The teams of Group A have the privilege of opening the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with hosts Canada kicking off the tournament against China, followed by New Zealand taking on the Netherlands on June 6th in Edmonton.
Group A is a perfect symbol of the fact that the this year’s edition of the tournament will be the most geographically and culturally diverse women’s World Cup of all time, with all four teams being from different continents. It also represents a big step forward for the sport, with the first apperance of the Netherlands at the finals – a traditional powerhouse of football finally arriving at the top table of the women’s game.
Canada
Nickname: The Maple Leafs
Previous best: 4th place (1999)
As tournament hosts and with a pedigree in this competition, Canada will be expected to advance as group winners but the draw could have been kinder to them, with all three of their group opponents potentially presenting a test to them on any given day.
Canada have a talented core of players, with a good mixture of experience and youth. They possess a pair of veteran goalkeepers, in the form of Karina LeBlanc and Erin McLeod, who should provide good competition for each other. One of their real strengths lie in midfield, with the talented pair of Sophie Schmidt and Desiree Scott.
The focus of Canada’s forward play is striker Christine Sinclair, who is the only world class goal scorer that the Maple Leafs have. The 31-year-old Portland Thorns forward has 153 international goals, which eclipses her nearest challenger in the current Canada squad, Melissa Tancredi, with 22 goals. As a result of this over reliance on Sinclair, opposition teams have resorted to trying to mark her out of games and force Canada to come up with a plan B, which has been hard to come by at times.
The tournament hosts are coached by Englishman John Herdman, who previously took charge of Group A opponents New Zealand between 2006 and 2011. Herdman has attempted to make Canada a much more possesion-oriented team, and get them playing the ball on the ground more after previously being known for a more robust long ball game.
Much will be expected of them, especially following the team’s bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The hope of a nation will be on their shoulders and anything less than a quater final appearance will be considered a failure.
China
Nickname: The Steel Roses
Previous best: Runners up (1999)
The Chinese women’s team are not the force they once were, having been a real powerhouse in the 1990’s. They made the first five editions of this tournament, including a runner up spot in 1999 and a fourth placed finish in 1995, but missed out on qualification for Germany 2011.
As a result, the Chinese team has undergone something of an overhaul, with the focus being very much on youth. This attempt to build for the future has seen a very young squad being selected for this tournament. The oldest members of the roster are only 26 years old and there are only three players who currently have more than 50 international caps.
China will be relying on Yang Li to continue her extraordinary goal scoring feats witnessed in the qualifying stages, when the young forward scored six goals in only five games.
New Zealand
Nickname: The Black Ferns
Previous best: Round 1 (91,07,11)
The New Zealand team will come up against their former coach John Herdman, who led the side to both the 2007 and 2011 finals. Since then they have gone on to reach the quarter finals of the 2012 Olympic tournament, as well as winning the Oceania football Confederation Cup in 2014.
Among a talented group of players is the most capped Kiwi international of all time, team captain Abby Ercig and the leading goal scorer in Black Ferns history, forward Amber Hern. There is a good mixture of youth and experience in the squad, with four teenagers called up and three players with 100 or more international caps in the side.
New Zealand will be looking to progress out of the group stage of this competition for the first time in their history. Yet they enter the tournament in poor form, having lost their last two games and failing to score in their last three, in the run up to the tournament.
Netherlands
Nickname: Oranje Leeuwinnen (Orange Lionesses)
Previous best: N/A
As this is the first time that the Dutch team have played at the women’s World Cup, they have no pedigree at this level but they are tipped by many as a dark horse to go on into the knock out stages.
One of the main reasons for this is the goal threat that the Netherlands possess. Star striker Manon Melis will finally get a chance to show her quality at the highest level and will be joined by a brilliant young striker, who was unearthed during their qualification campaign. 18-year-old forward Vivianne Miedema scored a staggering 18 goals in the Dutch qualifying effort and has a record of almost a goal a game at international level.
Adding to the attacking potential is the experienced core of the squad, goalkeeper Loes Geurts, defender Dyanne Bito, and midfield pairing Anouk Hoogendjik and Sherida Spitse, who all have 100+ caps each.
