Posted at 6:17 a.m., Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Soccer: 2 World Cup games postponed until Thursday
Associated Press
CHENGDU, China — The two Women's World Cup matches scheduled for today have been postponed for a day, team officials said.The Canada-Australia Group C match in Chengdu and the China-New Zealand Group D match in Tianjin will both be played tomorrow, team officials said.
That will allow them to be played simultaneously with the other final group matches set for tomorrow — Norway vs. Ghana in Group C and Brazil vs. Denmark in Group D.
All four games are critical and will determine which of the four teams advance to the quarterfinals. Of the eight teams, only Ghana has no chance to advance. New Zealand has a slim chance.
Under FIFA's planned schedule, all group matches were to be played at the same time, ensuring competing teams could not get an advantage by knowing the outcome beforehand of another match.
The schedule was disrupted when two matches scheduled for today were set back until Thursday, a move made necessary by Typhoon Wipha.
Although teams confirmed the move, FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, was late making the announcement.
"It's disappointing to find out so late about the rescheduling, but that aside it allows all teams to compete on an equal footing," Australia coach Tom Sermanni said.
Crowds in the northern city of Tianjin are likely to be upset. There was a big crowd expected in the 60,000-seat Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium to watch host China play.
"We just heard this ourselves," China's media officer Meng Hongtao said Wednesday afternoon. "We were prepared and the players were getting ready for the game. They ate at 4 o'clock and were planning to leave for the stadium at 6."
