Canadian women to face Netherlands in final

For more information on this fixture, please visit the Canada-Netherlands match report.



Canada will face Netherlands in the 2011 Cyprus Women’s Cup final. The two group winners will meet this Wednesday 9 March in Paralimni, Cyprus. The championship final kicks off at 17.00 local (10.00 ET / 07.00 PT) at Tassos Marcou Stadium.



The tournament’s six classification matches will all be played this 9 March. Along with the Canada-Netherlands final, Scotland will face France for third place, England will face Korea Republic for fifth place, New Zealand will face Mexico for seventh place, Italy will face Russia for ninth place, and Switzerland will face Northern Ireland for 11th place.



The Wednesday final will be the second meeting between Canada and Netherlands in a Cyprus Women’s Cup competitive match. Two years ago, the two sides met on Match Day 2 of the group phase. Canada won that match 2:1 with captain Christine Sinclair contributing a pair of goals in the victory. Netherlands played that day without their top scorer Manon Melis, who went on to win the 2009 tournament goalscoring title with four goals. (Sinclair also scored four goals in 2009, but Melis won the title on account of playing fewer minutes than Sinclair).



Neither side is expected to rest any players in the 2011 championship final. Canadian coach Carolina Morace has featured six players in all three of her starting lineups, finally resting a handful of players in the third group match against England. Netherlands coach Roger Reijners has featured five players in all three of his starting lineups, finally resting players in the team’s 6:0 victory over Switzerland.



On the way to the final, Netherlands has outscored its opponents 12 to two. Netherlands’ first two victories were 4:1 over New Zealand and 2:1 over France. Five different players have scored for Netherlands, including team leaders Melis and Kirsten Van de Ven (three goals each). Canada has only scored four goals in its three matches, but has not conceded a goal in each victory. Canada won 1:0 over Scotland, 1:0 over Italy and 2:0 over England. Four different players have scored for Canada.



Both 2011 sides are familiar enough with their opponents. Seventeen of 22 Canadians have faced Netherlands at least once in international competition; 16 of 22 Dutch players have faced Canada at least once. Canada’s all-time record against Netherlands is four wins and two draws.



In the Cyprus Women’s Cup, Canada’s all-time record is 12 wins, one draw and one loss. Canada has reached the final every year, winning the tournament twice (2008, 2010) and finishing runner up once (2009). Before Wednesday’s final, Canada has won every match (seven) in the last two competitions. Netherlands, meanwhile, has an all-time Cyprus Women’s Cup record of eight wins, two draws and four losses. Its best finish was third place in 2010.



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.



Canadian fans can follow the Canada-Netherlands match via a live tweetstream at twitter.com/CanadaSoccerEN.