Durban Sandshark Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 Panama defeats Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 although the Soca Warriors threatened to the very end, so Panama goes on to New Zealand for the FIFA WWC Intercontinental playoffs. Now who will join them tonight--Haiti or Jamaica in their West Indies rivalry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 Jamaica has qualified for Australia-New Zealand 2023. We await now for Africa, as Morocco will face Botswana, then Cameroon against Nigeria, Zambia will take on Senegal, while South Africa will battle against Tunisia for the four spots representing Africa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 Now we are halfway done with the qualified spots. My guess for Africa should be Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. My guess for the inter-confederation play-offs for Africa should be Cameroon and Tunisia. If Morocco beats Botswana, then Morocco (aka the Atlas Lioness) would become the first Arabic speaking country to have ever qualified for a FIFA Women's World Cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 12 hours ago, SportLightning said: Now we are halfway done with the qualified spots. My guess for Africa should be Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. My guess for the inter-confederation play-offs for Africa should be Cameroon and Tunisia. If Morocco beats Botswana, then Morocco (aka the Atlas Lioness) would become the first Arabic speaking country to have ever qualified for a FIFA Women's World Cup. Definitely it would mean a lot if Morocco's Atlas Lioness would history as the first Arab nation ever qualified in the FIFA WWC. Add that to Tunisia, should they eventually emerge out of qualification, it would carry on with popular Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur making it to the Wimbeldon ladies' final in the Arab womens' sports scene. Those two quarterfinal games that start the African single elimination stage tomorrow will be for the debutants and ensures two new African teams in it with Morocco-Botswana and Zambia-Senegal. Mexico's catastrophic and disastrous campaign as hosts--there will be more on this, believe me--ugh! To start things, it's the latest in a continuous poor trend of FMF's programs failing to deliver not qualifying for not just the WWC but also Paris 2024 Olympic qualifications. Although the flagship El Tri did indeed qualify for Qatar, albeit it endured its poor results and qualification struggles that has FMF head Gerardo Torrado' leadership called into question. No doubt IMO Monica Vergara will lose her head coaching post after this embarassment, despite playing with greater urgency last night against the USA: https://www.sdpnoticias.com/deportes/seleccion-mexicana-fracasos-en-todas-las-categorias/ Not sure who will join co-hosts New Zealand out of Oceania even with the NZ-hosting intercontinental playoffs for the OFC Women's Nations Cup that kicks off tomorrow in Suva, Fiji at ANZ Stadium. I'm thinking, based on the previous OFC Women's Nations Cup, it will be among hosts Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, and Tonga. Pressed, I'll go with Fiji as the Fijians were runners-up last time and are hosts here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 13, 2022 Report Share Posted July 13, 2022 Haiti and Panama head to Auckland and Hamilton, New Zealand next February for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup intercontinental playoff after both finishing third in their groups above a very disappointing Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago, respectively. Both of them failed to score a goal for their teams. Could Charlyn Corral, who has been left off the El Tri Femenil squad for several years, have helped them avoid the shock non-qualification? My guess is yes but on a limited basis and not on other key areas: https://www.milenio.com/futbol/seleccion-mexicana/por-que-no-convocan-a-charlyn-corral-en-la-seleccion-mexicana Also I must note that Brazil's Marta, that nation's top goalscorer and legend, is unable to play in the Copa Femenina tournament due to recovering from a knee ligament injury and surgery. Brazil's final squad was announced prior to the tournament with Gabi Nunes and Letícia Izidoro withdrawing due to injuries and were replaced by Duda Sampaio and Natascha. Debinha, Adriana, and Bia Zanaretto are certainly playing their parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 13, 2022 Report Share Posted July 13, 2022 With more than halfway of teams who qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Australia-New Zealand, We are almost done with Africa spots. Qualified Teams: AFC: Australia (Co-Host) New Zealand (Co-Host) Japan South Korea China PR Philippines Vietnam Sweden Spain France Denmark United States Costa Rica Canada Jamaica Zambia Morocco Morocco will be the first Arab Country to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup, while Zambia will be the first landlocked country in Africa to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 13, 2022 Report Share Posted July 13, 2022 I'm really impressed by Morocco's performance at the Africa Women Cup of Nations 2022 as host. The Atlas Lioness have never made it this far out of the group stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 14, 2022 Report Share Posted July 14, 2022 South Africa's Bayana Bayana are going to Australia-New Zealand! Defeated Tunisia 1-0, denying Tunisia in the Atlas Lionesses' bid to become the second Arab nation to directly qualify in Rabat. For South Africa, they're making it to their second consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup--and completely made all my 4 African women's soccer predictions to directly make it to down under. Tunisia still has a shot if it wins the consolation round game as Senegal awaits. Nigeria is going too after edging Cameroon 1-0 earlier today thanks to Rasheedat Ajibade’s 56th-minute header to punch their own ticket Australia and New Zealand. Nine out of nine WWC qualifications for the Super Green Falcons. Cameroon, a 2019 FIFA WWC qualifier, still has a shot too when they face Botswana in the repechage: https://supersport.com/football/news/26b25bec-fcf6-4fdb-bd52-fc3dde7b2856/nine_out_of_nine_as_nigeria_qualify_again_for_world_cup Should be noted here that the CONCACAF W Championships semifinal winner on in San Nicolas de los Garza, Mexico at Estadio BBVA (very likely the USA and Canada) will qualify for the the 2024 Summer Olympics women's soccer tournament in Paris, France (and several other cities across the nation) and the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup. The runners-up and the third place finisher will advance to the CONCACAF W Olympic play-in. In addition to the winner of the W Championship, the winner of a CONCACAF Olympic play-in between the second and third-placed teams of the W Championship will also qualify. Maybe I'm confused with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 14, 2022 Report Share Posted July 14, 2022 In Suva, Fiji at the 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup, (Western) Samoa beats Tonga 2-0 yesterday to open the competition. Today, Papua New Guinea wins against Vanuatu 3-1, and hosts Fiji and the Solomon Islands end in a 1-1 tie. The French Pacific territories, Tahiti and New Caledonia, will both make the 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup debuts on July 17 TAH vs. PNG and NCD vs. FIJ. The Cook Islands start their campaign play July 16 versus Tonga. American Samoa was unable to participate due to ongoing issues from the pandemic. All other countries in the OFC (excluding 2023 WWC co-hosts New Zealand that's automatically in) will participate. Some nations other than American Samoa that didn't participate or started but didn't finish their qualification campaigns and withdrew (excluding Russia) include Chad and Pakistan (their respective national soccer/football federations were both suspended by FIFA, thus excluding them from entering qualifications). Rwanda, Sudan, DR Congo, and São Tomé and Príncipe entered qualifications but later withdrew. Kenya withdrew before the second round of qualifiers. North Korea and Turkmenistan withdrew from the Women's Asian Cup qualifiers due to safety concerns and travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Iraq withdrew after the AFC draw. Due to the uncertainty of women’s sports after the deeply wrongful Taliban re-takeover of the country, Afghanistan withdrew from qualification--a very sad and damn shame considering the progress made for the women's soccer program even with the sexual misconduct committed by the AFF head on the team's several players. It even since fell off from the FIFA rankings. Because of COVID-19 pandemic outbreaks within the squad, Women's Asian Cup hosts India withdrew from the competition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 18, 2022 Report Share Posted July 18, 2022 Senegal and Cameroon are heading to the inter-continental play-offs. Senegal beat Tunisia after a penalty shootout, Cameroon won over Botswana but one goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 20, 2022 Report Share Posted July 20, 2022 We are now one year to go for the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia/New Zealand 2023. https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/australia-and-new-zealand-host-cities-mark-one-year-to-go-until-womens-world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 21, 2022 Report Share Posted July 21, 2022 Thanks to Alex Morgan's penalty goal following penalty on Rose Lavelle getting fouled inside the 18-yard area, Team USA, aka USWNT, wins 1-0 over their fierce Canadian rivals to win the CONCACAF W title in Monterrey, which means the USA earns direct qualification to the Paris 2024 women's soccer tournament. Morgan with her 3 goals wins the tournament MVP in displaying her class. Tokyo 2020 winners Canada and third place winner Jamaica will now head into the CONCACAF Olympic women's soccer qualification tournament to battle for the second CONCACAF spot. Alex Morgan even fit 20 margaritas into the CONCACAF trophy to drink out of in celebration: https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usaw/story/4703218/uswnts-alex-morgan-shows-her-class-in-concacaf-w-championship-success https://www.espn.com/soccer/alex-morgan/story/4703446/uswnts-alex-morgan-fits-20-margaritas-in-concacaf-w-championship-trophy It appears that hosts Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Chile will advance out the Copa Feminina with the first four teams advancing to the semis. Chile and Venezuela will likely head to the fifth place game with the final group games ahead. Game to watch is Argentina vs. Venezuela tomorrow in who will advance to semis from Group B with the loser playing for not just for fifth but also the intercontinentals. Would Venezuela's Dayna Castellanos, the former Florida St. star now at Manchester City, have something special up her sleeve in that game? Colombia, atop Group A, surely would like to avoid Brazil until the finals when facing Chile, who does have a shot at knocking off Paraguay should they win or tie. Only Peru, assuming Brazil won't allow it, would leave Colombia without a goal to their name, the only nation to do so in Copa Feminina. Uruguay, already eliminated, blasted the Peruvians 6-0 in the previous game (so is Bolivia out too). Pity for the Tunisians in not making it to the intercontinental playoffs in New Zealand due to penalty kicks--and missing a couple of them. Hoped they'd be the second Arab nation to make it at least that far after Morocco. Senegal's quite good and may make it to the full tournament. Man, Ghana's Black Queens used to be the toast of African women's soccer but have since regressed. OK, with the OFC's being just 9 teams with NZ and American Samoa not in this tournament, there's going to be 8 teams in the quarterfinals with Vanuatu being the odd team out despite exactly tying with Tonga in its record. Tonga got the tiebreaker because that nation has better fair play points (Tonga: 0 Vanuatu: -3). All on this weekend: Samoa vs. New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea vs. Tonga (Saturday) Fiji vs. Cook Islands and Solomon Islands vs. Tahiti (Sunday). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 21, 2022 Report Share Posted July 21, 2022 Host Colombia and Paraguay are through to the CONMEBOL Copa Feminina semifinals out of Group A with the Colombians going 4-0 over Chile, now relegated to the fifth place game, much to the delight of the home fans in Armenia with four different players scoring. Simultaneously, Paraguay knocks off 2015 FIFA WWC participant Ecuador 2-1. Again, the real match tonight to conclude Group B and the group play overall is Argentina and Venezuela in the battle to finish behind Brazil for second place. It'll be tough for Venezuela as I think it needs to win by 6-7 goals over Argentina. Brazil plays Peru at the same time tonight in Cali in a meaningless game as Uruguay completed their competition over Peru with the Celeste's 6-0 blowout. We only know that Brazil will face Paraguay in one semifinal game as Colombia awaits who wins in tonight's Argentina-Venezuela game. Likely, 5th place will be Tokyo 2020 participants Chile and (very likely) Venezuela. Top three will directly qualify to Australia-New Zealand starting July 25 with the 4th place finisher and the 5th place winner heading to the intercontinental playoffs with everything ending, like with the OFC Women's Nations Cup in Fiji, on July 30. My top three: Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina (also going to the 2023 Pan American Games with hosts Chile) with Paraguay and Chile heading to the New Zealand-based intercontinentals. Plus, I think Brazil and Colombia will both head to Paris. As we look towards Europe following the UEFA Women's EURO 2022, it looks really favorable and certain that European women's soccer bluebloods England, Germany, Norway, and Italy will join France, Sweden, Spain, and Denmark. The Netherlands, meanwhile, works to keep ahead of Iceland breathing down its neck in Group , but I'm sure the Oranje Lions will qualify. Who will join them as runnersup? It's where things are really interesting and very tight with Belgium, Iceland, Switzerland, Scotland, Austria, and Serbia vying to make at least the lone intercontinental UEFA spot under the top rankings of second place teams among 9 teams battling things. Can't make my picks until the upcoming September window on September 1-6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 22, 2022 Report Share Posted July 22, 2022 7 hours ago, Durban Sandshark said: Host Colombia and Paraguay are through to the CONMEBOL Copa Feminina semifinals out of Group A with the Colombians going 4-0 over Chile, now relegated to the fifth place game, much to the delight of the home fans in Armenia with four different players scoring. Simultaneously, Paraguay knocks off 2015 FIFA WWC participant Ecuador 2-1. Again, the real match tonight to conclude Group B and the group play overall is Argentina and Venezuela in the battle to finish behind Brazil for second place. It'll be tough for Venezuela as I think it needs to win by 6-7 goals over Argentina. Brazil plays Peru at the same time tonight in Cali in a meaningless game as Uruguay completed their competition over Peru with the Celeste's 6-0 blowout. We only know that Brazil will face Paraguay in one semifinal game as Colombia awaits who wins in tonight's Argentina-Venezuela game. Likely, 5th place will be Tokyo 2020 participants Chile and (very likely) Venezuela. Top three will directly qualify to Australia-New Zealand starting July 25 with the 4th place finisher and the 5th place winner heading to the intercontinental playoffs with everything ending, like with the OFC Women's Nations Cup in Fiji, on July 30. My top three: Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina (also going to the 2023 Pan American Games with hosts Chile) with Paraguay and Chile heading to the New Zealand-based intercontinentals. Plus, I think Brazil and Colombia will both head to Paris. As we look towards Europe following the UEFA Women's EURO 2022, it looks really favorable and certain that European women's soccer bluebloods England, Germany, Norway, and Italy will join France, Sweden, Spain, and Denmark. The Netherlands, meanwhile, works to keep ahead of Iceland breathing down its neck in Group , but I'm sure the Oranje Lions will qualify. Who will join them as runnersup? It's where things are really interesting and very tight with Belgium, Iceland, Switzerland, Scotland, Austria, and Serbia vying to make at least the lone intercontinental UEFA spot under the top rankings of second place teams among 9 teams battling things. Can't make my picks until the upcoming September window on September 1-6. Well, we only have about a year to the start of the tournament. After these 29 teams qualify, then the final draw in Auckland at the Aptea Center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 23, 2022 Report Share Posted July 23, 2022 Nigeria finishes 4th in the Africa Women Cup of Nations. Not a good finish for the Super Falcons, Zambia earned their best finish in the WAFCON with 3rd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 23, 2022 Report Share Posted July 23, 2022 For the OFC Women's Nations Cup, Papua New Guinea and Tonga have made it to the semi-finals, while the Africa Women Cup of Nations South Africa face host Morocco in the final. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 26, 2022 Report Share Posted July 26, 2022 Colombia's Los Cafeteras are the latest to qualify for Australia-New Zealand with their expected win against Argentina 1-0, looking forward to play in the final in front of their yellow-clad fans July 30 in Bucaramanga. This after 8 years away--also qualifying for Paris 2024 Olympic women's soccer. Argentina now goes to the third place game with still a shot to qualify via direct qualification in the third place game along with already being 2023 Pan American Games participant with Chile and Venezuela. At least, they're assured of the intercontinental playoffs. Brazil, the class of Latin American women's soccer, is expected to join Colombia in not only direct 2023 FIFA WWC qualification but Paris 2024 in defeating Paraguay tonight also in Bucaramanga. Chile's Las Rojas wins a thriller for fifth place and entry into the NZ-based 2023 FIFA WWC intercontinental playoffs in defeating Venezuela 4-2 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie. Dayna Castellanos tied things up for Venezuela's Vinotinto 2 minutes of extra time after 90 minutes and a Daniella Zamora goal well into the second half. But as Venezuela's first penalty kick attempt, she missed and went over the goal, setting the tone for their fortunes--so did Kika Moreno. Too bad Dayna won't be admired down under for Venezuela even for the intercontinental playoffs. Hopefully they'll learn from this experience. Because of their previous experience like with past Women's World Cups, I predict Argentina will beat Paraguay to get the third and last direct Australia and New Zealand qualification with Chile and Paraguay heading to New Zealand. Congrats to South Africa's Bayana Bayana in winning the CAF African Women's Nations Cup while breaking the Moroccans' hearts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 26, 2022 Report Share Posted July 26, 2022 I think Paraguay might qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup and could make their debut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted July 26, 2022 Report Share Posted July 26, 2022 We’ll see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guilga Posted July 27, 2022 Report Share Posted July 27, 2022 2 hours ago, SportLightning said: I think Paraguay might qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup and could make their debut. Hopefully, and absolutely, NOT. TONIGHT. Ho, ho, ho, today it´s Brazil´s day to qualify and book that tickets already, three out of the four in offer in Copa America Feminina (World Cup, Olympics and Pan-American Games) and get the latter in the final! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted July 27, 2022 Report Share Posted July 27, 2022 9 minutes ago, Guilga said: Hopefully, and absolutely, NOT. TONIGHT. Ho, ho, ho, today it´s Brazil´s day to qualify and book that tickets already, three out of the four in offer in Copa America Feminina (World Cup, Olympics and Pan-American Games) and get the latter in the final! I'm talking about at third place match if they beat Argentina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guilga Posted July 27, 2022 Report Share Posted July 27, 2022 45 minutes ago, SportLightning said: I'm talking about at third place match if they beat Argentina. Oh, that makes sense; they definitevely could make through in third but they are at least guaranteed intercontinental play-off now. Paraguay could really take one of the last slots there as well. As for now... WE ARE IN! VAI BRASIL!!! (Also we´re qualifying to Paris 2024 because of getting into the final, Comnebol should really have a bigger international women´s calendar.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 27, 2022 Report Share Posted July 27, 2022 Back in Suva, Fiji, the home team is in the final as expected with a 3-1 over the Solomon Islands. Fiji now faces Papua New Guinea, who won the other semifinal against Samoa in a 3-0 shutout earlier today. OFC Women's Nation Cup Final arrives on July 30 with the winner advancing to the FIFA Intercontinental Playoffs in Hamilton and Auckland, New Zealand. The Solomon Islands and Samoa battle for third place earlier that day. Australia, a former OFC member until 2006, was originally planned as co-host to share in the intercontinental playoffs as a test event for co-hosting the FIFA Women's World Cup as both hosts being invited to participate in friendly matches against the teams in Group 1 and Group 2, thereby ensuring that all teams play two matches during the play-off tournament. But Football Australia dropped out (don't know why) and will be just New Zealand Football hosting as the Football Ferns stage some pre-tournament friendlies with a couple of top teams, including the top intercontinental seed, to get ready. One thing I notice with the OFC teams outside of New Zealand (thanks to Wikipedia's roster entry), three teams--PNG, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu--all have their national team players coming from only domestic clubs, many of them hail from a handful of them. All the others have at least a player or a handful of players based at overseas clubs, ranging from New Zealand, USA, Canada, Australia, and France. Samoa has a majority of its players currently unattached to clubs--likely because there's at present no national women's league there and are beholden to the women's national team program. Surely that plays a part in why Oceania overall--excluding New Zealand--isn't as fiercely competitive and talented as, say, even African and Asian teams nowdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted July 30, 2022 Report Share Posted July 30, 2022 Argentina qualifies directly to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup with its 3-1 comeback win over Paraguay last night in Armenia, Colombia thanks to two goals from Yamila Rodriguez and one from Maria Florencia "Flor" Bonsegundo. All three came deep and late in the second half after Paraguay's Romina Stefania Núñez scores in the 39th minutes. An own goal from Argentina, actually, in that case. Been long concerned about Argentina's offensive firepower, still remains...but, "Argentina al Mundial!" Paraguay now joins Chile to the intercontinental playoffs in Auckland and Hamilton, New Zealand. The big game tonight at the Copa America Femenil of course is seemingly unstoppable Brazil and hosts Colombia at 7pm US/Canada/Mexico/Colombia time. I do expect that the Brazilian Selecao will capture its 8th title. But can Colombia's home cooking help propel Los Cafeteras for its first ever title? Possible but not quite counting on it. Brazil's just deeper in team and talent. Should be a very solid game tonight. Oceania's winner was just crowned in Suva, Fiji with PNG and not the hosts winning the OFC Women's Nation Cup today 2-1. Becoming the first Oceania nation not named New Zealand to win the OFC Women's Nations' Cup title and breaking the home nation's soccer hearts and hopes. Both Papua New Guinea and Fiji, also both Melanesian nations, were bridesmaids until this moment--Fiji's time as it continues on though. Unlike WWC co-hosts NZ though, PNG heads over to the intercontinental playoffs given how relatively weak the OFC competition currently is even with New Zealand and will likely become the weakest team in the field. At least they won't travel as far to New Zealand like all the other participants and will gain some major and serious big-time international soccer experience. As await who will emerge out of Europe to be the final piece, the intercontinental field is nearly complete: Thailand Senegal Cameroon Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) Chile Haiti Paraguay Panama Papua New Guinea Until there's both the Euro participant confirmed and overall seedings are made, I won't make any prediction as to who will become the 3 remaining teams (not to mention any wish you were heres). Although we can safely assume the European team will be among the seeded teams, if not the #1 seed, because, well, it's from Europe, an incredibly strong confederation where the balance of power largely rests at. That said, the previously experienced teams from past WWCs and Summer Olympics seem to have an edge like Chile, Thailand, and Cameroon and favor them. Shouldn't underestimate Haiti, Panama, Senegal, and Paraguay though. The Solomon Islands finish with third place beating (Western) Samoa winning on penalty kicks 6-5 following a 1-1 tie, eventually making it a complete Melanesian 1-2-3 sweep. Europe is all that's needed to be complete. Already mentioned who seems poised and ready to qualify but the other nations I need time to assess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportLightning Posted August 3, 2022 Report Share Posted August 3, 2022 My guess could be Scotland in the inter-continental play-offs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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