England Women Begin Their U19 World Championships Campaign

The organisers of the U19 FIL World Championships started the tournament yesterday with a show piece opening ceremony. All 12 nations paraded their squads before the passionate spectators, each player clutching a pink or white balloon (the tournament colours).

England U19 SquadEngland will compete against tournament favourites Australia this evening (4th Aug) at 6pm GMT. You can follow the game live through the tournament twitter feed. Unfortunately a poor internet connection has hampered plans to stream the game live, but footage should be available after game completion.

Keeping with tradition the hosting nation starred in the opening match. Germany played a close match against the Czech Republic, losing 12-8. Biffar of Germnay gave Germany an early lead, only for the Czechs to level things and then take the lead in the 9th min. Goals were traded in the 1st half, which finished 6 - 8 to the Czechs. They built on the lead early in the 2nd half, with 10 mins left of the game the Czechs lead 7 - 11. The matched finished 8 - 12 to the Czechs. With the MVP award going to the Czech Goalie Veronika Bernhauserova, Germany must have had plenty of opportunity to score.