CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying: Birth Year Distribution and Comparison Charts”

2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: USA TV Schedule Announced (Finally!)

After extended negotiations between CONCACAF and FOX Sports for a multi-year and multi-event deal (FOXSports.com), on Monday, FOX Sports announced their airing schedule for the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, which starts on Tuesday, January 28th (a/k/a, “the next day”).

Every match of the tournament will be aired live by a FOX Sports network:  FOX Sports 1 (FS1), FOX Sports 2 (FS2), or FOX Soccer Plus.

Continue reading “2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship: USA TV Schedule Announced (Finally!)”

Neighbor Watch: Canada’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020

And, the award for the most consistent team roster goes to… Canada.

All twenty players on Canada’s roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship were members of their 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad, including every player who featured on-field for Canada in France.

Canada, who earned Bronze Medals in 2012 and 2016, will be hoping to qualify for its fourth-straight Summer Olympics.  Veteran forward Christine Sinclair is also hoping to make her fourth Olympics, while eyeing the career international goals record that is currently held by USWNT legend Abby Wambach. Continue reading “Neighbor Watch: Canada’s Roster For CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying 2020”

Neighbor Watch: Mexico’s Roster for 2020 Olympic Qualifying Announced

After failing to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Mexico faces a steep uphill challenge as it tries to qualify for the women’s soccer tournament at this year’s Summer Olympic in Tokyo. With just two slots available at the upcoming CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualification Championship, Mexico must first finish in the top half of Group B, which also includes two WWC squads, Canada and Jamaica, along with debutante minnow Saint Kitts & Nevis.  Should Mexico get out of the group, most likely in the runner-up spot, behind a solid Canada team, Mexico’s opponent in the all-or-nothing semifinal will be the reigning world champions, the United States Women’s National Team (absent a shock result in Group A). Continue reading “Neighbor Watch: Mexico’s Roster for 2020 Olympic Qualifying Announced”

2020 SheBelieves Cup: England Confirmed, But Germany, France, and Brazil Have Other Plans

Update (13-Jan-2020):  U.S. Soccer has finally published the schedule for this year’s SheBelieves Cup.  The fourth team will be Spain.  Full details, here.

Update (05-Jan-2020):  On December 20th, the JFA published preliminary calendars for their national teams, confirming Japan‘s participation in this year’s tournament.  The identity of the final team has yet-to-be officially confirmed.

Although the teams for the 2020 edition of the SheBelieves Cup have yet to be officially announced, we do have a very good idea of which teams will not be competing against the host, the United States Women’s National Team.

That is because the fields for two other friendly tournaments which will be held during the same international window, the Algarve Cup, as well as a new four-team tournament hosted by France, were both officially confirmed last week.

Also, earlier in November, the FA confirmed that England (#5T) will once again be participating in the SheBelieves Cup.  That nugget was buried in the FA’s press release about their hiring of former USWNT high performance coach Dawn Scott.

Continue reading “2020 SheBelieves Cup: England Confirmed, But Germany, France, and Brazil Have Other Plans”

Roster Round-Up: November 2019 International Window

A (belated) round-up of rosters for top national teams who will be playing (or have played) during the November international window, whether in friendlies or Women’s Euro qualifiers.

Roster covered in this article:

  • CONCACAF:  Canada
  • CONMEBOL:  Brazil
  • AFC: Australia, Japan
  • UEFA:  England, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Norway

The rosters for the United States and Sweden are analyzed in separate articles:

For Costa Rica roster analysis, see Opponent Watch: Costa Rica’s Roster and Depth Chart for November 2019 Friendly

Continue reading “Roster Round-Up: November 2019 International Window”

2020 Olympic Qualifying: Draw Results, Schedule, and Venue Details

Earlier today, CONCACAF held the group draw for the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualification Championship, which will be hosted by the United States.  As hosts, the United States Women’s National Team were placed in Group A. The USA’s opponents in Group A are Costa Rica, Panama, and Haiti. Group B, headlined by Canada will consist of Mexico, Jamaica, and Saint Kitts & Nevis. Continue reading “2020 Olympic Qualifying: Draw Results, Schedule, and Venue Details”