FRANCE IS HOPING FOR A LIGHT HORSE FINAL, since Les Bleus can no longer be considered dark horses. But, these filles are not the only light horses in the tournament, or in their group, as France finds themselves in the same starting gate as the United States.
Continue reading “Olympics: Preview Notes – France (Group G)”
[Edit: Some non-USA matches on MSNBC and NBCSN may be cut-into, so have Live Extra streams ready as a back-up.]
The following is a summary of the viewing options for NBC’s coverage of the women’s soccer tournament at the London Olympics, along with (hopefully complete and accurate) schedules for (1) the standard cable channels, NBC Sports Network and MSNBC; (2) NBC Specialty Olympic Soccer Channel; and (3) live online streaming options via NBCOlympics.com’s “Live Extra” feature. Continue reading “Olympics: Complete Listings For NBC’s Coverage, Including Online Options”
In July, France played three tune-up friendlies, all at home: a 6:0 win against Romania on July 4th, a 3:0 victory over Russia on July 11th, and a 2:0 win versus Japan on July 19th. This post is primarily a quick review of those three matches, along with a summary table of minutes played, and thoughts on France’s likely starting line-up in their opening match against the United States. Continue reading “Olympics: Quick Notes On France’s Tune-Up Matches”
[Edit – July 30: The write-up portion of this post does not reflect the replacement of goalkeeper Lisa Schmitz with fellow ‘keeper Meike Kämper and Clara Schöne with Katharina Leiding.]
On Tuesday, the DFB released Germany’s semi-official roster for this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan. As expected, the roster includes German Women’s National Team midfielder Dzenifer Marozsan, whose first call-up during this cycle was for the just-concluded training camp. Among the players nominated by head coach Maren Meinert are six other players who, prior to the recent Norway friendly, were uncapped this cycle. Four of those players, all midfielders, were brought up from Germany’s current U-19 WNT, which failed to make the final stage of this year’s UEFA Women’s U-19 Championship. One of the other two previously uncapped players is defender Sophie Howard, who will be attending the University of Central Florida this fall. Continue reading “U-20 WWC: Germany’s Semi-Official Tournament Roster (USA Group Opponent)”
According to then-contemporary news reports, the first women’s soccer match[1] at Old Wembley Stadium, England’s most-hallowed soccer ground, was contested on July 16th, 1987, a full sixty-four years after the Stadium opened in 1923. In that match, which was the opening game of the fourth annual London International Football Festival, the Cincinnati Cardinals, an under-14 girls travel team from Ohio, played a Millwall Lionesses L.F.C. youth squad. And, yes, the Americans won, albeit by the slimmest of scorelines, 1:0. Continue reading “The First Women’s Soccer Match At Old Wembley Stadium”
During the second week of July, a handful of Women’s Under-20 friendlies were contested, including matches that separately involved Mexico and Canada, plus Germany, who will be the United States’ final group opponent in August’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup.
Mexico traveled to Argentina and beat the hosts in two friendlies, by 1:0 and 3:1 margins. Canada is in Europe and played Italy on Saturday, winning 3:0.
On Sunday, Germany hosted Norway and defeated the guests 5:0, which was slightly better than the 7:1 drubbing Germany gave the Norwegians in last year’s UEFA Women’s U-19 Championship final, but much worse than the two sides’ 1:1 draw in a friendly at La Manga earlier this year. Continue reading “U-20 WWC: Mid-July Friendly Results, Plus Notes on Germany’s Friendly”
On Friday, FIFA released the official rosters for the Olympic soccer tournaments (FIFA.com, click on a team’s name and select “Squad List” on the next page; also in PDF format, which has additional data, namely caps and goals). The first part of this post is a table which lists the average and median ages and heights for each squad, along with the team’s rank for those statistics. The second part lists superlative statistics (oldest, youngest; tallest, shortest) for teams and players. Continue reading “Olympics: Summary Statistics for the Squads”
On Friday, FIFA published all of the rosters for the Olympic soccer tournaments. Among the new-to-us rosters was that of the USWNT’s final group opponent, North Korea (FIFA.com), who were also in the USA’s group in last year’s Women’s World Cup. Only 6 players of the players on the official 18-player roster return from last year’s squad. Ten of North Korea’s official players are U-20 age-eligible. Also, two of their alternates are U-20 players and a third alternate is a U-17 player. Continue reading “Olympics: Notes on North Korea’s Roster (USWNT Group Opponent)”
In mid-June, Colombia’s star midfielder, Yoreli Rincon, fractured her left foot’s little toe while training with her club team, Brazil’s XV de Piracicaba. Initial reports are that the injury is relatively minor and Rincon should be fully healed in time for the start of the Olympic women’s soccer tournament, which kicks off on July 25th. Continue reading “Olympics: In Mid-June, Colombia’s Yoreli Rincon Fractured Her Little Toe”
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