No sure bets for Canada’s roster in Rio
Veterans aren’t assured of spots, as Herdman’s side looks for more scorers
“We’ve got five or six months to bring this group together, see if we can intersperse some of them in with the senior squad.” JOHN HERDMAN COACH, WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
John Herdman has some decisions to make.
The head coach of the Canadian women’s national team witnessed a wealth of talent both young and old between two major tournaments this summer — the Women’s World Cup and the Pan Am Games. But not all 37 women who represented Canada this summer, and a few contenders who were on the sidelines, can play at the Rio Olympics in less than a year’s time.
And although Herdman went with a mostly veteran squad at the World Cup, seniority won’t guarantee a spot in the lineup next summer.
“Some of these (under-23) girls are going to push, I’m absolutely sure,” he said after Danny Worthington’s mostly under-23 squad finished fourth at the Pan Am Games last week.
There were inevitably going to be cuts to the team that made it to the quarter-finals of soccer’s biggest tournament, as the World Cup roster affords teams five more roster spots than the Olympics.
But the talent the young players showed at the Pan Ams, one that was lacking in their senior counterparts’ game, could mean a drop in age on the Canadian roster.
Getting the youngsters suited up for a major tournament early in their careers could also mean a better chance for the team to peak come the next Women’s World Cup in 2019.
Herdman said he wanted to see his up-and-coming players compete against the second tier of top women’s teams — squads such as Costa Rica and Mexico, who Canada could also face in January’s Olympic qualifiers — before reviewing the senior squad’s World Cup performance.
Now, he and his coaching staff have about two months to review both tournaments to decide which of the under 23s will move on to the full team.
“We’ve got five or six months to bring this group together, see if we can intersperse some of them in with the senior squad, and see what that looks like as we push for the Olympic qualification.”
One focus will be finding someone who can put the ball in the back of the net.
Not scoring consistently is an issue for both teams. At the senior level, captain Christine Sinclair is a step behind where she used to be and doesn’t have much support. The younger team has yet to identify a Sinclair-like replacement.
“We as coaches — we’ve got to take the challenges on with the player to go toward tactics that give us those opportunities, that get the best out of the individuals that we’ve got, that develop people like (striker) Janine Beckie, with only a handful of caps, up to the next level,” Herdman said.
“Maybe she can be that player but when you look at the instinct, the raw instinct of scoring goals, it wasn’t in this group of women. That is a gift that not many players in the world have.”