Australia has drawn Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and Norway in Group D for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011™ to be held in Germany from June 26 to July 17.
Australia has drawn Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and Norway in Group D for the FIFA Women-s World Cup 2011™ to be held in Germany from June 26 to July 17.
The draw, held in host city Frankfurt, saw the 16 competing nations placed in the four groups that will decide the 2011 event.
The Westfield Matildas will again meet Norway in the Group Stage of the FIFA Women-s World Cup following their 1-all draw at the 2007 tournament.
Australia also comes up against FIFA Women-s World Cup 2007 Runners-Up Brazil who knocked the Westfield Matildas out at the quarter final stage of the tournament in a pulsating 2-3 encounter before going on to lose the final against Germany.
The Westfield Matildas last match against Brazil ended 1-nil to Australia where a 17-year-old Kyah Simon scored the winning goal in Suwon, Korea Republic in 2008.
“I think we-ve drawn a tough group but I think Group A, C and D are all tough groups,” said Westfield Matildas coach Tom Sermanni.
If you look purely at the rankings Group B is probably the easier group on paper but at a World Cup all teams are difficult.
“I would say this group is on a par with our group in 2007 with the exception that we don-t know a great deal about Equatorial Guinea but we don-t play them until the second match so we-ve got time to have a look at them.
“We-ve been competitive against both teams (Brazil and Norway) in the past but ultimately we were always going to have two tough teams in any group we were drawn in.
“We-ve come to the belief that we don-t fear anyone so I think the key thing for us is the preparation and having a fully fit and healthy squad going into the tournament.”
The Westfield Matildas will play their first match of the FIFA Women-s World Cup 2011™ against Brazil in Moenchengladbach on June 29, 2011 live on SBS television.
World number two Germany kick-off the tournament against Canada on June 26.
GROUP A: Germany, Canada, Nigeria, France
GROUP B: Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, England
GROUP C: USA, Korea DPR, Colomobia, Sweden
GROUP D: Brazil, Australia, Norway, Equatorial Guinea
Source: FFA
