Column: World Cup crunch time
The international break took centre stage this week as nations around the world start to hone their squads against top class opposition, while three more are looking to book their spots.
Thankfully, most of the news came on the field this week as the domestic season went on a brief hiatus and friendly tournaments around the world took centre stage, as well as the World Cup play-offs, as teams now begin to make final preparations for this summer’s World Cup.
With three spots left in the 32-strong field of nations from around the world, those final three are yet to be decided, but has been narrowed down from 10 to six as Haiti beat Senegal 4-0 with an impressive performance, Cameroon put on a late show to defeat Thailand 2-0 and Panama comfortably dispatched Papua New Guinea 2-0 too.
While Haiti will have to face Chile and Cameroon will face Portugal, Panama will face another play-off side in Paraguay who came through undoubtedly the most dramatic semi-final after being 2-0 down to Chinese Taipei. A special mention to Panama duo Marta Cox and Riley Tanner, their goals are well worth watching.
After going 2-0 down, Paraguay scored two in a minute in the final 10 minutes, and held on by the skin of their teeth when Hsin-Hsuan Pao put a 121st minute penalty over the crossbar, and then was denied in the shootout, twice after a retake, by the Paraguay goalkeeper, and the South Americans eventually prevailed.
Those spots will be decided in the three finals across Wednesday and Thursday, but around the world the 29 teams that booked their spots long ago have been partaking in glamorous friendlies as more and more competitions pop up around the world.
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In England, the Lionesses look good to retain the Arnold Clark Cup after 4-0 and 2-1 wins over Korea Republic respectively, but will go to a decider vs Belgium on Wednesday who have also won both their games so far in the tournament.
The SheBelieves Cup has its star-studded line-up back on track with Canada, Brazil and Japan joining the world champions, and after a show of solidarity with their neighbours, Vlatko Andonovski’s side beat Canada 2-0 and Japan 1-0 and look to good to maintain the trophy, while Canada bounced back from their opening round defeat to beat Brazil 2-0 on Sunday night. In the best news of all, the great Marta also returned to the pitch after recovering from an ACL injury!
The Cup of Nations has returned in Australia and produced some thrilling games so far, with the hosts against Spain proving the best yet. Australia raced into a 3-0 lead but Spain pulled two goals back to leave things well open going into the final round of matches. It has to be said, both Olga Carmona and Alba Redondo’s strikes were excellent and show the strength in depth Jorge Vilda’s side has.
Spain had beaten Jamaica 3-0 in their first game while Australia are the odds-on favourites after beating Czech Republic 4-0. Czech Republic though have put on a strong showing and beat Jamaica 3-2, showing the European side may not be far away from reaching major tournament level.
The Tournoi de France is also back this year with France welcoming Norway, Denmark and Uruguay, and again it’s the hosts who look favourites to win the competition after a 1-0 win against Denmark and a 5-1 win against Uruguay. Norway’s struggles to continue after only creeping past the South Americans 1-0 before falling to a 2-0 defeat to Denmark. Sandie Toletti’s strike against Uruguay is well worth searching!
In Spain, the annual Pinatar Cup is also coming to a close with a mixed bag of results. Iceland beat Scotland 2-0 but could only draw 0-0 with Wales, while Scotland bounced back to beat the Philippines 2-1 after Wales had beaten the newest World Cup nation 1-0 in the opening round, meaning things are wide open as Wales face Scotland later this week and Iceland are right in the mix too.
The newest tournament is the Revelations Cup in Mexico, where the hosts have welcomed Nigeria, Costa Rica and Colombia. Mexico need to bounce back after missing out on the World Cup and have done well to beat Nigeria 1-0 before a draw with Costa Rica, while Colombia also recorded the exact same results, a 1-1 with Costa Rica and a 1-0 win over Nigeria, with teenage star Linda Caicedo scoring a beauty to beat the latter.
The Algarve Cup has taken a year off with Portugal in the World Cup play-offs, while the Turkey Cup lost its hosts who understandably withdrew after the tragic earthquakes in the country and neighbouring Syria two weeks ago. The Cyprus Cup, the oldest of all the traditional February tournaments, continues and Finland put in an impressive performance to beat Hungary 8-0 on Sunday.