Olympic rivals to collide in soccer friendly Sept. 2
TiCkEts on sAlE THursDAy For womEn’s CAnADA-BrAzil mAtCH At TD PlACE
When the Canadian women’s national soccer team hosts Brazil beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2 at TD Place for an international friendly, there’s much more than pride on the line.
Not only is it an opportunity for the world’s fifth-ranked Canadians to get a taste of elite competition — the Brazilians are ranked seventh — it’s another showcase for the talented women’s competitors in this country, in front of the next generation who could someday be part of the team.
“It’s pivotal for soccer in Canada, for the women’s and men’s national teams to be playing at home for young kids, to see the level they aspire to get at some day,” said national team player Janine Beckie, sister of former Fury FC defender Drew Beckie, who was here for the 2014-15 seasons. “It might be the game in which a little girl falls in love with soccer.”
The FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 qualification campaign starts in October at the CONCACAF Women’s Championships.
Tickets for the Ottawa game will go on sale Thursday.
Canada beat Brazil 2-1 to win the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Canada faced Brazil in Toronto and Ottawa ahead of those Olympics, splitting the series 1-1. Included in that was Canada’s sendoff final match in Ottawa that saw the home team defeat Brazil 1-0 with Beckie scoring in the 90th minute to secure the win in front of 23,588 fans at TD Place.
“It’s a bit cliche, but every game is incredibly important for us,” said Beckie. “For us, friendlies count for world-ranking points. The higher the opponent, the better it is if we get a (favourable) result. That’s really important. It’s a test run for us. We put ourselves in a scenario that we’ll see in games that do matter from a tournament perspective.”
For Canada, it’s about the process — developing and learning along the path to the World Cup and the Olympics. These friendly matches help that process.
“We always have long-term goals, the Olympics and the World Cup is next year,” said Ashley Lawrence, another national team player. “We’re looking to be No. 1 and we’ve made great strides moving up in the ranks. We take it one day at a time. We had a friendly against Germany at the beginning of June (a 3-2 loss to the defending Olympic champion) and we learned from that. Now we’re going into this next friendly. It’s baby steps, but we never lose sight of those long-term goals we have as a team.”