Frauen and Femmes Look Good after Second World Cup Wins

France and Germany Rise to Certain Advancement from Group A

By Kara McDermott

Canada, who rallied to get a goal off of defending champions Germany in their first group game, struggled to match France, falling 0-4 in their second game of group play.

France’s Gaetane Thiney, who only played 57 minutes of their first game against Nigeria, made a definite statement scoring two goals in the 24th and then 60th minute of play. Canada responded with two subs in the 60th minute, bringing on forward Melissa Tancredi (who started and played 80 minutes of their match against Germany) and midfielder Desiree Scott (making her debut for this tournament).

With blood in the water though, France continued to attack and capitalized once again in the 66th minute with Camille Abily finishing a corner kick, and Canada veritably crumbled.

Canada used their last sub to pull midfielder Brittany Timko and replace her with Chelsea Stewart in the 77th minute. This was Timko’s first start of the tournament, she previously came on in the 80th against Germany; Stewart had not yet played in this tournament.

France pulled their three goal scorers for rests late in the second half: Maurie-Laure Delie (74’ – scored France’s only goal against Nigeria in their first group fixture), Thiney (79’) and Abily (82’).

But Les Bleus added another to that distinguished a minute later when Delie’s sub Elodie Thomis finished off France’s onslaught by tallying her own netter in the 83rd.

France thus turns in the best match of group play so far, giving them two wins and an astounding goal differential of five, they are the only team from Group A that has not yet been scored on. The early success is all the more sweet considering that France failed to advance out of group play in 2003 and did not even qualify for the World Cup in 2007 (not to mention France’s abysmal and embarrassing showing from their men’s side in last year’s World Cup tournament).

They still have Germany to face next Tuesday, which by far will be their greatest test from Group A. Today’s win puts them in excellent position to take the top seed out of their group.

GERMANY VS. NIGERIA

Host nation Germany gave their fans another victory, though by slim margin, by overcoming Nigeria 1-0.

Germany, pleased no doubt with their successful line-up against Canada in their first group fixture, chose not to make any changes to their starting line-up. Nigeria replaced forward Glory Iroka with Sarah Michael (who subbed out Iroka in the 66th minute against France). A win against Germany was crucial to any hopes of advancement for Nigeria.

The first half ended with no goals scored. Both Germany and Nigeria had five shots, three on goal for the former and only one on goal for the latter. However, Nigeria had three corner kicks while Germany had none.

Alexander Popp, who provided a great boost to the host nation’s side in their previous match-up against Canada, replaced an injured Melanie Behringer in the 31st minute.

Germany finally got on the board early in the second half. Annike Krahn served a ball from the left side on a set piece which was finished by midfielder Simone Laudehr down the center of the goal in the 54th minute.

That would prove to be the one and only goal of the game as Germany rose victorious over Nigeria, who has proven to be a surprise asset in this tournament allowing both France and Germany, two powerhouses, only one goal each. This puts Nigeria in third place in Group A with Canada left to play. Neither Nigeria or Canada will advance, but Nigeria will be looking to break their winless record, having not tallied a victory in a World Cup match since 1999.

You can read more by Kara McDermott on her blog, Waving the Rave.