Canada to face England in Cyprus Cup rematch

Canada’s women’s national team will face England in match-day two of the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup on Friday 26 February. The soccer match at GSP Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus will give Canada the opportunity to avenge last year’s 1:3 loss to England in the final. The highly-anticipated match kicks off at 17.00 local (10.00 ET / 07.00 PT).



Canadian fans can follow the match live via Twitter in English at www.twitter.com/CanadaSoccerEN and French at www.twitter.com/CanadaSoccerFR. Full fixture reports will be available on CanadaSoccer.com following the completion of each match. As well, CanadaSoccer.com’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/CanadianSoccerAssoc will feature pre and post match interviews from the Cyprus Women’s Cup.



Canada and England come into the match tied in the Group 2 standings with three points each following victories on Wednesday’s match day one of the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup. Canada came from a goal behind to defeat Switzerland 2:1 while England beat South Africa 1:0. Canada got goals from Christine Sinclair and Christina Julien in the win while England’s Jill Scott scored the lone goal in the fifth minute of the England-South Africa contest.



The Canadian squad completed a light training session on Thursday morning which consisted of recovery drills for the players who had participated in the Switzerland match and movement drills for the players who had not. Canada was fortunate to have trained in the morning on Cyprus as a fierce storm hit the Island in the afternoon, bringing heavy rain as well as thunder and lighting.



For Canada, the England match will be an excellent opportunity to measure its progress after one year under head coach Carolina Morace and her staff. Morace has commented that she is pleased with the improvements she has seen in the squad, but that she hopes to achieve even more in 2010.



For England, Coach Hope Powell has selected 18 returnees from the squad that won the 2009 Cyprus Women’s Cup. That Cyprus Cup victory propelled England to a successful 2009 season in which they reached the final of European Championships and climbed to number eight in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Rankings. England will be hoping that the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup provides the team an even better boost as they continue their UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011. England is currently in second place in UEFA Group 5 behind Spain. The UEFA qualification stage runs 19 September 2009 to 25 August 2010.



Prior to meeting in last year’s Cyprus Women’s Cup final, Canada and England had not met on the international stage since May 2003 when Canada hosted England for a pair of matches in Lachine, QC and Ottawa, ON. Canada won both matches of the tour 4:0. Current assistant coach Andrea Neil scored four of the eight Canadian goals in the two matches. Canada has an overall record of two wins and two losses in four games against England.



In Friday’s other Group 2 action, South Africa and Switzerland will meet in Larnaka. Also on Friday, Group 1 leaders Netherlands will face New Zealand while Scotland takes on Italy to complete match day two at the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup.



Canada will complete the Group phase against South Africa on Monday 1 March. From the group phase teams will be seeded one through four and will play off against the corresponding team from the opposite group. The final day of competition is 3 March.



Canada, whose title sponsor is Winners and presenting partner is Teck, will be looking to qualify for their fifth straight FIFA Women’s World Cup this fall at the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. The competition is expected to be played in October or November, with schedule and venue yet to be announced.