Two goals from Marta helped Brazil beat Norway and move the Brazilians into the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup.
Norway now face Australia in the final group match with the winner joining Brazil in the last eight. The South Americans need just a point from their final outing against Equatorial Guinea to guarantee top spot.
Norway battled hard in the first half but were undone by some Marta magic. The five-time FIFA World Player of the Year raced onto a long ball from Erika and, after taking advantage of a slip by a Norway opponent, stood up her defender before firing inside Maren Mjelde’s near post. Read more... (277 words, 1 image, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)
The USA women were impressive once again as they beat Columbia 3-0 to move into the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals. The U.S. is the top-ranked team in the world and they sit atop of Group C on goal difference ahead of Sweden, with both teams sharing six points. The U.S. and Sweden will meet on Wednesday.
This was a comprehensive victory by the U.S. and the score should have been a lot more than 3-0 as they missed a lot of chances. The tone was set early with Abby Wambach’s effort blocked and forward partner Amy Rodriguez firing the rebound over. Read more... (290 words, 1 image, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)
It was a good day for Japan and England at the Women’s World cup with Japan qualifying for their first Women’s World Cup quarter-final since 1995, while England are on the cusp of the last eight thanks to a hard-fought comeback victory over New Zealand.
Japan totally overwhelmed Mexico 4-0, with veteran superstar Homare Sawa grabbing the first hat-trick of the tournament. Japan jumped all over Mexico from the opening whistle, scoring twice in the opening 15 minutes and they were 3-0 up by the interval, while Sawa completed her hat-trick in the final ten minutes. Read more... (189 words, 1 image, estimated 45 secs reading time)
by David on June 28, 2011
There were wins for the favourites on the third day of the FIFA Women’s World Cup as world No1 USA beat North Korea, while Sweden got past Colombia. However, once again the theme of the day was the closeness of competition. Five of the six games have been decided by only one goal, the USA the only team to win by two goals.
The two-time defending champions USA had to fight hard for is opening victory against an unknown North Korea side. One thing that North Korea did possess was incredible fitness and they ran down every ball in the first half despite the 32-degree C (90-degree F) heat. Read more... (265 words, 1 image, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)
by David on June 27, 2011
On a day of wonderful goals and woeful goalkeeping, Mexico had reason to celebrate at the Women’s World Cup.
A 30-yard blast from Monica Ocampo gave Mexico a 1-1 draw against England on Monday in Wolfsburg, the biggest surprise so far after two days of the three-week tournament. A superb curling free kick from star player Aya Miyama earlier sent Japan past New Zealand 2-1 in Bochum.
The deft scoring touch of Ocampo and Miyama was offset by the play of the goalkeepers for New Zealand and England that was hardly the stuff of brilliance. Read more... (344 words, 1 image, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)
by David on June 26, 2011
The Women’s World Cup got off to an entertaining start today s holders and hosts Germany beat Canada and France beat Nigeria.
Germany, winners of the last two World Cups and strong favourites this time around too, got their campaign off to the perfect start when Kerstin Garefrekes headed home after 10 minutes.
Canada looked good though with striker Christine Sinclair causing the German defence problems. But it was Germany who scored the next goal when midfielder Celia Okoyino da Mbabi broke through and slotted the ball past Erin McLeod. Read more... (238 words, 1 image, estimated 57 secs reading time)
Over the long weekend I was luckily enough to see an advanced copy of the new movie ‘One Night In Turin” which chronicles England‘s 1990 World Cup run where they lost to West Germany on penalties in the semi-finals.
Watching the movie I was struck by the similarities between England’s 1990 World Cup run and the 2010 effort. Leading up to the World Cup in 1990 there was a lot of negative press in the English media about Bobby Robson and whether he was the right man for the job. Fade back to last summer and the columns in the English press about Fabio Capello. Read more... (337 words, 1 image, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)
Ghana is the latest country to be policed by FIFA due to political corruption tainting football in the African nation. The GFA was raided this Tuesday and the nation’s government was ordered ”to stop all its activities, including the running of the league and other football developments.” Ghana’s domestic soccer league was suspended on Wednesday due to the developing story and FIFA sent a letter to the nation’s football federation yesterday, stating “if the Ghanaian authorities did not stop their direct intervention and allow the GFA to work again before Sunday, the case would be referred to the FIFA emergency committee.” Read more... (308 words, 1 image, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)
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Is Sepp Blatter the worst president of any sports organization in the world? I think so.
Blatter, the president of FIFA, has faced a world-wind of challenges in the last year from horrific officiating during last summer’s World Cup to recent reports revealing that several of his “respected” FIFA panelist were accepting money under the table to persuade their vote. So heading into this December’s hosting destination vote of 2018 and 2022 there was a lot of negativity and following the decision made by FIFA to host the tournament in two relatively non-marketable destinations of Russia and Qatar, Id say that Mr. Blatter certainly isn’t winning any popularity points with us Westerners that follow the world’s most beautiful game. Read more... (545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)
FIFA Vice President Jack Warner has responded to allegations that he was one of the 5 men who betrayed England‘s bid to vote differently after giving both Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William his word.
Mr. Warner maintained that England had themselves to blame for failing to capture the 2018 bid. According to Mr.Warner, the investigations carried out by the BBC on two FIFA executive committee members for vote trading was the main reason why their bid failed. Read more... (285 words, 1 image, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)
Two goals from Marta helped Brazil beat Norway and move the Brazilians into the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup.
