Canada to face Costa Rica in semi-final

Canada will face Costa Rica this Friday 5 November in the semi-final stage of the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup. The winner not only advances to the championship final on 8 November, but also qualifies for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011. Canada faces Costa Rica in the first semi-final match (17.00 local) while USA faces Mexico in the second semi-final match (20.00 local), with both matches to be played at the Estadio Beto Ávila.



The Canada-Costa Rica match will be broadcast on CBCSports.ca, CBC bold, Radio-Canada.ca/Sports, and CONCACAF TV (19.00 ET / 16.00 PT). An encore presentation of the match will be played at midnight on CBC Television (24.00 local time in each of the various time zones across Canada).



Canada, whose title sponsor is Winners and presenting sponsor is Teck, has met Costa Rica six times previously, all in CONCACAF tournaments since 1991. Canada has won all six encounters and outscored its opponent 18-1. Costa Rica, however, has improved in recent years. Two years ago, the two sides were separated by just one goal, albeit still a Canada 1:0 win in the group phase of the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.



Costa Rica has also improved with its youth in recent years. Costa Rica finished second at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship and third (with much of the same group) at the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship. Both of those teams qualified for FIFA women’s events.



Costa Rica now has six players promoted from that U-20 team, five of whom also came up with the U-17 team in 2008. Costa Rica’s average age in 22 years and five months, while Canada’s average age is 25 years.



In the group phase of the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifier, Canada finished first in Group A with a perfect 3-0-0 record. Canada scored 12 goals and conceded none. It won 1:0 over Trinidad and Tobago, 8:0 over Guyana and 3:0 over Mexico. Costa Rica, meanwhile, finished second in Group B with a 2-0-1 record (four goals scored, four goals conceded). In its three matches, it won 1:0 over Guatemala, 3:0 over Haiti, and lost 0:4 to USA. L



Seven different players have scored for Canada, led by captain Christine Sinclair who has four goals. Three different players have scored for Costa Rica, including captain Shirley Cruz.



The FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 runs 26 June to 17 July in nine German cities: Augsburg, Berlin, Bochum, Dresden, Frankfurt, Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach, Sinsheim, and Wolfsburg. Canada has qualified for each of the past four FIFA Women’s World Cups (Sweden 1995, USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007) and hopes to make it five straight in early November. The top two teams from the CONCACAF championship will qualify for Germany 2011 while the third-place team will face Italy in a two-leg playoff for the final place.