Canadian soccer women head to World Cup on winning note

HAMILTON — Canada ticked another box before heading west to kick off the Women’s World Cup — winning its final tuneup before a fired-up home crowd.

Sophie Schmidt scored a highlight-reel goal midway through the first half to lift Canada to a 1-0 victory over England in a friendly on Friday.

The goal, on artificial turf before 23,197 at Tim Hortons Field, came after a slow start for the Canadian women, who grew in confidence and panache as the game wore on. Once it took the lead, Canada strung passes together and looked creative in trying to open up the visitors.

For the Canadians, it was a chance to end a four-game losing streak to the English, who are ranked two places higher than Canada at No. 6.

For coach John Herdman, the game was an opportunity for the team to play before a ramped-up home crowd in advance of the tournament. And while it was just a friendly, he knew the pressure his team would be under if it went into the World Cup on the back of a poor performance.

Herdman savoured just about everything that followed. Still, he managed to temper his post-game delight.

“Look it’s early days. I mean this is a training match. We haven’t won a World Cup. We haven’t even won our first game yet. But it was important tonight to put a performance on like that.”

The Canadian women head to Edmonton on Tuesday in advance of their June 6 World Cup opener against China in Group A, which also features New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Schmidt scored in the 24th minute, sweeping in a feed from fullback Josee Belanger with a right-footed one-timer.