Alex Morgan
Posted on 03/02/2015 7:36:14 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women’s football. Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women’s football events and takes on added significance as the 2015 Women’s World Cup kicks off in just over three months’ time in Canada.
Germany will be back in the Algarve to defend their title and will look to have the best possible preparation after hosting the World Cup in 2011 where they failed to finish in the final four.
Winners in Germany, Japan, will be in the Algarve, and will be joined by the United States, World Cup runners-up and Sweden and France who ended third and fourth respectively.
The action in the Algarve starts on Wednesday, 4 March, when Brazil take on China in Albufeira, with the kick-off set for 3pm. An hour later, Germany will face Sweden at Vila Real do Santo António which will also be shown live on Eurosport International HD. Other games next Wednesday include Switzerland v Iceland in Lagos (kick-off 3pm), Norway v USA at 7pm in Vila Real do Santo António, live on FOX Sports 1. At 2.10pm, the defending World Cup champions will take the field in Parchal to face Denmark (live on Eurosport International HD), while Portugal kicks off its campaign against France at the same venue three hours later (Eurosport International HD).
The next round of fixtures is set for Friday 6 March and is as follows: Germany v China PR (1pm V. Real S. António) Sweden v Brazil (1.30pm Lagos) USA v Switzerland (5pm V. Real S. António) Norway v Iceland (6pm Lagos) Japan v Portugal (12.10pm Algarve Stadium) France v Denmark (3pm Algarve Stadium).
On Monday 9 March it will be: Brazil v Germany (5.30pm Parchal) Norway v Switzerland (5.30pm Albufeira) Sweden v China (5.30pm V. Real S. António) USA v Iceland (5.30pm Lagos) Japan v France ( 2.10pm Parchal) Portugal v Denmark (2.10pm V. Real S. António)
The final takes place on Wednesday 11 March.
"It's like I told everyone after we played France and England: Everyone just relax,'' Wambach said
“We haven’t been to the finals of the World Cup or the European championships,” Mendes said. “We don’t know those experiences. But we want them. And this is our first step to finding out what those feelings are like.”
"We are in building process with many young players, averaged just 23 years old," the Chinese head coach Hao Wei told Xinhua after a kick-off press conference here on Tuesday."What we're expecting from this tournament is not just to get better results but to get more experience and to continue growing up both technically and tactically," he added.
It won't be an easy job for the Chinese side as they've been drawn in a so called "Group of Death" alongside with defending champions and current world No. 1 Germany, No. 5 Sweden and No. 8 Brazil in the three-group event.
"You get to choose what you put your focus and attention on," Wambach said. "As veterans, we've experienced the best of the best and the worst of the worst. We're so good at being able to focus all of our attention on one thing, and right now, it's winning the World Cup."
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