Excitement, gamesmanship mark final day before World Cup matches in Ottawa
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
By Sunday evening, two teams will have kicked off their quest to become 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Champions and two others will have made history.
Top-ranked Germany, the odds-on favourite to capture this year's championship and Norway, the once highly-ranked nation trying to recapture their glory days, will likely draw the largest crowds of Sunday's two matches, based on the response they've seen from the Ottawa community since their arrivals a week ago.
But there will be no shortage of curiosity about two World Cup first-timers in Thailand and Ivory Coast. Neither are expected to create much difficulty for their respective opponents in this tournament but both were filled with confidence and excitement Saturday during press conferences at Lansdowne Stadium.
And so they should be -- just being at the World Cup is a massive achievement for both countries.
Ivory Coast, in particular, will look to use the element of surprise against the Germans on Sunday. Even German coach Silvia Neid acknowledged there wasn't a book on Ivory Coast and game preparations have involved plenty of video. It would also appear the gamesmanship as already begun.
"The trainers of Ivory Coast have asked us in the elevator, 'are you ready to lose?'" said Neid, who is coaching in her final World Cup.
The Germans aren't taking anything for granted, at least publicly, though it's hard to imagine them losing much sleep over their first match of the group stage.
"They are strong upfield and very fast (and) they are good at getting the ball," Neid said of Ivory Coast. "We just have to show them from the get-go that we are strong as well.
"We will not underestimate them, that would not be a good idea."
Ivory Coast coach Clementine Toure was caught off guard by the elevator story, saying it wasn't her team's style to be over-confident.
"I know that the Ivory Coast has values of humility, I don't think that a member of the training staff would go with such an affirmation," she said. "The Ivory Coast is here to learn, it's a team that has much respect for Germany."
Toure said it would have been impossible a few years ago to play Germany, even a friendly, and the fact the two are facing each other Sunday shows how the sport has grown.
"The World Cup unites us, the World Cup enables us to play against the best teams in the world," said Toure.
"Ivory Coast is a young team so it's normal where we are (in the) standings right now, but I believe we are learning (and) the best way to learn is to play teams like Germany," she said. "It's a good opportunity for us to discover the Germans, a big, experienced team.
"It's a pleasure for us and we'll take much pleasure playing that game (Sunday)."
We're sports people so any sports person wants to go the highest level possible, so in this world cup we hope to go as far as we can.
Thailand head coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian acknowledge a mix of excitement and jitters heading into the country's first World Cup appearance.
"For the Thai women's team, this is a great experience, so we will play our best," she said. "For this first game, I think it's normal to be a bit worried and a bit nervous. We've played in many tournaments before but I think that this is a game that will be fun to play."
Though Norway has dipped in the world rankings over the last few years, they are determined to make an impression on this year's tournament, starting against Thailand on Sunday, said coach Even Pellerud.
"Good traditions (of success) make for high expectations and throughout the last 40 years of high-level women's football, Norway has always been one of the best teams," he said. "In Norway, in the general public there are expectations for our performance (and) within our team we expect to do well."
Pellerud agreed it would be a bad idea to underestimate a team like Thailand.
"We have been long enough in this game to understand that it could be tough to be a newcomer, but we also know there is no reason to believe that they are not strong enough," he said.
Ticket sales brisk
If great weather brings in a good walk-up crowd of ticket-buyers on Sunday, the first Ottawa game of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup may well be a sellout.
While there are still tickets remaining in all price zones for Sunday's double-header featuring Thailand against Norway and Ivory Coast versus Germany, more than 90% of the 21,562 available seats at Lansdowne Stadium have been sold.
"We're really excited, every day ticket sales are really strong," said Ottawa venue general manager Valerie Hughes.
Though exact numbers weren't available Saturday, Hughes said tickets for all the local games have been selling well.
"Knowing that it's going to be incredible weather (Sunday) and some of the matches ... tickets are going fast," she said.
The quarter-final match at Lansdowne on June 26 has only 500 single seats available and that's before anyone knows which teams will be playing. There are still good seats available for Thursday's group stage games between Germany/Norway and Thailand/Ivory Coast.
For Sunday's double-header, spectators buy one ticket that includes admission to both matches, though there is no re-entry and some may elect to just come for one or the other.
"That all has to do with security," said Hughes. "We ensure that everyone is safe, not only the spectators but the players and everyone involved.
Twitter: @chrishofley
tap here to see other videos from our team.
