Canada Advances To World Cup Semi-finals

Portland, Oregon – Canada’s Women’s World Cup Team will play Sweden in the semi-final of the Women’s World Cup after beating China 1-0 on a goal by Charmaine Hooper at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon, Thursday night.
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​Hooper gave the Canadians a dream start in the 8th minute when she raced on to a deep ball from Diana Matheson and beat the onrushing Chinese goalkeeper Wenxia Han with a header into the open goal.
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​“This is a historic day for soccer in Canada,” said Canadian head coach Even Pellerud. “I am so proud of my team. This is a young team and it is only going to get better. This is a major accomplishment for our program. I can’t say enough about my players.”
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​The Chinese enjoyed a big advantage in ball possession but their real goal scoring chances were few and far between. Every time they did create a chance, the Canadian back four was there to deal with it. Canadian goalkeeper Taryn Swiatek was outstanding as well, marshalling the defence and exercising complete control of her 18 yard box. She was continuously coming out to snare Chinese crosses and cut out passes.
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​Pellerud went with the same starting lineup which had beaten Japan last Saturday in Boston. Swiatek started her third consecutive game in goal while the back four consisted of Tanya Dennis, Hooper, Sharolta Nonen and Isabelle Morneau. The midfield featured Andrea Neil with Brittany Timko and Diana Matheson in the middle and Kara Lang wide right. Christine Latham and Christine Sinclair played up front in a 4-4-2.
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​Morneau suffered a knee injury five minutes into the game and was eventually replaced by Silvana Burtini in the 12th minute.
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​Canada almost made it 2-0 when Lang when on a rampaging run down the right side. Her cross found Sinclair who slid the ball into Latham who dove at it but was blocked by Han.
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​In the 17th minute Chinese captain Sun Wen comes close to tying the game with some fancy footwork inside the Canadian 18 but her low shot rolled just wide.
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​In the 69th minute Bai Jie almost broke through after a great pass but Nonen was there stride for stride to snuff out the threat.
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​Canada will face Sweden on Sunday, October 5 at PGE Park in Portland. The winner will go on to face the winner of the USA-Germany semi-final in Los Angeles on October 12.
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​October 2, 2003 – Women’s World Cup
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​PGE Park, Portland, Oregon
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​Attendance: 20,021
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​Canadatt1 (1)
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​Chinatt0 (0)
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​Referee: Kari Seitz (USA)
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​Assistant Referees: Karalee Sutton (USA), Sharon Wheeler (USA)
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​Fourth Official: Katrina Elovirta (Finland),
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​Goals: Charmaine Hooper (8)
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​Cautions: Kara Lang (42), Andrea Neil (53), Charmaine Hooper (77)
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​Canada: 20 – Taryn Swiatek, 2 – Christine Latham (9 – Rhian Wilkinson,, 73), 5 – Andrea Neil, 6 – Sharolta Nonen, 7 – Isabelle Morneau (17 – Silvana Burtini, 12), 10 – Charmaine Hooper (c), 12 – Christine Sinclair, 13 – Diana Matheson, 15 – Kara Lang (8 – Kristina Kiss, 90), 16 – Brittany Timko, 18 – Tanya Dennis. Subs not used: 1 – Karina LeBlanc, 3 – Linda Consolante, 4 – Sasha Andrews, 14 – Carmelina Moscato, 17 – Silvana Burtini, 19 – Erin McLeod. Head coach: Even Pellerud
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​China: 1 – Wenxia Han, 3 – Jie Li, 5 – Yunjie Fan, 6 – Lihong Zhao (15 – Liping Ren, 58), 7 – Bai Jie, 9 – Sun Wen, (c), 10 – Ying Liu (8 – Ouying Zhang, 65), 11 – Wei Pu, 14 – Yan Bi, 16 – Yali Liu (13 – Wei Teng, 82), 20 – Liping Wang. Subs not used: 2 – Rui Sun, 4 – Hongxia Gao, 8 – Ouying Zhang, 12 – Feifei Qu, 13 – Wei Teng, 18 – Yan Zhao, 19 – Duan Han, 17 – Lina Pan. Head coach: Liangxing Ma