Guyana will be Team Canada’s first test
Canadians begin quest to qualify for Rio Games Thursday in Houston
HOUSTON— If the Canadian women’s national team harbours any lingering feelings over the heartbreak of last summer’s Women’s World Cup quarter-final loss, the players aren’t letting on.
“The excitement to qualify for an Olympics — it trumps all the negative feelings. It’s a new perspective and we are really excited to start something fresh and move on,” midfielder Sophie Schmidt said following a final training session before Canada begins its Olympic qualifying campaign against Guyana here Thursday night.
If anything, the Canucks seem impatient to get back on the field for the team’s most meaningful match since that disappointing 2-0 loss to England last June.
“It’s been long enough,” Schmidt laughed. “Too long, even.”
Results-wise, Thursday’s game is the most significant contest for Canada in months. But No. 89 ranked Guyana isn’t the toughest opponent the team has faced of late — nine of their players play out of Torontoarea clubs, including two for the University of Toronto and one for York University — and qualifiers definitely aren’t similar to the Women’s World Cup.
That’s a blessing for the Canadians who, while supported like never before last summer, have spoken frankly about the mounting pressure the team felt while hosting the game’s biggest tournament for the first time.
You couldn’t walk through an airport in Edmonton, Montreal or Vancouver during the competition without running into some form of Christine Sinclair likeness. Media presence was huge and the crowds were even bigger. It was tough on a team not used to its sport garnering such attention.
That’s not the case here, where all four teams from Group A practised on neighbouring fields at the Houston Sports Park Wednesday. Within the city, there’s little indication qualifiers are even taking place.
Away from the spotlight or not, though, beating Guyana is the first step to defending the bronze medal Canada earned at the London 2012 Olympics.
To perform the way Canada hopes, the team must improve its already stingy defence, one that shone last summer. That will come by solidifying the partnership between Canada’s centre-backs.
With Lauren Sesselmann out of the squad for this tournament, 23-yearold Shelina Zadorsky will likely line up alongside Kadeisha Buchanan to start the qualifiers. That combination is one coach John Herdman hopes gels into a more mutually beneficial on-field relationship, rather than letting offensive pressure through the middle of the field fall largely to Buchanan.
The team also needs more creativity from midfield and to score, both early and often.
Those latter two objectives, which Canada will look to the likes of veterans Sinclair and Diana Matheson and rookies Deanne Rose and Nichelle Prince, among others, to fulfill will be necessary this tournament.
The Canucks are after a strong goal difference to ensure they finish first in its group, but they also expect to face defensive-minded tactics almost exclusively in the round robin. The team will need to be inventive to outwit the busload of players likely to be parked in front of the opposition net for the next three matches.