GROUP B PREVIEW: Germany, Ivory Coast, Norway and ThailandFavouritesGermany were run close by Norway in the final of Euro 2013 but it is hard to see them being beaten to top spot in this group. Their long-serving coach, Silvia Neid, will leave her position next year and, although she and Germany won the 2007 World Cup together, there is a degree of unfinished business after losing to Japan on home soil in the quarter-finals of 2011.
Qualification was achieved with a 100% winning record and their 62 goals from 10 matches were eight more than France, the next-highest scorers, managed. Subsequent results have been equally impressive, a 3-0 win at Wembley in front of 45,619 supporters in November bringing their talents to a wide audience and two victories over Brazil in March and April reinforcing that this is the team they all have to outdo.
Veterans such as Birgit Prinz may no longer be around but Celia Sasic and Alexandra Popp are among those who should be able to rack up a comfortable enough goal difference against Ivory Coast and Thailand even if Norway manage to frustrate them in their second game.
Dark HorseIt is a toss up between Ivory Coast and Thailand, neither of whom have qualified for a World Cup before, with the latter more likely to pose a problem on the sole basis of their Fifa ranking (they are 29th, Ivory Coast are 67th). Both are genuine dark horses and neither can be said to be their continent’s surest bet: Thailand progressed after finishing fifth in the Women’s Asian Cup and Ivory Coast earned their place by coming third in the African equivalent. The Ivory Coast coach, Clementine Touré, has admitted that footage of Thailand’s games has been difficult to obtain and if Germany and Norway hit similar dead ends then a surprise may be possible.
But perhaps it is Touré’s side, which includes a sprinkling of players registered with big clubs in Russia and Sweden, that looks the most obvious threat to the established forces. How much of a threat will quickly become apparent – their World Cup debut is against Germany.
Coach to watchNorway’s Even Pellerud has been here before. Quite literally, that is, as the 61-year-old coach was in charge of Canada between 1999 and 2008 and took them to their best-ever World Cup finish – fourth – in 2003. But Pellerud’s pedigree at the highest level is even more impressive than that: his first spell as Norway coach, a glorious seven-year stint from 1989 to 1996, will be etched forever in the country’s sporting history. Pellerud’s team were runners-up to USA in the inaugural Women’s World Cup, in 1991, and went one better in 1995 when they defeated Germany in the final. Norway have not had it remotely as good since and Pellerud, who returned for his second spell in 2012, will be expected to at least better their group-stage exit of four years ago. That run to the European Championship final suggested that things are on the right track and, while Norway are not among the favourites for this tournament, the wiliest of old foxes will be relishing what will probably be one last crack at Germany
Player to watchDzsenifer Marozsan was earmarked for stardom from a young age. The daughter of Janos Marozsan, who played four times for Hungary in the early 1990s, played her first senior game at the age of 14 for former club Saarbrucken and, nine years on, is now a thrilling force in midfield for Germany, the country in which she was raised. This will be her first senior World Cup, although she won the Golden Ball at the Under-20 World Cup in 2012, and viewers can expect to enjoy a technically superb creative talent capable of producing the unexpected with the ball at her feet. Marozsan can dribble, pass, shoot and run, and her 25 goals in just 48 caps should be added to in Canada.
Commentator’s kitThe Thailand striker Taneekarn Dangda is the younger sister of Teerasil Dangda, the prolific men’s team forward who became the first Thai to play in La Liga in August during a short-lived loan spell with Almería. In a further crossover with the men’s game, Celia Sasic takes her surname from husband Marko Sasic, a Croat who has had a modest career in Germany’s lower leagues and is a son of the former Kaiserslautern, Duisburg and Saarbrucken manager Milan Sasic. If Germany become surprise strugglers, then it might be worth considering that Fatmire Alushi, their gifted PSG midfielder, will miss the tournament due to pregnancy and the Ballon d’Or winner, Nadine Kessler, will play no part through injury.
- www.theguardian.com
