On Friday, New Zealand released the roster for its Olympic women’s soccer team (NZFootball.co.nz). Sixteen of the eighteen primary players participated in last year’s Women’s World Cup. The roster features six U-20 players in all: three on the main roster, and three alternates. The Football Ferns will also have one of the oldest players, starting goalkeeper Jenny Bindon, who will be 39 years, 150 days when the Olympic soccer tournament begins in July. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: June 2012
U-20 WWC: USA Opponent Ghana In Midst of Funding Crisis
Recently, both the Under-20 and Under-17 Women’s National Teams of Ghana had to temporarily halt their preparations for their respective World Cups because of a lack of funds, mainly for food, from the Ghana Football Association. This brief suspension of training only lasted about a week, from Friday, June 22nd, to Thursday, June 28th, due to a benefactor stepping forward and agreeing to donate the necessary funds for the two teams’ camps. Continue reading
Olympics: Four USWNT Alumni To Serve As Analysts For NBC
NBC Sports announced on Thursday that four USWNT alumni will be soccer analysts at the 2012 Summer Olympics in Great Britain: Brandi Chastain, Kate Markgraf, Cat Whitehill, and Angela Hucles. Combined, those four players have seven Olympic Gold Medals.
NBC’s press release also contained a list of play-by-play announcers, Continue reading
Olympics: Sweden’s Semi-Official Roster
On Wednesday, Sweden released its roster for the women’s soccer tournament for this year’s Summer Olympics in Great Britain (SvFF). Four players were not on the 2011 Women’s World Cup roster: Defenders Emma Berglund and Malin Levenstad, who have just 16 caps total between them; midfielder Johanna Almgren, a 2008 Olympics veteran; and forward Kosovare Asllani. A few key veterans are not available due to injuries. For more on Sweden’s injury woes, see the earlier post about their Volvo Winners Cup roster. Continue reading
Olympics: Team Great Britain Announces its WNT Roster
On Tuesday, the Olympic women’s soccer squad for Team Great Britain was announced by its coach, Hope Powell (TheFA.com; Google cache version). Sixteen of the eighteen official players hail from England. The remaining two are both Scottish: midfielder Kim Little and defender Ifeoma Dieke. Two of the reserve players are non-English: goalkeeper Emma Higgins of Northern Ireland and forward Jane Ross of Scotland. Of the sixteen English players on the primary roster, only one was not in Germany for the 2011 Women’s World Cup: midfielder Rachel Williams, who is a veteran of the 2008 Under-20 Women’s World Cup. Continue reading
Olympics: Colombia Announces Its Team Roster
On Tuesday, USWNT group opponent Colombia announced its 18-player Olympic roster for its Women’s National Team (ColFutbol.org). Only 14 of the 18 players on the roster participated in the Women’s World Cup last year. The four new players all currently play collegiate soccer in the USA: Natalia Ariza, Stefany Castaño Cardozo, Ana María Montoya, and Melissa Ortiz. No alternates were named. Continue reading
Olympics: Canada Has Announced Its Team Roster
On Monday, Canada announced its Olympic women’s soccer team roster (CanadaSoccer.com). Only one player, Lauren Sesselmann, was not on the roster for the 2011 Women’s World Cup, where Canada lost all three of its group matches. Continue reading
U-23 USWNT: Quick Recap of Their Trip to Norway
The United States Under-23 Women’s National Team recently finished a series of three friendlies in Norway, drawing 1:1 versus Sweden, winning 4:1 over Norway and losing 2:4 to Norway. In the second friendly versus Norway, which was played in cool and rainy conditions, the USA allowed four goals in fifteen minutes. Continue reading
Under-20 Women’s World Cup: Unofficial ESPN Networks Schedule
According to the posted schedule on ESPN’s “WatchESPN” website, at least seventeen matches of the 2012 Under-20 Women’s World Cup will be televised live by ESPN, primarily on ESPNU. All of the United States’ group matches will be shown live, including the team’s final group match versus Germany, which will air on ESPN2. All of the knock-out matches will also be televised live. In addition to showing every USA group match, all of host Japan’s and Brazil’s group matches will be televised live.
(Edit: The second semifinal match is now listed on the website.)
(Edit #2: On Sunday, August 26th, instead of Japan/Switzerland, ESPNU will be showing the Mexico vs. New Zealand at 6:10 a.m. EDT.)
U-20 WWC: Germany’s July Training Camp Roster – Dzsenifer Marozsán Called In
On Wednesday, the DFB released the roster of the next training camp for Germany’s Under-20 Women’s National Team, which is preparing for the U-2o Women’s World Cup in Japan, where they are grouped with the United States, China, and Ghana. Called in for the first time this cycle is senior national team midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsán, who already has 7 caps and 3 goals (DFB stats, in German). Marozsán participated in the 2010 U-20 Women’s World Cup, where she played in 5 matches, had a team-leading 3 assists, and scored 1 goal (FIFA). The Hungarian-born midfielder’s offensive prowess is badly needed in a team that has struggled at times to score goals. Other players on the roster include two other senior-capped players, centerback Luisa Wensing and midfielder Lena Lotzen, who were both absent from the prior training camp (June 11-15). Continue reading
