Canada to face Guyana on Hallowe’en

Canada will face Guyana in its second group match of the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier this Sunday 31 October. The two sides will meet at the Estadio Beto Ávila in Cancún, Mexico, the second of three group match dates. Host Mexico faces Trinidad and Tobago in the other Group A match on Sunday.



The Canada-Guyana match kicks off at 17.00 local time, which is 19.00 ET / 16.00 PT. It should be noted that clocks fall back in Mexico one week earlier (after 30 October) than in Canada and USA (after 6 November). The match will be broadcast on CBCSports.ca, bold, Radio-Canada.ca/Sports, and CONCACAF TV. An encore presentation of the match will be played just after midnight on CBC Television (00.30 local time in each of the various time zones across Canada).



Canada, whose title sponsor is Winners and presenting sponsor is Teck, has never faced Guyana before. While Canada won its opening match 1:0 over Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana lost its opening match 2:7 to host Mexico on 29 October. Canada is unbeaten in its last five CONCACAF matches. All time, Canada has 27 wins, two draws and eight losses in 37 matches since 1991. Five of those losses have come against the world’s number-one ranked USA.



Guyana has the second youngest team in the 2010 competition at an average age of 22 years, four months young (only Guatemala is younger at 20 years, three months). Guyana has nine teenagers in its lineup, three of whom have experience at Canada’s BMO National Championships (16-year old Tessa Edwards of the Pickering Power Green, 17-year old Ashlee Savona of the Oakville Phantoms, and 17-year old Olivia Gonsalves of West Rouge Storm).



In fact, the 19-player Guyana roster features five players who are currently playing in Canada: the three above-mentioned teenagers plus veterans Alison Heydorn of the Hamilton Lady Avalanche and goalkeeper Catherine Kobelka of the Scarborough Azzurri.



Canada has the second oldest team in the competition, just under 25 years of age. Twelve of Canada’s 20 players have played before in a CONCACAF championship for national A teams. Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc was a CONCACAF champion in 1998.



Canada has some youth, too. Canada’s youngest players are Jonelle Filigno and Chelsea Stewart, both of whom won a CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in 2008. Six other players – Josée Bélanger, Kaylyn Kyle, Stephanie Labbé, Kara Lang, Sophie Schmidt and Emily Zurrer – won the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship (then a U-19 tournament) in 2004.



Canada will play three matches in the group phase of the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier. Canada’s last group match is 2 November against host Mexico. The semi-final stage is 5 November (at Estadio Beto Ávila) while the championship final is 8 November (next door at the Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo).



The FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 runs 26 June to 17 July in nine German cities: Augsburg, Berlin, Bochum, Dresden, Frankfurt, Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach, Sinsheim, and Wolfsburg. Canada has qualified for each of the past four FIFA Women’s World Cups (Sweden 1995, USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007) and hopes to make it five straight in early November. The top two teams from the CONCACAF championship will qualify for Germany 2011 while the third-place team will face Italy in a two-leg playoff for the final place.