Canada ties Spain 0-0, unbeaten as World Cup nears
LOGRONO, SPAIN — Canada goes into the Women’s World Cup unbeaten this year and having conceded just one goal in eight matches after a 0-0 draw with Spain in its final tournament warm-up match Friday.
The fifth-ranked Canadian women came on as the match progressed, but lacked the final touch. The 13th-ranked Spaniards, who have one final tune-up match against Japan, did little to trouble Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe at Estadio Las Gaunas.
“It was one of these matches of few chances. We got the better ones, though,” said Canada coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller.
The teams had met just once before, with Spain winning 1-0 in the 2017 Algarve Cup final.
After the match Heiner-Moller had his players gather in a huddle, telling them: “Now this is extra time.” The Canadian women then played a short miniscrimmage.
“No injuries, a lot of great experience and confidence in defending,” said Heiner-Moller. “We know we need to fine-tune a couple of things but the resilience of seeing a group of players play two 45-minute halfs and then twotimes-10 (-minute scrimmages) is pretty amazing.”
Canada’s World Cup campaign opens June 10 against No. 46 Cameroon in Montpellier before facing No. 19 New Zealand on June 15 in Grenoble and the eighth-ranked Netherlands on June 20 in Reims.
Spain, which won all eight of its World Cup qualifying matches, is in a group with No. 2 Germany, No 16 China and No. 49 South Africa.
The draw means Canada will go into the World Cup with a 5-0-3 record in 2019, outscoring its opposition 7-1. Canada’s last loss was a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the top-ranked United States in the final of the CONCACAF Championship last October.