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Group C
With Nigeria maintaining their stranglehold on African women's football, Ghana's ambitions in China will be to escape from the shadow of their fellow west Africans and establish their credentials at the highest level of the women's game.
Ghana will go to China with plenty of experience, both on the field and in the dugout, where a former coach of the men's side, Isaac Paha, takes charge of the team. Paha also captained Ghana in his playing days.
Former African Women's Footballer of the Year Adjoa Bayor remains an integral part of the team and the Ghana captain one of three players in line to compete at a third World Cup, with the others being goalkeeper Gladys Enti and the versatile Lydia Ankrah. Several of the more 2003 squad's more youthful squad members also come into this tournament enriched by years of valuable top-level experience, and they will look to the likes of defenders Mavis Danso and Aminatu Ibrahim and the midfielder Florence Okoe to provide a basis for success.
Competing under the banner of the Asian Football Confederation for the first time in a major tournament, Australia can be considered tournament veterans with three separate World Cup appearances behind them - in 1995, 1999 and 2003.
Under Tom Sermanni, who returned to the job in 2005 after an eight-year exile, Australia have at their disposal a talented, athletic and settled squad of players who, with every passing tournament, continue to progress on a steady upwards trajectory.
Still leading from the front is their evergreen skipper and talisman, Cheryl Salisbury, holder of the team's appearance and goals records and, at 33, still the heart of Sermanni's defence. Sermanni also seems to have successfully struck that all-important balance between youth and experience, with youngsters such as Sally Shipard, Collette McCallum and Kylie Ledbrook who took part in the U20 World Championship Russia 2006.
One of the traditional powerhouses in the women's game, Norway have claimed every major title going. Winners of the 1995 World Cup in Sweden, they also secured Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 and are one of only three sides to have been crowned European champions, along with Germany and Sweden.
Norway bounced back from the disappointment of exiting the World Cup at the quarter-finals stage in 2003 under new coach Bjarne Berntsen, reaching the final of Euro 2005. Berntsen introduced a more flexible style of play, as well as rejuvenating the team with the likes of 16-year-old Isabell Herlovsen and Stine Frantzen from the U19 team.
Norway have quality in every department: the experienced Bente Nordby remains one of the best goalkeepers in the women's game, while in front of her the hard but fair Ana Stangeland can be guaranteed to keep a close eye on opposition strikers. The country's industrious playmaker Solveig Gulbrandsen will also be back, after taking a year out due to the birth of her first child. Madeleine Giske, Elise Thorsnes, Guro Knutsen and Melissa Wiik are four more Norwegian players to look out for in China.
Fast on the heels of regional powers the United States, Canada are a rising force in North America and are every inch the 'second team in the confederation. With an approach based on physical strength and quick-fire attacking, the no-nonsense Canucks will be a side to watch once the tournament gets underway.
Canada have qualified for every Women's World Cup, and their best result came at USA 2003, where they lost out to Sweden in the semi-finals. Coached by Even Pellerud, who took the reigns in 1999 having made Norway into a significant force in the game, Canada have a proven winner at the highest level in charge.
A former player in Norway, Pellerud even earned one cap for his country. He became Norway's Women's coach in 1991, leading them that year to the silver medal at both the World Cup and the European Championship. He followed that up by winning the European Championship in 1993, the World Cup in 1995, and an Olympic bronze at Atlanta 1996.
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