Canada to face the Republic of Ireland at FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup

Canada will look for its second consecutive victory at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Trinidad and Tobago 2010 on Thursday 9 September when it faces the Republic of Ireland at Larry Gomes Stadium. The match kicks off at 16.00 ET / 13.00 PT in Arima, Trinidad and will be broadcast live on CBC Bold and CBCsports.ca.A victory over the Irish would put Canada in a very strong position to emerge from its group to the quarter-final stage.

"The Republic of Ireland have a lot of heart and a lot of enthusiasm," said Canadian coach Bryan Rosenfeld. "They are a well organized side who are comfortable on the ball and they are coming into the competition with a lot of confidence after their success in the UEFA championships.”

Canada, whose title sponsor is BMO, opened its tournament in the best possible fashion with a 1:0 victory over Ghana on Monday. Rosenfeld’s side overcame a slow start in the first half to claim the vital three points from its opening group match. Haisha Cantave scored the lone goal in the match, deftly directing a header into the goal from a Canadian corner in the 54th minute. Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo had an excellent match in goal for Canada.

“We will be looking to build on our opening performance in the match against Ireland,” said Rosenfeld. “I think we’ve got to look to be able to change the tempo of the game a little bit better. Against Ghana we got caught in a running game against a very fast team and I don’t think that serves to our abilities. We will need to take better care of the ball when we have it.”

The Republic of Ireland come into Thursday’s match with Canada on the back of a 1:2 defeat to Brazil in its opening Group D match at Trinidad and Tobago 2010. Brazil leapt out to an early lead in the match, scoring in the fourth minute but the plucky Irish battled hard and equalized just before the hour mark. The 1-1 score line was short lived however as Brazil struck the match winner just three minutes later.

The Republic of Ireland qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup out of UEFA following its big defeat over Germany in the semi-final stage. Then in the final, the Irish held Spain scoreless through 120 minutes before falling 1-4 on kicks from the penalty mark in the final. This is the first Irish team to qualify for a FIFA women’s event at any level.

Canada, on the other hand, has the history of competing in back-to-back FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cups. Previous squads at other age levels have also participated in four FIFA Women’s World Cups, one Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, and four FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cups.

The Group D match will mark the first time that Canada and the Republic of Ireland have ever faced each other in international women’s soccer.

In Thursday’s other Group D match Brazil will face Ghana at 19.00 also at Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima, Trinidad. Following the second round of group matches, all teams will get three full days off before returning to action on Monday 13 September. Canada will close out the group stage against Brazil at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella while Ghana and the Republic of Ireland will travel to Tobago for their match at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Scarborough. The top two teams from Group D advance to the quarter-final stage.

All of Canada’s matches can be seen live on CBC Bold and CBCsports.ca. In addition to the live broadcast, each match will be replayed on the full CBC network at midnight. Fans can also follow the matches live on CanadaSoccer.com’s Twitter feed.