Do or die at World Cup
Canadian women aim to dismiss the Swiss in knockout game at BC Place.
Canadians of a certain vintage will recall Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the hard- rocking Winnipeg band that made Takin’ Care of Business a rallying cry for their fanatical “gearheads.”
The Swiss women’s soccer team has the Bachmann-Dickenmann Combo, who appear ready to Humm a few bars of You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet on Canada when they meet Sunday afternoon in a knockout-round game of the Women’s World Cup.
Ramona Bachmann is one of the breakout stars of the tournament, a compact, but speedy 24-year-old who idolizes Lionel Messi and loves to use her dazzling dribbling skills to drive at opposing defenders. Dickenmann is the veteran midfielder/ forward with 40 international goals and another 55 in 111 games with club side Olympique Lyon in France.
And if they’re not enough to give Canada’s back- line fits, the Swiss also feature forward Fabienne Humm. She scored the fastest hat trick in women’s World Cup history with three goals in five minutes in Switzerland’s 10-1 romp over Ecuador in the group stage at BC Place Stadium.
The Swiss, who also lost 1-0 to reigning champion Japan and 2-1 to Cameroon in the group stage of their first World Cup, may be just 19th in the FIFA rankings, but they intend on making it extremely tough on No. 8 Canada at BC Place.
“There’s no David and Goliath story about this game,” Canadian coach John Herdman insisted this week. “You’ve got a very organized Switzerland team with two world-class strikers.”
One of the most intriguing matchups Sunday will be Bachmann against Canada’s own breakout star, 19-year-old centre back Kadeisha Buchanan. The Ontario product has proved calm and composed beyond her years. She hardly ever gets beat one-on-one. But Bachmann is a special talent.
“( Bachmann) has really matured into a top-class footballer,” Herdman said Friday. “Put her alongside Dickenmann and those two are a real threat. We have to deal with them. That’s our biggest challenge, really — dealing with them and the organization of the Swiss.”
Bachmann, who plays professionally in Sweden, made a brilliant run late in the game against Japan that made everyone sit up and take notice, and often had the Japanese defenders on their heels. She also scored three times against Ecuador.
She loves to get the ball and just bulldoze forward. Yet, for all her hard-charging feistiness, she also possesses clever footwork. And she has a powerful shot.
“I just like to play with her because I can give her the ball and she does something special with it,” Dickenmann said after the Swiss practised Friday at Empire Field. “She can always make a difference on her own.”
If there’s a knock on Bachmann, it’s that she tries to do much individually.
“Maybe if there’s one thing she could do a little bit better, it’s to see the players around her a little bit more,” said Dickenmann. “But I can imagine it’s not that easy when you run that fast.
“She can still improve and only get better. This experience will help her. The whole world can see she’s special and … we want to stay here a little bit longer for her to be able to show more of that.”
The Swiss are 0-3-1 all-time against Canada. And although they suggested that returning to BC Place, where they played their first two group stage games, feels like coming home, they’ll have to play Sunday with 50,000plus fans screaming for the true home side. But they insist they won’t be fazed.
“Of course it’s a huge crowd, but we have to focus on the game,” Swiss head coach Martina Voss- Tecklenburg said through a translator.
“We have to show confidence, show courage and give everything we have.”
While the Swiss will essentially play with nothing to lose, there will be incredible pressure on the Canadians. Not making it to next weekend’s quarter-final game, also under the Dome, will be seen as a crushing disappointment.
Canada has been uninspiring so far with just two goals scored while going 1-0-2.
Asked if she was concerned that Canada might be ready to break out offensively, Voss-Tecklenburg replied: “We hope they haven’t saved it all up for Sunday’s game.”
“It’s part of the process Canada has been going through,” she added. “It’s a World Cup in their home country. Expectations are quite high. And we mustn’t forget it’s the knockout part of the tournament now and it’s not too easy a situation to be in for the Canadian team.
“If they get the inspiration and it makes them grow wings, everything is possible.”
All we know is that after 90 minutes — 120 if it’s a draw after regulation time — one team will have taken care of business; the other will have to, as BTO sang, roll on down the highway.
CORNER KICKS: Voss-Tecklenburg admitted that her players are feeling the effects of playing on artificial turf surfaces. “We do have players that talk about muscles they haven’t felt for five years.”