Canadian women prepare for England

Canada will face England this Monday 7 March with a place in the Cyprus Women’s Cup final on the line. Canada needs a win or draw against England to advance to the final, with the Group A winner scheduled to face Netherlands from Group B (already qualified). The Canada-England match will be played at GSP Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus (17.00 local / 10.00 ET / 07.00 PT).



Canada will provide a live tweetstream from GSP Stadium in Nicosia. Fans can follow the match at twitter.com/CanadaSoccerEN. Should Canada pick up at least one point, it will advance to the Wednesday championship final at 17.00 local (10.00 ET / 07.00 PT). All six classification matches are played on 9 March.



This will be the third meeting between Canada and England at the Cyprus Women’s Cup. In 2009, England won 3:1 in the final to clinch the title; in 2010, Canada won 1:0 in the group stage en route to their second title in three years.



At the 2011 Cyprus Women’s Cup, Canada is perfect with two wins: a 1:0 victory over Scotland and a 1:0 victory over Italy. England has a win and a loss: a 2:0 win over Italy and an 0:2 loss to Scotland. England, however, featured a very different lineup in its second match, sitting out all but three starters from the opener two days earlier. England knows it can still win the group with a victory over Canada. It can also finish as low as third place in the group depending on the outcomes of the Canada-England and Italy-Scotland matches.



Both Canada and England are ranked amongst the top-10 nations on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking. Just one ranking point separates the two nations while in fact less than 30 points separate teams seven to 10 on the list (Norway, France, Canada and England).



More important than the ranking, though, is the fact that both Canada and England have qualified for this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011. So while the Monday result may determine a passage to this Wednesday’s Cyprus Women’s Cup final, both coaches will take far greater stock in their team’s performance against a fellow Germany 2011 opponent. Both sides are resolute in improving their squad for this summer’s big event which runs 26 June to 17 July in nine different German cities.



Canada, whose title sponsor is Winners and presenting sponsor is Teck, is taking part in its fourth Cyprus Women’s Cup. Canada won the title in both 2008 and 2010. Last November, Canada won its second CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier, earning a berth in the biggest FIFA women’s event for a fifth consecutive time. The FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is played every four years, takes place in Germany in 2011 and then in Canada in 2015.