Tag: Netherlands WNT

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”

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”

Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: November 2019 Group Stage Window Recap and Highlights

UEFA Women's Euro logo

The year’s final qualifying matches for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 ended in disappointment for the Republic of Ireland and Portugal, who both saw late equalizers dash their hopes of full points, as well as Spain and Wales, who were each held to scoreless draws.  Top contenders, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria all finish the year on full points, as all are yet to concede a draw or lost.

Qualifying for the 2021 Women’s Euro, which will be hosted by England, resumes in March 2020, although most of the top contenders do not restart their qualifying campaigns until April 2020.

England, was also in action this window, playing two friendlies:  First, hosting Germany at Wembley in front of a home attendance record of 77,768 on Saturday, and then an away friendly at the Czech Republic on Tuesday.

Continue reading “Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: November 2019 Group Stage Window Recap and Highlights”

Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: October 2019 Group Stage Window Recap and Highlights

UEFA Women's Euro logo

Qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 continued this month, with no significant surprise results among the top teams.  That said, the October window was not without drama:

In Group A, the Netherlands needed a 78th minute goal to separate themselves from Slovenia.  Elsewhere, Kazakhstan held expected Group G winner France scoreless for over 55 minutes.  And, in Group B, minnow Malta kept Italy off the scoresheet for even longer, at almost 70 minutes.

But the match of the window was the Republic of Ireland’s 3:2 victory over Ukraine, which saw Ukraine equalize at 2:2 just fifteen minutes after Ireland took a 2-nil lead.  The tie did not last for long, as a deflected blocked shot led to a decisive own goal in favor of the home team.

Host England was also in action, playing two friendlies, losing to Brazil in Middlesbrough and defeating Portugal 1:0 on the road.  The victory against Portugal snapped a five-game winless streak that stretched back to the Lionesses semifinal loss to the United States in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. Continue reading “Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: October 2019 Group Stage Window Recap and Highlights”

Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: October International Window Preview

UEFA Women's Euro logoQualifying for the 2021 UEFA Women’s Euro continues this week, with 31 matches being played this window, including 10 matches on Friday, October 4th and 17 matches on Tuesday, October 8th.  France and Spain, who both had byes in the first qualifying window, start their qualification campaigns with relatively easy opponents.

Format Summary:  Each group winner and the top three runners-up qualify for the final tournament, which is hosted by England.  The remaining six runners-up are paired in home-and-away playoffs for the final three slots.

See my 2021 UEFA Women’s Euro – Qualifying Group Stage Guide (PDF, 1.7MB) for more details, as well as a complete list of all groups, all matches, helpful schedule tables, and more.

The marquee match of the window is in Group “I”, with the Republic of Ireland hosting Ukraine on Tuesday, in a Pot 3 vs. Pot 2 match-up.  Both teams are vying for the runner-up spot in a group that should be dominated by powerhouse Germany, who first host Ukraine on Saturday, October 5th, before traveling to Greece for a Tuesday away match. Continue reading “Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: October International Window Preview”

Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: August-September 2019 Group Stage Window Recap

UEFA Women's Euro logoQualifying for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021, which will be hosted by England, got underway last week, as 30 matches were played over six days.  None of the top favorites stumbled, as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Iceland, and Russia each earned two wins out of two matches, while other notable teams, such as Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria each won their only qualifying match of the window. Continue reading “Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: August-September 2019 Group Stage Window Recap”

Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: Match Highlights for the August-September 2019 Group Stage Window

UEFA Women's Euro logoOfficial highlights of nine Women’s Euro qualifying matches, featuring Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and more, plus the two England friendlies (versus Belgium and Norway) and the France-Spain friendly.

Most videos are from YouTube, while some are embedded inside Twitter tweets or Instagram posts.  If I find any more notable highlights for this qualification window, they will be added to this post.

Continue reading “Women’s Euro 2021 Qualifying: Match Highlights for the August-September 2019 Group Stage Window”

Women’s Euros 2013: The Final Draw

On Friday, November 9th, the final draw for the 2013 UEFA Women’s Championship was held in Göteborg, Sweden. The twelve qualified teams were divided into three round-robin groups of four, with host Sweden being paired with Italy, Denmark and Finland in Group A. Group B features five-in-a-row reigning champion German, along with Norway, the Netherlands and Iceland.  In Group C, France will face England, Spain, and Russia.  As there are only twelve squads, the top two teams from each group, along with the top two third place teams will qualify for the knock-out stage. Continue reading “Women’s Euros 2013: The Final Draw”

USWNT Olympic Opponent Watch: North Korea Loses Twice Against the Netherlands

North Korea, an Olympic group stage opponent of the United States Women’s National Team, lost both a closed-door match and an official friendly against the #14 ranked Netherlands earlier this month. In the closed-door match, the Netherlands came back froom a goal down to win 4:1, while in the friendly, the Netherlands won 2:0, with the first goal coming in the 42nd minute. Both matches were played in the Netherlands. Details of North Korea’s line-up and substitutions are not readily available.

Sources (All in Dutch):
www.onsoranje.nl – Write-up on closed-door match (June 1st)
www.onsoranje.nl – Write-up, with box score, on the friendly (June 5th)
www.vrouwenvoetbalnederland.nl – Another write-up on the friendly, has the minute for NED’s first goal

More on the Netherlands: They are currently at the top of their group for Women’s Euro 2013 qualifying, with 5 wins and only 1 draw. The only draw was a 0:0 affair with England, whom they will play next on June 17th, in England. With a win, the Netherlands will lock up a ticket to Sweden.

USWNT Neighbor Watch: Canada at the Cyprus Cup – No Three-Peat

The Canadian Women’s National Team recently participated in the Cyprus Cup, where they won all three of their group matches, but fell to France 0:2 in the final. Notably, during the tournament, Christine Sinclair scored her 130th and 131st international goals, moving her ahead of the USWNT’er Kristine Lilly, who has 130 career international goals.

Continue reading “USWNT Neighbor Watch: Canada at the Cyprus Cup – No Three-Peat”