{"id":19282,"date":"2014-07-17T15:27:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T07:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=19282"},"modified":"2014-07-16T21:30:52","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T13:30:52","slug":"canada-names-squad-for-fifa-u-20-world-cup-looks-to-become-second-host-team-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/07\/17\/canada-names-squad-for-fifa-u-20-world-cup-looks-to-become-second-host-team-to-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada names squad for FIFA U 20 World Cup, looks to become second host team to win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_201143183\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TORONTO\u2014For FIFA and Canadian organizers, next month\u2019s U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup is a test run for the 2015 Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

For Canadian coaches, it\u2019s also a chance to see future and present talent in action.<\/p>\n

Players on coach Andrew Olivieri\u2019s under-20 squad, announced Wednesday, who have already featured on John Herdman\u2019s senior team include centre backs Kadeisha Buchanan and Rebecca Quinn, fullback Sura Yekka and midfielders Ashley Lawrence and Jessie Fleming.<\/p>\n

Forward Nichelle Prince made her senior debut in the Four Nation\u2019s Women\u2019s Tournament in China in January 2013, coming off the bench to score against South Korea.<\/p>\n

Defender Kylie Davis is a veteran of the 2012 U-20 World Cup.<\/p>\n

For them and their teammates, the U-20 tournament will be a valuable preface to the World Cup if they make that squad\u2014ensuring they have a taste of what it\u2019s like to play under the pressure of being the host team.<\/p>\n

The U-20 tournament is scheduled for Aug. 5-24 in Edmonton, Moncton, Montreal and Toronto.<\/p>\n

Under Olivieri, Canada went 1-2-0 at the 2012 tournament. The Canadian women failed to advance out of the group stage, thumping Argentina 6-0 before losing 2-1 to Norway and North Korea.<\/p>\n

The Canadian coach said the 2012 experience has helped shape the preparation for this tournament. With Herdman also serving as high-performance director, consistent coaching approaches at different levels have helped ensure the Canadian women are all on the same page.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been fantastic support the last two years,\u201d said Olivieri.<\/p>\n

Fresh from a July 16-21 camp in Mexico, the Canadian women open the 2014 tournament Aug. 5 at BMO Field with a Group A game against Ghana. They play Finland three days later in Toronto before heading to Montreal for an Aug. 12 date with North Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know our last match will be an extremely difficult one,\u201d Olivieri said of the group play schedule.<\/p>\n

The opener may be a challenge as well.<\/p>\n

Ghana made it to the semifinals at the FIFA U-17 tournament in 2012, losing to eventual champion France. The Africans went on to defeat Germany in the third-place match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey won\u2019t be easy,\u201d said Olivieri.<\/p>\n

The Canadians lost to North Korea in the U-17 quarter-finals with the Koreans eventually losing 7-6 to France in a penalty shootout in the final.<\/p>\n

Such success does not always translate to the next age group, but the U-17 performance of Ghana and North Korea gives the Canadians something to think about.<\/p>\n

The Finns were the surprise of European qualifying, beating Norway and drawing with Sweden and Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to qualify out of Europe definitely signifies they have a quite a bit of quality. It will be quite a difficult match,\u201d said Olivieri.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t get any easier for the Canadian women after pool play, assuming they advance.<\/p>\n

The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals, with the Group A survivors taken on likely either the U.S. or Germany from Group B, which also features China and Brazil.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and Germany have dominated women\u2019s soccer at this level, combining to win five of the six previous tournaments. North Korea won in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that our objective going into the tournament is going to be to win a quarter-final. And we have probably the toughest crossover you can ask for,\u201d said Olivieri. \u201cBut we\u2019ll be ready and we\u2019ll be happy to play Germany or the U.S. or if there\u2019s a surprise, Brazil or China. We\u2019ve certainly done our work to make sure we\u2019re as ready as we can be for those matches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian team will be captained by defender Kinley McNicoll. Kailen Sheridan goes into the tournament as the No. 1 goalie.<\/p>\n

Olivieri hopes goals will come from both the forwards (Prince and Janine Beckie) and midfielders (Ashley Campbell, Fleming and Lawrence among others).<\/p>\n

The Americans won in 2012, defeating Germany. The U.S. also won in 2008 and 2002, when it defeated Canada and Christine Sinclair 1-0 after extra time before 47,784 at Edmonton\u2019s Commonwealth Stadium to claim the inaugural then (under-19) title.<\/p>\n

Germany won in 2004 and 2010, when it became the only host country to hoist the trophy.<\/p>\n

Group C is made up of England, Mexico, Nigeria and South Korea while Group D consists of Costa Rica, France, New Zealand and Paraguay.<\/p>\n

The quarter-finals are shared by all four host cities, with Moncton and Montreal hosting the semifinals. Montreal will stage the final and third-place match.<\/p>\n

Canada will play Mexico and England in friendlies in advance of the tournament.<\/p>\n

The two final Canadian cuts were forwards Chelsea Harkins and Sessen Stevens, both from Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite.<\/p>\n

\n
Canada\u2019s U-20 Team<\/h6>\n

Goalkeepers: Kailen Sheridan, Clemson University; Marie-Joelle Vandal, Dynamo de Quebec; Rylee Foster, Woodbridge SC.<\/p>\n

Defenders: Sura Yekka, Brams United; Kinley McNicoll, University of Wisconsin; Kylie Davis, Cometes de Laval; Kadeisha Buchanan, Ottawa Fury FC; Rebecca Quinn, Duke University; Victoria Pickett, Glen Shields; Lindsay Agnew, Ohio State University; Jordane Carvery, Glen Shields.<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Ashley Campbell, Toronto Lady Lynx; Jessie Fleming, London NorWest SC; Ashley Lawrence, Ottawa Fury FC; Vanessa Gregoire, Cometes de Laval; Sarah Kinzner, Calgary Foothills; Emma Fletcher, Louisiana State University.<\/p>\n

Forwards: Nichelle Prince, Toronto Lady Lynx; Janine Beckie, Texas Tech University; Amandine Pierre-Louis, Cometes de Laval; Valerie Sanderson, Cometes de Laval.<\/p>\n

Coach: Andrew Olivieri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014For FIFA and Canadian organizers, next month\u2019s U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup is a test run for the 2015 Women\u2019s World …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":19283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-neil-davidson","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}