Time has come for midfielder Matheson to make return
The stars for Canada at this Women’s World Cup haven’t been the ones we expected. Instead of Sinclair, Schmidt and Tancredi, it’s been Buchanan, McLeod and Chapman.
But two goals from open play in four matches doth not a sustainable approach make, and it hass only been acceptable because that defence has been beaten only once over the same period. “1-0 to the Arsenal” rang from Highbury’s terraces to a similar formula in the ’90s, but those songs are as out of fashion now as crimped hair. In the heart of darkness of a World Cup’s knockout rounds, each step becomes a draining test ruled by the laws of risk and reward. Now Canada must dare to risk, and it all starts as ever with Christine Sinclair, the captain who by her own mighty standards has had a quiet tournament, and the supporting cast around her, which now simply has to include the return of Diana Matheson.
This sickly-shooting bunch surely needs a boost from someone. A look at some of the stats tracked by Opta Sports, leaders in analytics and all over this women’s World Cup, show in numbers the poverty of their attack and Sinclair’s place in it:
With three goals in 35 shot attempts, Canada’s scoring ratio of 8.57 per cent is second-worst among the entire field of 24 teams. Only Spain (6.45 per cent) has been less accurate, and they’re long gone. No team has hit the woodwork more than Canada’s five times.
Sinclair has a team-high eight shots, but the only goal came from the spot in the opening game, deep in stoppage time, when Canada received the benefit of a penalty decision. At times starved for service, she has to do a better job finding space for her own purposes, as well as continue to deliver the sort of setup play that put Sunday’s roundof-16-winning goal on a platter for teammate Josee Belanger.
As a team that’s always struggled to score, set-piece delivery becomes more important. But in four games Canada has managed only four shot attempts off corners and free kicks. Sophie Schmidt, the main leg in that department, hasn’t delivered in these situations and looked out of sorts Sunday.
Matheson hasn’t played any football since tearing her ACL last Oct. 25, but she has worked hard to stay on course for this tournament and was always going to be held back for these later games.
With Schmidt below full strength this would seem to be the time to call on Matheson, even if she’s ready to contribute only half an hour at most.
The diminutive midfielder brings a strong two-way game, takes corners and the odd free kick, and can unsettle defenders, but this is about more than just a case of fresh legs and a 30-year-old’s savvy. She is the yang to Sinclair’s yin in the locker room, too, and might just spark an approach that has some swagger and danger about it.
As it is, the star of the show has been the still-teenaged Kadeisha Buchanan, whose collective line of defensive statistical indicators — 21 clearances, six tackles and 15 interceptions — trails only France captain Wendie Renard. (Indeed, Buchanan’s numbers might be better, but opposing Switzerland seemed to target her erratic partner Lauren Sesselman and Canada’s fullbacks more on Sunday, steering clear of her precinct. The word is indeed out on Buchanan.) Allysha Chapman plays a red-line kind of game on the left side of the defence, always seeming on the edge but managing to stay in control, and Erin McLeod has been almost flawless in goal.
That makes for a resolute wall. What’s missing is a serrated edge up front. Matheson-to-Sinclair has been a large part of Canada’s game going on a decade. So it must be here. If there’s a footballing model to emulate, it’s not ’90s Arsenal, but Italia ’82 — humdrum in the groups, then springing to life and risking all for glory when it mattered the most.