The Official 2015 Road to Canada World Cup Qualifying Thread

[rwo power]

The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada will be the 7th World Cup for the ladies and it is contested by 24 teams.

The six competitions before were won by the USA (1991, 1999), Norway (1995), Germany (2003, 2007) and most recently Japan (2011).

For the World Cup in Canada, 8 teams of the UEFA (Europe), 3 teams of the CAF (Africa), 5 teams of the AFC (Asia), 1 team of the OFC (Oceania), 2 or 3 teams of the CONMEBOL (South America) and 3 or 4 teams of the CONCACAF (North and Middle America) will qualify and join hosts Canada in the tournament.

Interestingly, the women's UEFA qualification is a bit more sensible than the men's, as here the 8 weakest nations first play a mini tournament to determine 4 nations who will then join the 38 stronger federations for a group stage with 7 groups of 6 teams each. The six group winners qualify directly, with the best 4 runners up determining the last place by a play-off among them.


(click to enlarge)

Today (2014/04/05), the following UEFA qualifiers will take place:

Russia - Slovenia
Rep of Ireland - Germany
Italy - Spain
Switzerland - Malta
Israel - Iceland
North Ireland - Sweden
Scotland - Poland
Faroe Islands - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece - Netherlands
Albania - Belgium
England - Montenegro
Ukraine - Belarus
Bulgaria - Austria
Hungaria - Finland
France - Kazakhstan

If someone watches any of the other confederations, please feel free to add the info for them.

Current standings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup_qualification

[REWB]

off topic- who is the best female player currently?

[rwo power]

off topic- who is the best female player currently?

Nadine Angerer, goalkeeper and captain of the German NT. She just won European Player of the year 2013, World Player of the Year 2013 and was even nominated for the Laureus Award this year (didn't win, though).

http://www.goallegacy.net/t34107-nadine-angerer-appreciation-thread
http://www.goallegacy.net/t32713-uefa-best-women-player-of-europe-2013-nadine-angerer

[El Gunner]

Brazil, with Marta and all their silky skills and tricks, have never won the women's WC...

[El Gunner]

Btw, I support Germany cuz that girl Prinz or whatever, former captain as well, played for Germany.

I rated her.

[rwo power]

Unfortunately, Birgit Prinz hung up her boots last year. In her time in the German NT, she won 214 (!) caps and scored 128 goals.

And no, for some reason Brazil never made it farther than World Cup runners-up (in 2007 against Germany, where Nadine Angerer managed to save even a penalty by Marta so that Germany could win 2:0 and Nadine Angerer kept a clean sheet in *all* matches in the whole tournament, a feat that has never been achieved by any GK, male or female, before or after that.)

[El Gunner]

Unfortunately, Birgit Prinz hung up her boots last year. In her time in the German NT, she won 214 (!) caps and scored 128 goals.

And no, for some reason Brazil never made it farther than World Cup runners-up (in 2007 against Germany, where Nadine Angerer managed to save even a penalty by Marta so that Germany could win 2:0 and Nadine Angerer kept a clean sheet in *all* matches in the whole tournament, a feat that has never been achieved by any GK, male or female, before or after that.)

[rwo power]

Rep. of Ireland vs Germany
Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, 16:00 GMT+2

Rep.of Ireland: Emma Byrne (c) - Meabh de Burca, Megan Campbell, Sophie Perry, Louise Quinn - Dora Gorman, Julie-Anne Russell, Shannon Smyth - Fiona O'Sullivan, Aine O'Gorman, Denise O'Sullivan

Germany: Nadine Angerer (c) - Bianca Schmidt, Annike Krahn, Josephine Henning, Tabea Kemme - Nadine Keßler, Lena Goeßling - Simone Laudehr, Dzsenifer Marozsan, Melanie Behringer - Anja Mittag

Goals:
02.) Louise Quinn (assist by Megan Campbell)

HT - Rep.of Ireland 1:0 Germany

Not quite what to expect so far. The Irish ladies are really strong today and scored early, while the German team only had one attempt on goal in the first half. I guess Germany coach Silvia Neid needs to find some serious words for her team in the break!

By the way, this is the first goal against Germany in the whole World Cup qualification so far.

[RealGunner]

Arsenal Ladies will carry England as usual

[rwo power]

So... Simone Laudehr scored the 1:1 via a penalty kick in the 65th minute.

And now there are 15 minutes still to go.

Goals:
02.) 1:0 - Louise Quinn
65.) 1:1 - Simone Laudehr (PK)
84.) 1:2 - Lena Lotzen
89.) 2:2 - Stephanie Roche
90.) 2:3 - Melanie Leupolz

FT - Rep. of Ireland 2:3 Germany

Hard fought win for Germany against a very good Irish side that will be disappointed not to have at least reached a draw.


Further results:
Russia 4:1 Slovenia
Italy 0:0 Spain
Switzerland 11:0 Malta
Albania 0:6 Belgium
England 9:0 Montenegro
Bulgaria 1:6 Austria
Hungaria 0:4 Finland

Still playing today:
Israel - Iceland
North Ireland - Sweden
Scotland - Poland
Faroe Islands - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece - Netherlands
Ukraine - Belarus
France - Kazakhstan

[RedOranje]

Angerer is the best EUROPEAN footballer, but it would be a stretch to label her the best WORLD female footballer. She won the latter award only because the US did not participate in any major tournaments.

[rwo power]

Well, her heroics did secure Germany the win of the Euro 2013.

And wasn't Alex Morgan injured for quite a while in the last time (knee in the summer and then her ankle in the winter)?

[McLewis]

Louisa Necib from France is some player as well. Was pretty impressed by her back in '11 and at the Olympics. Excellent technique,movement, vision and shooting ability. Based on what I've seen of her, her play resembles that of Zidane quite a bit.

[rwo power]

Yeah. Louisa Nécib is a crucial player at Olympique Lyonnais, too, and she was really great in the CL final against VfL Wolfsburg. Normally OL should have won that, but the she-wolves mixed concrete then and didn't give OL any room to score, frustrating their players quite a bit.

But pity she didn't score in the penalty shoot-out in the Euro 2013 quarter final against Denmark, leading to France's elimination. I guess that marred her otherwise good season somewhat.

[RedOranje]

Well, her heroics did secure Germany the win of the Euro 2013.

And wasn't Alex Morgan injured for quite a while in the last time (knee in the summer and then her ankle in the winter)?

Wambach hasn't been.

[rwo power]

Well, Abby Wambach got the 2nd place in the World Player of the Year 2013, which isn't too shabby either.

[RedOranje]

The US Women's International team has sacked manager Tom Sermanni following the team's 2-0 victory over China. While there's no official explanation beyond the usual bland statement, rumours suggest that the squad wasn't happy with his constant chopping and changing of formations and squad members. Whether these rumours are true remains to be seen, however.

[rwo power]

Wow. Any news who will succeed him?

But I hope the US will not be short of good coaches, given the number of successful players they brought out. (At least in Germany, a lot of the top players get their coaching badges after their active career is over - is that similar in the US?)

[B-Mac]

hopefully we don't get screwed in our home world cup like we did in the olympics

[RedOranje]

Wow. Any news who will succeed him?

But I hope the US will not be short of good coaches, given the number of successful players they brought out. (At least in Germany, a lot of the top players get their coaching badges after their active career is over - is that similar in the US?)

I haven't seen any serious reports yet.

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