There's no doubt that Canada has to win Saturday's game against Ghana.
I don't think it will be a walk in the park either. Although Ghana lost 4-1 in their opening match against Australia they actually had more ball possession (57%), and they created quite a few scoring opportunities. They are definitely a team that Canada can't take lightly.
I remember in the 1995 World Cup when we were about to play Nigeria in our second match. We had just lost to England 3-2 ... we had to win. We thought it would be a much easier game against Nigeria than it actually was. We ended up tying them, and all hopes of making it out of our group were pretty much gone.
What I have found with the teams from Africa is that they are very athletic, strong, and somewhat unorthodox in their style of play. They go in for 50-50 every ball and they go in hard! They style is so difficult to predict, which makes playing against them even harder.
It will be interesting to see what the starting line up will be. Will Tancredi start? What about Erin McLeod and Amy Walsh?
None the less, it will be an exciting match!!
Comments
I hate to say this but if Diana Matheson is the best left side midfielder we have then we are in trouble.We need someone who can win tackles and take some of the pressure off the back line.
I thought the general performance against Norway was excellent, butshe is too small to play at this level at that position. I have coached womens teams for 20 years and have a B licence so I
have some background in this . Good Luck Canada.
Posted by: rob shelley bc | September 14, 2007 11:21 PM
'Bang on' synopsis of the game Helen!
It was like the two teams switched jerseys at the half!... Can't for the life of me figure out why 'Tank'(Tancredi) was pulled after 45 mins-she was a force out there with her physical play!...the mere presence of her imposing figure in the Norwegian backfield was menacing to say the least and the potential to intimidate put the defenders off their game! With Tancredi out of the equation the Norwegians became the aggressors, became much more physical and took the game to the Canadian side.
Posted by: UberKahuna | September 15, 2007 04:25 AM
So Germany won the final game 2-0. By the CBC's and especially Stoumbos's comments, you might have thought it was a sad moment and that the Germans were lucky to win.
Brazil is a worldclass team with exceptionally talented and exciting strikers in Marta and Christiane. Marta gets full marks for scoring the goal of the tournament on an exceptional individual effort against the U.S. But why is it that the team that showboats and wiggles their bums at opponents (as as one Brazil player did against the U.S.) becomes everyone's darling to the point they are disappointed when they lose?
Germany successfully defended their 2003 triumph by scoring the most goals at the tournament while conceding none. Prinz scored when given the chance. Laudehr scored a beautiful header off a beautiful cross. And yet just because they didn't humiliate their opponents or flick the ball over their opponents to score, you grudgingly accept their victory?
When Brazil wins, they're spectacular and overpowering. When Germany wins, they're fortunate and plodding.
Very disappointing.
Stefan Bruggemann
Posted by: Stefan Bruggemann Toronto | September 30, 2007 11:02 AM