Canada w20 ready for opening match at Japan 2012
Posted on 19 August 2012 in FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
Canada had its final training session prior to its opening match of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Japan 2012 on Sunday 19 August. Canadian U-20 coach Andrew Olivieri’s squad is opening the competition against Argentina on Monday 20 August (19.00 local / 06.00 ET / 03.00 PT).
“We are as prepared as can be and will put in the best performance,” said Olivieri. “We have a group of players that work well together and are prepared and inspired to go out strong. Our goal is to come out of our group.”
Canada will face Argentina, Norway and Korea DPR in the group phase, sides presenting very different strengths and challenges. Canada's first two matches on 20 August (Argentina) and 23 August (Norway) are in Kobe while Canada's third group match on 27 August is in Saitama.
All Canada matches at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be broadcast live on CBC and streamed on CBCSports.ca. Canada Soccer will also provide live tweets @CanadaSoccerEN.
Canada qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Japan 2012 in March of this year. The team won a silver medal at the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship in Panama. The current program features players born 1992 or earlier.
This year will mark Canada's fifth participation at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Canada won FIFA silver at the inaugural event at Canada 2002, but has also won CONCACAF gold in qualifying tournaments in 2004 and 2008. After 2012, the next FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup will take place in Canada in 2014.
