Canada smothers England in friendly
STOKE-ON-TRENT, United Kingdom — Canada got a pre-Olympic confidence boost Tuesday with a 2-0 win over England in a women’s soccer friendly.
Evelyne Viens and Nichelle Prince capitalized on defensive miscues and Canada blunted the England attack the rest of the way for the victory. Canada did it without captain Christine Sinclair, who did not dress after limping off the field in the first half last Friday in a win over Wales.
The eighth-ranked Canadians dispatched an in-season English team ranked sixth in the world and playing at home, albeit without fans at Bet365 Stadium, the 30,000-capacity home of Stoke City of the second-tier Championship.
“To get a win and a clean sheet against England, that’s really tough to do,” said Canada coach Bev Priestman, an English native who was once part of the England coaching setup. “And so I’m delighted with that.
“When I first got this job, it was about scoring more goals but absolutely conceding less. That’s what I had looked at against Tier 1 [opposition]. So to get five goals, clean sheets across this camp, I’m just really pleased with that because it shows that we’re taking that step forward.”
On this day England gifted the offence, although the Canadians can take credit for pressuring it into the mistakes.
The gaffes came early and late — in the third and 86th minutes — and they proved costly.
Janine Beckie drove towards the England penalty box and sent the ball in to Viens, who hesitated because she was in an offside position. Defender Demi Stokes grabbed the ball and tried to send it to her goalkeeper only to see Viens muscle her off the ball and send it over the onrushing Carly Telford from close range.
Substitute goalkeeper Karen Bardsley was slow getting rid of the ball on a Millie Bright back pass and Prince poked the ball in with the clock winding down.
Canadian centre back Shelina Zadorsky, who captains England’s Tottenham and took over the armband when midfielder Desiree Scott exited in the second half, savoured the win but said there’s more work to do.
“We want to be beating Tier 1 opposition consistently and I think that’s what it takes to be a top team,” said Zadorsky. “We’ve done it in patches but we want to be able to compete and win consistently against these quality sides.”