Canada w20 prepares for Norway
Posted on 22 August 2012 in FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
Canada will face Norway in its second group match at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Japan 2012 this Thursday 23 August. The two sides will kick off at 19.00 local at the Kobe Univer Stadium in Kobe, JPN, with group opponents Korea DPR and Argentina kicking off three hours earlier at the same venue.
Canadian fans will be up early again on Thursday, with the kick off set for 06.00 ET / 03.00 PT. The match will be broadcast live on CBC television as well as CBCSports.ca. Fans can also follow all the action via twitter.com/canadasocceren.
Only the top two teams from each group advance to the quarter-final phase, so a result on Thursday will go a long way in securing Canada's path to the knock-out phase. Like Canada, Norway qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup by finishing second in its confederation championship (Norway lost to Germany in the 2011 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship final).
The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Japan 2012 runs 19 August to 8 September. Canada is one of 16 teams participating in the tournament, with all players born in 1992 or later. This marks Canada's fifth participation in a FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
In four previous FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup participations, Canada's best result was a silver-medal finish at Canada 2002. Canadian women's youth teams have also won CONCACAF gold at two CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championships (2004 and 2008) and one CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championship (2010). As for the next FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in 2014, it will take place in Canada (one year before the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup also comes to Canada).
