ASA: The Qantas Young Matildas (the Australian U19 Women’s Team) are looking forward to the challenge at this year’s FIFA U19 Women’s World Championship, after being drawn in Group A alongside Thailand, Europe’s second-ranked nation, and Canada at today’s Draw Ceremony in Thailand, host of the twelve-nation Championship in November.
Women’s National Coach Adrian Santrac, in Bangkok for the Draw, was excited with the team’s grouping in what he feels will be a tough competition all round.
“It’s a fantastic group – we’re delighted,” said Santrac. “Canada, the number one CONCACAF team, will be formidable, Europe’s number two side will also be very, very tough, and Thailand will be playing at home. All three groups are very, very tough. With the twelve teams broken up this way, they’re all very hard.”
“We’re based in Bangkok – we don’t have to move at all, and all the finals (from the quarterfinals onwards) are in Bangkok too. It’s a positive thing, and now we need to get our preparations right. I’m happy with the overall program – the order (of matches) is not that critical here.”
The Qantas Young Matildas kick off their campaign against Canada on 10 November, before facing Europe’s number two nation on 13 November, and hosts Thailand on 16 November.
The Qantas Young Matildas are aiming to do as well or even better than the highly successful Australian U19 side which competed at Canada 2002, the inaugural U19 Women’s World Championship. Exceeding all expectations, the team on that occasion came away with an impressive 5th place, reaching the quarterfinals where they went down 4-3 in extra-time in a thriller against the highly-favoured Brazil.
Thailand will compete in the event as host nation. Yet, although they have not been considered an elite country in women’s football ranks at youth or senior level, they certainly made their mark at the Asian U19 qualifiers which finished a week ago. Thailand defeated Chinese Taipei, who competed at the 2002 world championship, in the quarterfinals before going down to the eventual champions South Korea in the semifinals. Thailand had finished 8th in the 2002 Asian qualifiers.
Canada were finalists in the 2002 U19 World Championship final before their home crowd, and only lost out on the world title on a golden goal to favourites USA. However, last weekend, they turned the tables, winning the final of the CONCACAF (North & Central America, and Caribbean region) U19 qualifiers, usurping the mighty US from the number one position.
Europe’s four competing nations will be decided with the staging of the finals tournament of the UEFA European Women’s U19 Championship in July/August in Finland. The eight competing nations are Germany, Spain, France, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, and Finland. Three of Europe’s four teams at Canada 2002 reached the quarterfinals, with Germany playing in the semifinals.
At Thailand 2004, the top two teams from each of the three groups advance to the quarterfinals, along with the two best third-placed sides.
The Draw Ceremony was conducted in Bangkok this afternoon, with Thailand automatically placed in the first spot in Group A as the host nation. The other seeded teams were “Europe 1”, Brazil, and Canada.
The Qantas Young Matildas qualified for Thailand 2004 in April this year, winning the Oceania U19 Women’s Qualifying Tournament in Papua New Guinea.
The twelve finalist nations for Thailand 2004 were drawn into three groups as follows. Europe and Africa will complete their qualification process later in the year.
Group A – Thailand, Europe 2, AUSTRALIA, Canada.
Group B – Africa, China, Europe 4, Brazil.
Group C – South Korea, USA, Europe 3, Europe 1.
The FIFA U19 Women’s World Championship Thailand 2004 will be contested 10-27 November in three host cities – Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.