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Canada's next opponent...[R]


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Just saw the match on ESPN2 ... China absolutely dominated this match outshooting and outplaying the Russians. I was suprised when the Chinese missed a PK, and several good chances they should have converted.

All I can say is that if Canada plays the way it played the first three matches, it has absolutely no chance of progressing past China.

My prediction, 3-0 China win over Canada.

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Just saw the match on ESPN2 ... China absolutely dominated this match outshooting and outplaying the Russians. I was suprised when the Chinese missed a PK, and several good chances they should have converted.

All I can say is that if Canada plays the way it played the first three matches, it has absolutely no chance of progressing past China.

My prediction, 3-0 China win over Canada.

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Didn't see the match, so I can't really comment on Canada v. China.. but after watching North Korea earlier today and Japan yesterday I think Canada's experience with the Japanese will turn out to be valuable. The Asians play an extremely cohesive team game, with a lot of one-touch lateral passing. Problem with North Korea and Japan to an extent is a lack of creativity around the goal one on one. Quite a few of Japan's attacks were snuffed out when they tried to make "just one more perfect pass". From what I've heard, China's had a bit of a problem with that as well lately.

I don't know if our long ball in the air game will work against the Chinese, but at least we'll have some idea of what to expect after the Japan game.

What time is the game on on Thursday? I seem to remember Sportsnet saying 5:30pm MST (7:30pm EST)... but the FIFA WWC site says the game kicks off at 8:30pm MST (10:30pm EST).

Anyone else remember SN saying that?

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Didn't see the match, so I can't really comment on Canada v. China.. but after watching North Korea earlier today and Japan yesterday I think Canada's experience with the Japanese will turn out to be valuable. The Asians play an extremely cohesive team game, with a lot of one-touch lateral passing. Problem with North Korea and Japan to an extent is a lack of creativity around the goal one on one. Quite a few of Japan's attacks were snuffed out when they tried to make "just one more perfect pass". From what I've heard, China's had a bit of a problem with that as well lately.

I don't know if our long ball in the air game will work against the Chinese, but at least we'll have some idea of what to expect after the Japan game.

What time is the game on on Thursday? I seem to remember Sportsnet saying 5:30pm MST (7:30pm EST)... but the FIFA WWC site says the game kicks off at 8:30pm MST (10:30pm EST).

Anyone else remember SN saying that?

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well... hopefully we'll bring our "A" game and get the victory. I'm cautiously optimistic about the game as I think China's had the easiest group and have yet to score more than one goal in each game.

Just checked out the WWC semi-finals draw and it is very favourable to Canada. If we can beat China, we'll face the winner of the Brazil-Sweden game. There's no more "easy" games left in the tournament, but the fact that the USA, Germany and Norway are all on the other side of the draw is very favourable for us. 'course Sweden, Brazil and China are all probably thinking the same thing.

You know... maybe not winning our group will work out for the best?

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well... hopefully we'll bring our "A" game and get the victory. I'm cautiously optimistic about the game as I think China's had the easiest group and have yet to score more than one goal in each game.

Just checked out the WWC semi-finals draw and it is very favourable to Canada. If we can beat China, we'll face the winner of the Brazil-Sweden game. There's no more "easy" games left in the tournament, but the fact that the USA, Germany and Norway are all on the other side of the draw is very favourable for us. 'course Sweden, Brazil and China are all probably thinking the same thing.

You know... maybe not winning our group will work out for the best?

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You never really know which team would show up for Canada.

There were a lot of tense moments in the last game vs. Japan,

but the last half was pretty good for us. In fact, we may be peaking

at the right moment.

If Australia can tie China, I think we can match well, however

you never know when we are working with a depleted defence.

:(

For us to win, we need Morneau's consistency, the same intensity

from Hooper, Swiatek, and Lang, lots of luck to Sinclair & Latham,

and hopefully they put Timko on midfield (not Matheson).

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You never really know which team would show up for Canada.

There were a lot of tense moments in the last game vs. Japan,

but the last half was pretty good for us. In fact, we may be peaking

at the right moment.

If Australia can tie China, I think we can match well, however

you never know when we are working with a depleted defence.

:(

For us to win, we need Morneau's consistency, the same intensity

from Hooper, Swiatek, and Lang, lots of luck to Sinclair & Latham,

and hopefully they put Timko on midfield (not Matheson).

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new article, and by the sounds of it, the team has their confidence back...

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/WorldCup/Women/2003/09/29/212494.html

Next up ... the Chinese

Canada likely won't get many scoring chances

By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun

PORTLAND, Ore. -- It's Canada versus the famed Steel Roses of China in the Rose City.

They may not be as good as they once were, the legendary China team which lost in a shootout at the last Women's World Cup. But China was as good, once, as they once were to make the match against Canada in Thursday's quarter-final with a 1-0 win over Russia here last night.

Conceded by most to be the top technical team in the world, a 1-0 win against Ghana and a 1-1 tie with Australia were considered shocking results for the team which is ranked No. 4 in the world.

But Canadian coach Even Pellerud wasn't too excited about the prospects of playing them.

"China is a terrible team to play against because they never let you get the ball,'' said Pellerud. "They keep the ball as long as they want with their skill and technique.''

Maybe those sobering thoughts will bring Canada down. But I doubt it.

The night before, in Foxboro, Massachusetts, the entire Canadian team linked arms and danced around while coach Even Pellerud bounced up and down.

OVER THE MOON

Christine Sinclair, the 20-year-old striker whom team-mates made fun of last year at the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championships in Edmonton for her lack of enthusiasm in celebrating all her goals, was over the moon as she danced toward the dressing room.

"I'm going home! I'm going home!'' she bounded down the corridor to the Canadian dressing room after scoring the winning goal to send Canada where we'd never gone before - to the quarters of the Women's World Cup here Thursday.

To the Canadian girls, getting to this game meant a lot of different things. But to Sinclair, it meant taking her team to the Pacific Northwest. Home.

"It's amazing. This is what I wanted to do. When I saw the schedule, I told myself, 'This is where I want to be.' I'm going home!

"All my friends and family can drive down to watch,'' said the Burnaby, B.C., product. "And all my teammates from school! They'll all be there, watching me play in the World Cup.

"That's the first thing that hit me. 'We get to play in Portland.' It'll be like a home crowd. I know hundreds of Canadians will come down for the game. And I'm pretty sure all the fans from Portland will be cheering for us.''

The Oregonian headlined the wire service story from Foxboro: 'Sinclair's Goal Saves Canada.'

She's as big in Portland as she is in Penticton.

Sinclair led the University of Portland to its first ever NCAA title by scoring two goals in the final - including the golden goal in overtime - set the tournament record with 21 points on 10 goals and was the NCAAA top scorer in 2002 with 26 goals.

It's a great thing to have the girl who won both the golden boot and the golden ball at the U-19 championships and tied for the goal-scoring title in the Gold Cup qualifying tournament pumped about being in Portland. As she goes, so goes Canada. And we've seen that in this tournament.

After scoring her first World Cup goal three minutes into her first World Cup game, Sinclair became largely invisible until grabbing the Japan game by the throat, setting up Christine Latham and then scoring herself.

But she has plenty of company in this 'Go West, Young Woman' storyline.

Brittany Timko, Andrea Neil, Sharolta Nonen, Silvana Burtini, Karina LeBlanc and Randee Hermus are all B.C. girls, Kara Lang played in the W-League with Vancouver this year, Christine Latham, Taryn Swiatek and Erin McLeod are from Calgary and Sasha Andrews is from Edmonton. All have family and friends headed here.

Not that getting past the first round for the first time isn't exciting enough. This is a young team which has gone from gagging on the first two games to rediscovering belief.

HAVEN'T PLAYED THEIR BEST

"If we play the way we can play, maybe we can go all the way,'' said Latham, who leads Canada with three goals in the World Cup. "We can go a step higher than the way we played against Japan. We still haven't played our best.''

Lang says getting here has taken the pressure off this team. Getting here was the goal. Everything from here is bonus.

"We had trouble with the expectations and all the pressure. But now we can embrace what we've just done. Who knows what we can do now?''

For Charmaine Hooper, who has played all nine Canadian World Cup games, this is why she stayed around at the ripe old age of 35.

"In the first two World Cups we were just happy to be there,'' she said of failing to win a game in either.

"We can go far. If we win the next game, we're in the semifinals. We think it's possible. Now we have our confidence back. We're where we want to be. Now anything can happen.''

It was a stunningly beautiful day when Canada arrived here yesterday. And for this day, at least, it didn't matter if China won here late last night to decide whom they would play. Canada had created this day.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by strobe_z

What time is the game on on Thursday? I seem to remember Sportsnet saying 5:30pm MST (7:30pm EST)... but the FIFA WWC site says the game kicks off at 8:30pm MST (10:30pm EST).

Anyone else remember SN saying that?

I also saw it was the last game of the day. I wonder if maybe they pushed it back so it would work for Chinese tv, let the games with European sides go earlier so they would be better for the time difference with the home countries. Don't know if Russia televises these things separately but Eurosport has games, and they could be one of the bigger paying partners.

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I think that we can take the Chinese. In the immortal words of Mark Watson--“I've found the smaller, faster players, they're not so fast when they're lying on the grass. It tends to slow them down a bit.” Run 'em over, Canucks.

The juggernaut buildeth!

Allez les Rouges,

M@

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another article:

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/Sports/2003/09/30/212903.html

China lacking goals

By TERRY JONES

PORTLAND, Ore. -- You watch the famed Steel Roses of China as they make magic with a soccer ball and wonder if this is one of those "be careful what you wish for" things for Canada. They show more skill in a 30-second commercial than Canada has shown in three 90-minute games to get to the quarter-finals of the women's World Cup.

But then you notice ...

They do everything you can do with a soccer ball but put it in the back of the net.

The legendary Chinese team, the best team to never win a World Cup or an Olympics, put on a show against the Russians on Sunday night to get to the elite-eight game of USA 2003. But in the end, again, the Chinese got only one goal.

In there somewhere is Canada's great hope in the quarter-final Thursday against the Great Wall of China, a team which has given up only one goal in 270 minutes during the tournament.

Not scoring is not going over well with the 50 media members from China who throw their arms in the air and cheer madly for the team which lost the previous World Cup to the U.S. in the final before 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl on Brandi Chastain's shirt-stripping shootout goal.

"This team is not as good as the (1999) World Cup team but I feel like my players are still the most outstanding players in the world,'' coach Liangxing Ma said.

The Chinese beat Ghana 1-0, tied Australia 1-1 -- teams which, like Canada, came here without ever having won a World Cup game -- and then escaped with a 1-0 win over Russia.

"The media and the fans back home might not be satisfied with three goals in three games,'' Ma said. "I'll keep working on that.

"Our coaches understand we can play some very good games and some very bad games. My concern is that we don't make as many goals from our opportunities as possible.''

Canada's coach, Even Pellerud, says China is no day at the park.

"It is a terrible team to play against because you never get the ball,'' Pellerud said. "They can play against light.

"It's a very good team. Sophisticated.''

But Pellerud believes the Canadians can beat them.

"In spite of all their possession, they have scored only three goals," he said. "That is not adequate for all that possession.

"Our job is to take their speed away from them and then do it at the other end. Our strikers' confidence is high again now. They all scored in the last game,'' he said of Christine Sinclair, Kara Lang and Christine Latham.''

On paper, this looks like a mismatch. China is No. 4 in the FIFA rankings and Canada No. 12 and over the years Canada has played China 11 times and lost 10. China has outscored Canada 35-8.

But Canada, since the under-19 women's world championship in Edmonton last year, has been on the "up" escalator and China on the "down."

Veteran Charmaine Hooper said it is about the Canadians taking it to the level at which they are capable of playing.

"The main thing is us.''

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