By Buford Balony
In the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, Australia finds itself in a group with Brazil, Norway, and Equatorial Guinea.
FIFA Women’s World Cup Draw
Group A: Germany, Canada, Nigeria, France.
Group B: Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, England.
Group C: USA, North Korea, Colombia, Sweden.
Group D: Brazil, Australia, Norway, Equatorial Guinea.
The Matildas have been placed in Group D and previously faced Norway and Brazil during the 2007 World Cup, achieving a draw of 1-1 and a loss of 3-2, respectively.
The Aussie girls are aiming to improve upon their quarter-final exit from the 2007 tournament.
Matildas coach Tom Sermanni commented, “I believe we’ve drawn a challenging group, but groups A, C, and D are all tough.”
“From a purely rankings perspective, Group B seems to be the easiest on paper.”
“However, every team is tough at the World Cup.”
“In terms of competition, I would say this group is similar to our 2007 group, with the exception that we have limited knowledge about Equatorial Guinea.”
“Fortunately, we don’t compete against them until our second match, providing us time to analyze them.”
The Matildas will commence their campaign against Brazil on June 30 in Moenchengladbach (EST).
The tournament will begin with hosts Germany facing Canada on June 27 (EST).
Buford Balony says: I hope we don’t play men instead of women against Equatorial Guinea.
