Canada reaches Cyprus Cup final

Canada’s women’s national team will face England in the Cyprus Women’s Cup Final after finishing first in Group B. Canada defeated Russia 2:0 on goals by Captain Christine Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi. Sinclair’s goal, the 98th of her career moved her closer to the illustrious 100 career goals mark. Canada played through a disjointed first half, which included a penalty shot miss by Russia to roar-back in the second half with fine a performance.



“It was a hard match,” said coach Carolina Morace. “At the beginning I think the players were very emotional and maybe a little tired. In the second half the players were more relaxed and we scored two goals and the game became easy. We continued to not give up goals, which is important for us.”



Sinclair’s goal was of excellent quality as Canada worked a training ground set-piece to perfection. Sinclair darted out of a pack of players to receive a perfect pass and drilled a first time effort into the Russian net. Tancredi’s goal was a trademark effort as she broke in on a breakaway, used her strength to hold off a Russian defender, and calmly rolled the ball into the back of the net.



The Winners Canadian women’s national team presented by Teck will now prepare to face England in the Cyprus Women’s Cup final on 12 March. England edged out France to win first place in Group A and advance to the final by virtue of a stronger goal differential (+9 for England and +3 for France).



In other Group B action New Zealand defeated Netherlands 2:0 to finish second in the group. In Group A England beat Scotland 3:0 and France beat South Africa 3:2.



Final Standings for the Cyprus Women’s Cup:



Group B

1st – Canada – Seven points (+3)

2nd – New Zealand – Four points (-1)

3rd – Netherlands – Three points (-2)

4th – Russia – Three points (-1)



Group A

1st – England – Seven points (+9)

2nd – France – Seven points (+3)

3rd – South Africa – Three points (- 5)

4th – Scotland – Zero points (- 7)



For more information on the Cyprus Women’s Cup, please visit www.cypruswomenscup.com.



For more information on Cyprus, please visit www.visitcyprus.com.