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Qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup
Canada 2014 is set to move up a few gears over the next two-and-a-half weeks, with no fewer than four confederations about to stage their final preliminary competitions.
This frenzy of qualifying action will begin on Thursday in the Cayman Islands, where North, Central American and the Caribbean's finest will do battle in the CONCACAF finals, and will be swiftly followed by decisive matches in Africa, Oceania and South America.
In total, seven places are up for grabs across the confederations, with hopefuls in all four regions aiming to join China PR, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany and hosts
Canada in booking their place at the U-20 women’s showpiece.
Former winners look to shine In South America, all ten of CONMEBOL’s member associations will be represented as the battle for the continent’s two spots at
Canada 2014 takes place across two cities: Montevideo and Fray Bentos. The Uruguayan capital will host Group A, in which the hosts will go up against Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and holders
Brazil, who are aiming to win the tournament for a sixth successive time.
While the Brazilians will naturally start as hot favourites to maintain their 100 per cent record of having qualified for every U-20 Women’s World Cup to date, the race to join them could be wide open. Colombia – who reached the final in 2010 – will fancy their chances of advancing from the section, as will Uruguay themselves.
Argentina, meanwhile –
Brazil’s main traditional rivals in this competition – will be hoping to dominate Group B, in which Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru are their opponents. The top two qualify from each section, with the final four scrapping it out for two berths that will be decided on 26 January.
We have players with very unique qualities.
USA coach Michelle French
Only three teams have ever lifted the U-20 Women’s World Cup, and the CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship will see the tournament’s most successful team – three-time winners
USA – put through their paces. George Town in the Cayman Islands will be the setting for this particular preliminary competition, with the US facing group matches against Costa Rica, Jamaica and Guatemala between 9 and 13 January.
Among the standout names in the American squad named by Michelle French is Lindsey Horan, who has already turned professional with Paris Saint-Germain, and young midfielder
Andi Sullivan, who only recently celebrated her 18th birthday. And there is no mistaking their coach’s confidence.
"We have players with very unique qualities ranging from creative and effective finishers, to players who are threatening with their dynamic movement in the midfield, to players who are defensively strong and physical in one-on-one situations,” said French. “Our overall athleticism will be another strength."
With U-20 Women’s World Cup hosts
Canada already guaranteed a spot at their own party, the confederation’s remaining hopefuls will be vying for three spots – offering an unprecedented opportunity to nations that have never before reached the global finals. Indeed, while
USA will be expected to top Group A and
Mexico – who have qualified for five out of six previous U-20 world finals - to dominate Group B, a place in the semi-finals will also be the target for the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
All eyes on Nigeria, New Zealand In Africa, where CAF have already held two rounds of qualifying, only the heavyweights remain. The two places on offer will be decided over the next couple of weeks, with
Nigeria squaring up to
South Africa and Ghana taking on Equatorial Guinea, in the final-round ties that will determine who qualifies for
Canada 2014.
As Africa’s only ever-present at the six previous editions of the U-20 Women’s World Cup,
Nigeria undoubtedly have history on their side. However,
South Africa have impressed during qualifying and will, like Equatorial Guinea, have realistic hopes of reaching their first-ever world finals at this level.
New Zealand, meanwhile, will be the team to beat in Oceania. The Kiwis have won every edition of the OFC U-20 Women’s Championship since Australia’s departure to the Asian Football Confederation, and with this year’s tournament on home soil, will be confident of claiming their continent’s solitary spot at
Canada 2014.
France front Canada-bound quartet
(FIFA.com) Sunday 1 September 2013
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France will travel to next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup as European champions after emerging triumphant from a keenly contested continental championship.
Les Bleuettes will be joined by
England, the team they beat 2-0 in yesterday’s final, as well as
Germany - their semi-final victims - and surprise packages
Finland.
Gilles Eyquem’s side were worthy champions, having reclaimed the
UEFA U-19 Women’s Championship crown they last won in 2010 thanks to wins over the likes of Denmark, hosts Wales and, most notably, the Germans and English. It took extra time to see off Mo Marley’s Young Lionesses, but a pair of headed goals from Sandie Toletti and Aminata Diallo secured the trophy and left Eyquem glowing with pride.
“It is a great pleasure because the girls have put in loads of effort to achieve this,” he enthused. “This is a victory for the team and for the group as a whole. It is a very good win but for a good match there have to be two teams.”
England, the team to which Eyquem paid this compliment, made the short journey home from Llanelli with heads justifiably held high. There was certainly more than enough in their 4-0 semi-final win over
Finland - not to mention a group campaign in which they finished ahead of the French - to suggest that Marley’s team will be well worth watching at next year’s finals.
“It is always difficult to lose but from a coaching and management perspective it doesn't actually feel like we've lost,” was the
England coach's reaction after losing the final. “The girls getting here, the way they've conducted themselves, the way they've performed for the whole of the tournament; I've just told them we're really proud of them, we're really proud of what they've achieved.”
Finns flying high The Finns, too, will have no trouble finding crumbs of comfort despite their thumping defeat to Marley’s
England in the last four. Merely securing a return to the U-20 world finals is a major success for Marianne Miettinen’s side, all the more so as their place was secured at the expense of Norway and reigning European champions, Sweden. Their coach certainly had no trouble accentuating the positive.
She said: “The players would be in the wrong place if they weren't disappointed [by the 4-0 defeat to
England]. But I told them that tomorrow, when we go home, we go as winners. We played three really good games and got the ticket to Canada, so we must be proud of that. This experience was fantastic for Finnish women's and girls' football. These players will be key players in the national team in a few years and it will be important that they participated in this tournament.”
Germany will also be in Canada next August but, unlike their fellow qualifiers, they could not claim to be happy with their tournament’s work. Not that there was an absence of encouraging signs during the group phase, and in the prolific form of 17-year-old Pauline Bremer, who scored six times to claim the top scorer’s prize with ease.
Nonetheless, the Germans have come to see anything short of victory at these tournaments as failure and, as such, their semi-final exit to
France proved difficult to stomach. Left-back Manjou Wilde described the defeat as “bitter” to
UEFA.com, while midfielder Rebecca Knaak felt that they paid for a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal. "I think it was a really even game,” she said of the 2-1 defeat, “but it came down to us not taking our chances – we certainly had enough of them. Maybe we lacked a bit of luck."
Germany, at least, have the consolation of being able to atone for a disappointing tournament at next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. That opportunity will not be available to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Wales, who missed out on a ticket due to disappointing results in the group stage.
All four will now look on enviously as their European counterpart do battle for global glory in Canada.
Korea Republic recapture Asian laurels
Monday 21 October 2013
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Asia’s line-up for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014 was completed on Sunday with
Korea Republic,
Korea DPR and hosts
China PR securing a top-three finish at the AFC U-19 Women's Championship to book passage to next year's global showpiece.
The six-team campaign, staged in Nanjing from 11-20 October, saw the Taegeuk Nangja (Taegeuk Ladies) go five matches undefeated as they recaptured the Asian laurels, having claimed their maiden success in the 2004 edition.
Taking heart from their brilliant performances in the past two FIFA U-20 Women's World Cups, coach Jong Songchon’s side entered the campaign seeking their fourth global appearance. Their hopes were, though, dealt a blow in the 2-2 opening draw against
China PR during which they only narrowly avoided defeat.
A 7-0 rout of
Myanmar saw
Korea Republic put their campaign back on track, before they overcame high-flying
Japan 2-0 to move into the top three. After registering a hard-fought 2-1 victory against
Korea DPR, they edged a desperate
Australia by an identical scoreline to seal their second Asian title.
"Even though we had some difficulties (against
Australia), the players got over the problems with their strong mentality," said coach Jong. “In Asia it's quite difficult to qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup, because the other teams are very strong."
"We did our best with our tactics throughout the tournament. The players showed they were strong in both technical and tactical terms. Now we know the World Cup is happening for us, and we will draw up preparatory plans when we get back," he added.
Also excelling throughout were pre-tournament favourites
Korea DPR, who opened brightly by thrashing
Australia 6-2 with top-striker Ri Un Sim completing a treble. A solitary-goal defeat of China was followed by a 2-0 win against
Myanmar as the 2006 world champions maintained their unblemished record. Although they narrowly lost to
Korea Republic, a goalless draw against
Japan was enough to secure their place as tournament runners-up.
Hosts scrape through China, runners-up at both Thailand 2004 and Russia 2006, had set their sights on no less than a fifth qualification. But coach Wang Jun's home side got off to a lacklustre start against
Korea Republic, before a 1-0 defeat to
Korea DPR saw their chances left hanging by a thread.
"We had planned to seal qualification with victories against
Korea Republic,
Australia and
Myanmar, but the results of the opening two matches largely dented our chances," coach Wang told
FIFA.com reflecting on their campaign. "We were forced to change our strategy thereafter and I was satisfied that our players did well in implementing our game plans."
The hosts' tactical changes paid off when they recorded a crucial 2-1 comeback triumph against an Australian side hampered by the loss of key players to senior national team duty. Cheered on by the home crowd, the Chinese battled from behind to draw 2-2 against
Japan. In the closing matchday they thumped
Myanmar 8-0, a result which saw them narrowly edge
Japan to third place on goal difference and qualification for Canada 2014.
"The
Australia win was crucial for us," continued Wang. "The result revived our hopes and provided us with a timely morale-boost. We are now in the World Cup but our players have their work cut out if they are to improve well enough to compete against the world's best teams."
Burgeoning starlets
Korea Republic proved to be the tournament's best scorers with 15 goals scored in five games. But they were indebted to captain
Jang Selgi, who emerged as the competition's brightest star. The dynamic No 10 was on target in the opener against China, before netting five times as her side ran riot against
Myanmar.
After again getting her name on the scoresheet against
Korea DPR, she scored goal number eight against
Australia. Her prolific form and leadership saw her crowned as both the tournament’s Most Valued Player and top-scorer.
China, too, impressed through their free-scoring style despite finishing behind
Korea DPR. They were the campaign's second best goal-scorers, just a goal shy of
Korea Republic. Striking-ace Wang Shuang managed a brace against
Australia, before completing a hat-trick against
Myanmar. Partnering her on the front-line was Song Duan, who racked up four goals to further aid China’s cause.
"These players form our nucleus alongside other key players including midfielders Lv Yueyun and Zhao Xinzhai," Wang summed up. "But the team should improve their technical and tactical levels. I hope that we can have a team capable of winning by controlling proceedings with passing and teamwork when we head to Canada next year."
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