Women’s World Cup is Back and is Challenging as Ever Before
Women’s World Cup is Back and is Challenging as Ever Before. It is unfortunate to witness three teams (pool )D have not taken the advantage of FIH Hockey Pro League. However, Japan, Belgium, Australia, and South Africa are ready for action at Terrassa.
It has been quite a time since Australia’s international performance in the Tokyo Olympics Games, 2020. But its performance was limited against New Zealand. Now Australia will fight against Spain to prove their power as a team. They won this challenging competition twice in 1994 and 1998. They have also won silver three times in the year 1990, 2006, and finally, 2014 followed by the fourth-ranking in 2018.
The current head coach of Australia, Katrina Powell who was also a member of the gold medal team in 1998 has worked hard on her team. She is hoping for the best performance from the team. The team believes that many nations have never watched them perform with real fire at an international level. This time the team has come up with experienced players. It differs from the team of 2018 when only five players had less than five caps.
Australia Is Ready To Bring Their A-Game
Jane Claxton, the captain of the team is close to 100 caps while the co-captain of the team Kaitlin Nobbs is somewhat near 100 caps. With all this preparation Australia is ready to show the world its passion and strength to the nation.
Belgium has benefitted from FIH Pro League action but unfortunately not from the Tokyo Olympics Games 2020. Red Panther Jill Boon added that the team had grown silently in the past four years without taking any pressure off the Olympics game. The team consists of a high number of caps and also has the youngest average age of 24.11.
The team consisted of talented players equipped with 3D skills with a disciplined approach whenever needed. On the other hand, Michelle Struck, Barbera Nelen, and Stephanie Vanden Borre will provide stability to the team. Charlotte Englebert, Abi Raye, and Ambre Ballenghien are currently in their full form. They hope to perform better than in 2018 when they finished in 10th position.
Japan Can Be The Next Potential Threat Now
Japan, the winner of the Women’s Hockey Asia cup defeating India, China and Korea is also a threat. The team has grown immensely under the leadership of Jude Menezes, former India goalkeeper. The team is packed with quite experienced players. Shihori Oikawa and Hazuki Nagai are multi-capped Yu Asia for unbeatable defense. The newbie member Kaho Tanaka may possess fewer caps but has proved great in front of the goal. Japan, ranked 5th in 2006 and 13th in the 2018 World cup, is ready to aim high this year.
South Africa too is ready with its best team ever in this world cup. The country ranked 7th in 1998 and 9th in the year 2014. They have been great performers at every edition of FIH Women’s World Cup right from 1998. No matter if the team has come up with a lot of inexperienced players but they are confident. Bernadette Coston, Quanita Bobbs, Lilian du Plessis, and Lisa-Marie Deetlefs are ready to show their best. The goal-scoring capability of Jean-Leigh du Toit and the hard running of Henrie Louw is a must to watch. Their coach Giles Bonet is experienced and knows to get the most from the players.
On 2nd July Pool D action will begin when Japan Plays against Australia at 21:30 local time. On 3rd July Belgium will defend its team from South Africa at 15:00 local time.
Women’s World Cup is Back and is Challenging as Ever Before.