Canada-Brazil 2011 Panams & Friendly Canada-Sweden

Canada will face Brazil for top spot in Group B at the XVI Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011 Women’s Football Tournament. The two sides will meet Saturday 22 October at 20.00 local (21.00 ET / 18.00 PT). The two sides are currently dead even on points, goal differential and goals scored after two matches, so only a winner can decide first place in the group standing.

On Thursday, both Canada and Brazil qualified for the semi-final stage with the elimination of Argentina and Costa Rica. In the opposite group, Colombia secured first place in Group A and will thus face the loser of the Canada-Brazil match on Saturday. Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Chile will all fight for second place in their Saturday matches.

Following the final group matches on Saturday, four teams will advance to the semi-final stage on Tuesday 25 October. The Tuesday winners will then advance to the gold-medal match on 27 October while the losers will play for bronze on the same day.

So far at this year’s Pan American Games, Canada has won 3:1 over Costa Rica and 1:0 over Argentina. Canada won a bronze medal four years ago and of course wants to improve on that ranking at this year’s tournament.

‘The team is progressing,’ said Canadian head coach John Herdman. ‘It is good to see a little bit of growth. While it was a scrappy game (against Argentina), there were still things (with which) we were happy.’

More importantly, however, Canada must prepare for this January’s 2012 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Eight teams will compete in Vancouver from 15-29 January; only two CONCACAF teams will qualify for the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

2012 CONCACAF WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING

This coming year’s 2012 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament will take place in Vancouver, BC from 19-29 January at BC Place Stadium. Canada and seven other CONCACAF nations will fight for two available tickets to the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. The opponents are Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, and USA. 

Canada WNT to face Sweden

Canada will face Sweden in a Women’s International Friendly match this coming 22 November 2011. The international match will be the third meeting between the two sides at the ‘A’ level this year. The match will be played at a yet-to-be determined closed venue in Western USA. The two sides are still making early preparations towards next year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

Sweden, who has also been invited to play USA on this tour, has already qualified for the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Canada, USA and six other North American nations, meanwhile, must go through the 2012 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament in January 2012. The eight-team CONCACAF tournament runs 15-29 January at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, BC.

Canada and Sweden have split their series so far this year: Canada won 1:0 in January and Sweden won 1:0 in April. Both are ranked amongst the top-10 nations in the world, with Sweden currently ranked fifth and Canada ranked eighth.

Canada is currently participating in the Pan American Games Women’s Football Tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico. The team will play five matches from 18-27 October, with a semi-final date on 25 October and either the gold-medal or bronze-medal match on 27 October.