Brilliant penalty save sees Sweden advance past Canada to reach the quarter-finals

Let’s get the question people have been asking me out of the way: no, I’m not heartbroken Canada lost. We’re a footballing country where we practically need an act of legislation to score more than one goal in a match. Such an act would have been useful today to just get one. But I can’t be heartbroken about the match loss; the rational is overruling the romantic in this consideration.

Group E – Round 1 and 2 Roundup

We did not forget about Group E! I promise! I said I wouldn’t cover any games unless Christine Sinclair scored. Reasonable. Why else am I here except to celebrate my home country and slight everyone else in their group?! Come on. I kid! You should know me better than that. I love and respect everyone.

Netherlands top Group E while Sinclair nabs her first goal in France

1-8-2. Beep. 1-8-2. Beep. 1-8-2. That’s goal 182 in the record books for Christine Sinclair. And while she keeps deflecting and saying she’s not keeping track or dwelling on it, here’s how I think she should be celebrating:

The Daily Drool – WWC 2019 Group E – Canada: Sophie Schmidt

Midfielder Sophie has represented Canada at the U17, U20 and senior levels (the latter 185 times and counting!). She currently plays for the Houston Dash

2019 Women’s World Cup: Group E Preview

Just call this the mulligan. New Zealand, Netherlands, and Canada are reuniting once again at the group stage after battling it out together four years ago. Cameroon slides into the final spot, hoping to better their 11th place finish from their debut in 2015.

Play Like a Girl: SheBelieves, Algarve, and Cyprus Cups

It’s almost March which means it is time to get ready for the Triwizard’s Cup of women’s football once more. But, not really. Over a 9-day period in March, three (3) tournaments are taking place in Cyprus, Portugal, and the USA for 28 national women’s football teams. Which is sorta like a Triwizard-esque event. But, again, not really. :^)

Cyprus Cup
Officially, the Cyprus Cup runs February 27 – March 9 though matches are taking place March 1 – 8 only. Unlike its companion tournaments, this Cup holds a group stage to determine group positions based on points followed by one day of classification matches to determine final rankings.

The twelve invited teams are split into three (3) groups. The participating teams are as follows, along with their current FIFA ranking:

Group A
Belgium, 25; Italy, 16; Korea DPR, 10; Switzerland, 17

Group B
Austria, 24 (current champions); Korea Rep, 18; New Zealand, 19; Scotland, 21

Group C
Czech Rep, 33; Rep.of Ireland, 34; Hungary, 40; Wales, 36

There are no announced broadcasts at the moment, though there was one stream available last year for the final.

Algarve Cup
Taking place March 1 – 8 in Portugal, the Algarve Cup is in its 24th year of operation. This year’s tournament should be a hotly contested one, with top EU teams gearing up for UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 in Netherlands in July.

The twelve invited teams are split into three (3) groups for a round-robin tournament with the winner determined based on the standard points systems. The participating teams are as follows, including their FIFA ranking:

Group A
Canada, 4 (current champions); Denmark, 15; Russia, 23; Portugal, 38

Group Two
Iceland, 20; Japan, 7; Norway, 11; Spain, 14

Group Three
Australia, 6; Sweden, 8; Netherlands, 12; China PR, 13

Eurosport has broadcast this tournament in the past; a search for this year’s schedule has proven fruitless thus far.

SheBelieves Cup
Is the unofficial slogan for this year’s SheBelieves Cup, “she persisted”? If not, it really, really should be. Timely and extremely relevant when it comes to women’s football. I highly encourage anyone able to attend any of these games to consider some signage.

Four of the top 5 FIFA-ranked teams are involved again this year: France (3), England (5), Germany (2), and the USA (1). This tournament is also a round robin, with the winner determined based on the standard points system.

Games are taking place in Chester, PA (March 1); Harrison, NJ (March 4); and Washington DC (March 7). Tickets for all the games are available through USSoccer.com.

It looks like Fox Sports will be airing the USA games only. French broadcasters D17 and Canal + Sport along with the BBC picked up all or some of the other games last year. Hopefully they will do the same this year.

If anyone is going to any of these tournament, we’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment below or connect on Twitter @hbandsandhbreak.

-hopechaser

Navas named best CONCACAF goalkeeper

Felicitaciones Keylor! Our lovable goalkeeper was awarded the CONCACAF 2016 Male Goalkeeper of the Year award today. Keylor was also included in the Male Best XI and finished 3rd in the voting for CONCACAF Male Player of the Year. Not too shabby.

The Daily Drool – Olympics Group F – Canada: Nichelle Prince

Forward Nichelle pays for Ohio State. She has represented Canada at the U18, U20 and the senior level.

FIFA Leadership: Now With More Women, Dancing, and Duckface

Inspired after listening to new FIFA GeneralSecretary @fatma_samoura #AuthenticLeader #didGoofyface & ACMilan SBoban pic.twitter.com/PdbUsezfCY

— Karina LeBlanc (@karinaleblanc) June 7, 2016

FIFA’s Female Leadership Development Programme (FLDP) concluded its first development module last week for 34 lucky participants from around the world. One (always) very happy participant was Karina LeBlanc, former Canadian WNT goalkeeper, who entertained me all week with her social media updates. No workshop participant was safe from her camera, including the incoming FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura and FIFA President Gianni Infantino!

CONCACAF Rio 2016 Bound!

The 2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship wrapped up on February 21 with more whimper than bang. Unless you were on the USA team then you may have a few bruises which would suggest otherwise. Nevertheless, as expected the final featured USA vs Canada and while the former team showed up to play, the latter, well, were tactically wanting. And that’s all I’ll say on this particular topic.