U20 Women Post Loss And Tie In USA Series

Canada’s women’s U-20 team wrapped up a weekend series against the United States today. The team posted a Thursday 1:1 draw and a Saturday 0:1 loss, the latter of which was the team’s first loss of the 2008 season. With the team busy making its final preparations for next month’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Chile 2008, however, the playing time and performances were the main focus of the weekend.

“These are great games for the players,” said coach Ian Bridge . “It was a good opportunity to see all the players. All the players got good minutes, so I now have some tough decisions ahead.”

Those decisions – 21 roster spots for Chile 2008 – must be made within the next two weeks. Coach Bridge will have to submit his final roster to FIFA before 5 November.

Canada has a record of eight wins, three draws and one loss in 12 international games. It won the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in June and the Torneo 4-Naciones (Four Nations Tournament) in September.

“There is lots of talent on this team, but we need more determination, more passion, more smart decisions,” said coach Bridge. “We have an excellent group of players.”

Canada returns to Vancouver , BC tonight and will continue its training in residency camp throughout the week. Said coach Bridge, “I’m not going to let them rest (yet), they have some work to do.”

The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Chile 2008 runs 19 November to 7 December. At Chile 2008, Canada will open the tournament with group-stage matches against Japan (20 November), Congo DR (23 November) and Germany (27 November). Should Canada qualify, it will then play in the quarter-final match on 1 December, the semi-final match on 4 December, and the final on 7 December.