Balls and Boots and Bangers and … Golden Tweets?

I’m late bringing you this as I was waiting for a Women’s World Cup all-star team to be announced first. One hasn’t been and likely won’t be. I guess FIFA just wasn’t interested in doing this anymore. Oh well. At least we still have the individual awards to celebrate and debate.

European Champions Send Brave Italy Home

First things first – this match was HOT. So hot that both coaches requested that the match be moved into the later hours of the day, especially since there was no night match being held that night. Sadly, but not surprisingly, FIFA said no. However, both teams had to handle these scorching temperatures and they did have two “cooling breaks” so while it wasn’t great for either team, neither team had it worse than the other.

The Daily Drool: Alia Guagni

Defender Alia has represented Italy at the senior level since 2009. She currently plays for Fiorentina.

Italy Gets the Job Done and Move onto the Quarterfinals

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows I’m a die-hard Italian fan. The Azzurri and the Azzurre both hold a strong place in my heart. But sometimes even I have to question some of their decisions. Like Tuesday night. The Macarena? Really?

Italy Win Group C even with a Loss to Brazil; Marta Breaks a Record

Regardless of how you feel about Marta, she is a force to be reckoned with and now she has a record to prove it.

Cinque Terror?

Sorry for the really bad pun but a five goal fest put Italy on top of Group C on Friday and folks are starting to put two and two together. If you invest in a women’s league and give the ladies some resources, good things may indeed happen.

The Daily Drool – WWC 2019 Group C – Italy: Sara Gama

Defender Sara is captaining Italy. She has represented her country at the senior level since 2006. She currently plays for Juventus.

Mambo Italiana

“Buongiorno indeed !” Italian Americans may have said when they awoke on Sunday morning! The Azzure started off their 2019 World Cup campaign with what many considered a surprising win over the Matildas to start Group C action.

2019 Women’s World Cup: Group C Preview

Am I allowed to have a favourite group? ‘Coz this is it. There are so many different styles of football happening here I dare you to not be entertained. The Matildas, the Reggae Girlz, the Seleção, and the Azzurre. The conceptual style and strength combinations are insane to consider. I’ve got goosebumps imagining how it’ll play out on the pitch.

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