World Footy News

 The Transatlantic cup kicked off in Toronto today at Humber college. In game one it was the reigning international cup champions the Irish Banshees taking on the USA Freedom team.

 The Banshees were strong in the first quarter but could only manage to kick 2.5 despite numerous forward 50 entries. Notably banshees captain Marie Keating kicked the first goal of the tournament.

The Banshees got a better return in the second quarter with back-to-back goals to Troy then Stevenson and Kendrick joined the party in what looked like becoming a massive win. Despite the Freedom’s best efforts to make play around the ground by Blecher and across half back by Kahr, the best they could manage on the scoreboard was a goal through Hoha. 

The US turned the ship around a little in the third term allowing one last goal for the match to Keating but still trailing by 47 points at the last break. Maybe, it was the tiring Irish in the last quarter, or the fighting spirit of the Freedom that saw a completely different game in the last quarter with the US kicking four goals to none and reduce the final deficit to just 24 points.

In game two it was the host women's national team the Canadian Northern Lights up against the Great Britain Swans. It was expected to be a tough game and both teams went at the contest hard in the first quarter as is often the case in these international clashes. Finally, the deadlock was broken though by Nicole Robertson who kicked the only goal of the first quarter. 

The Swans were up for the fight though and two second quarter goal to full forward Hyer and a third to Franklin gave the Swans an eleven-point lead at half time. Robertson kicked her second goal for Canada in the third term which continued to be an arm wrestle and then with ten minutes to play Canada level the scores at 20 points each when Amanda Irwin ran in and slammed home a goal from 25 metres out. 

The ball bounced between half back lines as heavy tackles and hurried kicks saw no relief for either team until a 50-metre penalty saw the Swans with the ball in their forward pocket and the ball came off a Canadian defender boot on the full. This gave Hyner a shot at goal from the boundary just 20 metres out, and her shot went wide and just inside the far point post to give the Swans a lead. A further behind from the ruck tap, just before the siren was a just a little more salt in the wound for the host nation who went down to the Great Britain Swans by two points.

The Colombian women arrived at the ground on the team bus singing and dancing, and they left the same way. The French were hardly seen before the first bounce and were avoiding the sun which was now shining and beating down on the picture-perfect oval. 

Both teams were making their 18-a-side international debut, with women’s footy in France having a much longer history but generally in 9-a-side matches or in combined teams like the European Crusaders. 

Both teams fought hard for the ball, some of the Colombian players backgrounds in rugby and soccer became evident in both skill and strength and the French quickly knew they were in for a tough afternoon. Valentina Rodriguez became her country’s first goalkicker in the first quarter and the Colombian just continued to build from there. 

They played on at every opportunity and ran in numbers, showing they have been well drilled and prepared for this tournament. Maria Camilla, Paola, and Diaz all kicked well celebrated goals for Colombia, and while the French had plenty of passages of good link up play, they could not pierce the Colombian defence. 

Jaguares captain Stefania Gualteros, showed her class as put the icing on the cake with the goal of the day, a huge snap for goal that saw Colombia home by 35 points and a historic win for the fledgling footy nation who sit on top of the table for the America's Teams Group A

Tomorrow sees the first men’s matches with Ireland vs Colombia, USA vs France and Great Canada vs Britain.