Team Canada quietly confident

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2019 (2630 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Through its first three days, the 2019 Women’s World Cup has provided sensational goals (take a bow, Thembi Kgatlana), dominant performances (here’s looking at you, France) and plucky underdogs (aye, Scotland).

Now enter the sport’s highest active goal scorer and the Canadian national team. It’s all about to get even better.

Christine Sinclair, who needs just four goals to surpass Abby Wambach on the all-time list, will today lead out the Olympic bronze medallists against Cameroon in Montpellier. Given that their Group E schedule will get progressively difficult from here, this match is a must-win for a team targeting at least a semifinal. New Zealand are next, and a showdown with European champions Netherlands will likely determine top spot in the section. So three points at the picturesque Stade de la Mosson are imperative.

Not that the Canadians are letting the pressure get to them.

This is a group, with nine returning players from the 2015 World Cup and 14 players under the age of 25. The team is ideally balanced for tournament soccer and so understatedly confident you have to really, intentionally listen for it. That is if you can hear it above the singing and happy chatter in training. This team is really, really fun. It just so happens to also be the best team this country has ever fielded.

Sinclair, who will turn 36 between today’s match and Saturday’s encounter with New Zealand, is the captain, leader and face of the squad. She also has an experienced group of veterans, including Allysha Chapman, Sophie Schmidt and Desiree Scott, that has been through multiple World Cups and Olympic Games and that will help her guide the younger players, many of whom are new to this level but so incredibly talented they don’t even know how good they are.

Their personalities are infectious. To her credit, the characteristically quiet Sinclair has allowed those personalities to bubble, to express themselves. There are Instagram takeovers, singing and dancing, plenty of smiles. It’s a notable contrast to four years ago when Canada hosted the World Cup and couldn’t seem to get out from the enormous pressure they found themselves under. There is pressure this time, too, but the team is looser, more self-assured.

Several players, such as Kadeisha Buchanan, Ashley Lawrence and Janine Beckie, play their club soccer at elite European clubs, and they carry themselves as such. They may be young, but they already compete against the best players in the world on a regular basis. They are good — Buchanan, for example, is a top defender for powerhouse Lyon — and they don’t need to tell themselves, or anyone else, that they are. They already know.

They are here to enjoy the moment — an approach being wonderfully mirrored by Canada’s broadcasters. The TSN panel of Kate Beirness, Clare Rustad, Kaylyn Kyle and Diana Matheson has been engaging, funny and very insightful.

They also bring the sort of cultural awareness that is sorely and embarrassingly lacking on the United States’ FOX channels, as demonstrated by the dialogue surrounding the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg’s decision to retire from international soccer.

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Today, this fun, confident and talented set of players will show the world what they’re about on the pitch. Cameroon, having finished third at last year’s Africa Cup of Nations, will look to spring forwards Gabrielle Onguene and Ajara Nchout (who was exceptional in qualifying) on the counter.

They won’t expect to have much of the ball. Canadian midfielders Schmidt, Scott and Jessie Fleming can anticipate a lot of possession, and there should be ample opportunity for Sinclair to chip away at the goal-scoring record. Jordyn Huitema, an 18-year-old attacker who recently joined Paris Saint-Germain, will likely have a chance to make her World Cup debut from the bench.

Canada should win this, and they need to. That Netherlands match looms large and will decide whether they face a Scotland or Japan or a United States or Sweden in the Round of 16. Of course, to win the World Cup they’ll have to face, and beat, the best teams at some point. And this team believes they can beat anyone. They just might not say it. Although they may sing it.

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Twitter @JerradPeters