Canada’s women’s soccer team meets adversity head-on

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/07/2023 (782 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At some point, you just run out of superlatives.

Shortchanged by their own association, they work even harder to prepare for a difficult group stage schedule. Hit by the setbacks of pre-tournament injuries, they reallocate on-field responsibilities and off-field leadership to fill the necessary gaps.

And dealt a further blow when a key player isn’t quite fit to start a World Cup opener, they rejig their line-up to not only remain competitive but also take the game to their opponents.

Someday, and hopefully soon, they’ll enjoy a set of scenarios that actually work in their favour, or at least not directly against them. But until then, Canada’s national women’s soccer team will meet adversity head-on because, well, that’s what they’ve always done.

They did it again Friday afternoon in Melbourne – late Thursday back home – when they picked up a valuable point from a scoreless draw with Nigeria.

Given the absence of preparatory matches in their build-up to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Canada really had no business playing as well as they did against the 11-time African champions. They prevailed in every statistical category of note, bar the most important one, and they might even have won outright had Christine Sinclair converted her 49th-minute penalty.

Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie did well to deny the all-time leading international goal-scorer from 12 yards, though she didn’t have a whole lot to keep her busy otherwise. Canada might have had a whopping 68% possession (it was as high as 74% in the first half), but they managed only two shots on target and struggled to create meaningful chances.

For an offensively-challenged group at the best of times, the absence of Janine Beckie – out since March with a torn ACL – was especially apparent in Melbourne. But Canada manager Bev Priestman had at least been able to plan around the inspirational attacker’s injury. Jessie Fleming’s, on the other hand, presented a more immediate complication.

When the line-up sheets were revealed prior to kick-off, with Fleming a notable omission, Priestman explained the Chelsea playmaker had “felt something” recently during training.

It would hardly be surprising – though extremely frustrating – if the knock in question was wear-and-tear or stress-related, as the first thing to point to would be the long layoff from competitive action, the result of Canada Soccer’s refusal to book home friendlies in June and July.

Nevertheless, the Canadian women actually played like the Olympic Gold Medalists they are through much of the 90 minutes against their African opponents.

They started brightly, showed encouraging bursts of energy and were generally able to track back to prevent Nigeria from creating chances, though Ashley Lawrence came off worse for wear in tackling Francisca Ordega in the 35th minute. And Canada ‘keeper Kailen Sheridan made a highlight-reel save with 10 minutes to play, though the late offside flag would’ve saved her blushes had the ball gone in.

But if there was going to be a winner at Rectangular Stadium it would have been Canada. They quite clearly did not surprise themselves with their performance, though they pleasantly startled everyone else.

Realistically, the objective was to emerge from the Nigeria encounter with knockout-stage prospects still intact. Mission accomplished, and then some. Ireland is up next (Wednesday, 7 a.m., TSN), and judging by their latest outing, Canada’s posturing for the round of 16 will be even more secure at the final whistle.

It could have gone better, but not much. Sometimes a draw is a very good result.

World Cup Notebook

• The opening day of the Women’s World Cup delivered maximum points and attendance figures for tournament co-hosts Australia and New Zealand. The Matildas edged Ireland in front of more than 75,000 fans in Sydney while a capacity crowd of just over 42,000 watched the Football Ferns upset 1995 champions Norway in Auckland. The 2015 competition in Canada, which included seven games in Winnipeg, remains the all-time leader in total attendance.

• Australia captain and top goal-scorer Sam Kerr sustained a calf injury in Wednesday’s training and missed the Ireland match. She’s also been ruled out of her side’s Group B encounter with Nigeria and is in a race to be fit to face Canada on July 31 (5 a.m.). You never want to see a player injured – especially a world-class player – but an absent or even semi-fit Kerr would certainly boost Canada’s prospects in a showdown that could well have a knockout-round berth on the line.

• The United States, returning and repeat World Cup winners, will get their campaign underway Friday (8 p.m.) against tournament debutantes Vietnam. It’s a fascinating match-up for obvious historical reasons, and it comes only two days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s high-profile visit to Hanoi. The Auckland contest will likely produce this World Cup’s most one-sided scoreline.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Threads @JerradPeters

jerradpeters@gmail.comThreads @JerradPeters