CANADIANS KEEP FOCUSED
Roster trumps morale flap as main concern
It now just might be the most intriguing lineup decision John Herdman will make. Who does he start at centre back Saturday afternoon alongside teenage star Kadeisha Buchanan?
Does he stick with Lauren Sesselman, the sometimes shaky 31-year-old who bristled Wednesday at suggestions she’s having an uneven tournament so far? Or does he turn to Carmelina Moscato, whom Fox analyst Christine Latham suggested is questioning Herdman’s lineups and who thinks morale with the Canadian side is “not good.”
Latham, a former Canadian international who split acrimoniously after 2006, sparked a contretemps after going on air before Canada’s knockout-round win Sunday over Switzerland and, apparently, spilling parts of a conversation she had with Moscato.
Moscato, her ring-adorned nose flaring, replied “correct” when asked if that conversation had been misrepresented by Latham.
“It was not an accurate feeling, not an accurate depiction of myself, this team,” said Moscato, 31.
Herdman also questioned whether the account was accurate.
“(Moscato) is one of our offfield, on-field leaders,” he said after a two-hour practice Wednesday at UBC. “She’s got unbelievable integrity. I’ll be amazed if there’s any truth in that, but it is what it is.”
Perhaps feeling that she had been betrayed by a former teammate she called a friend, Moscato said team selections and other issues are always dealt with internally, “never externally.
“I think she wanted to attach a bit of credibility to her own opinions.”
Canada faces England in a quarter-final matchup Saturday at BC Place Stadium. The Canadians have been less than dominant through four games — two 1-0 wins, plus 0-0 and 1-1 draws — advancing to the final eight on the strength of grim determination, a superior level of fitness and an unwavering belief in themselves.
“We have a bunch of different lineups out there that are working,” said Moscato, who substituted for Sesselman in the 68th minute of the 0-0 draw with New Zealand, then started and played the entire 90 minutes of the final group-stage game, a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands.
“We’re in the final eight, we’re playing well, we’re scoring the goals that we need to score. Things are well … so that’s why (Latham’s commentary) was tough to hear.”
When she heard the “hurtful” comments, said Moscato, she felt disappointed and protective of her teammates.
“Things will happen, things will be said. Nothing’s going to be perfect and you’re not always going to have people on your side. At the end of the day, I was just — you don’t want your teammates to hear things like that, ever, whether I said it, or A or B said it. I think we love each other and we protect each other and I was just sad almost at those messages.”
Herdman was dismissive of talk that morale was bad.
“Yeah, it’s terrible,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “The girls are fighting each other. They hate each other. You see all the black eyes and the bloodied noses.
“No, we’re having a great tournament as a group. The girls, they’re enjoying themselves. Just look at the goal celebrations. Every goal we’ve scored, the player goes to the bench and you look at the passion, the spirit and connectedness of the players who aren’t playing, it’s just … I don’t even want to comment on it.”
With a squad of 23 players, however, it’s inevitable that at least a few are going to be unhappy they’re not getting minutes, no matter how many pre-tournament psychological sessions they’ve had to prepare themselves.
Three weeks before the tournament at a camp in Mexico, Herdman said, the players talked about their deepest fears. Some brought up the issue of having dozens of family members and friends in attendance and then not playing.
“There’s an ego thing to it, an embarrassment as well that you didn’t get on the pitch and everyone has turned up,” said Herdman. “We worked through some of those things so that these moments when people were feeling that, they knew how to respond and how to process it.”
Whether Moscato simply couldn’t help herself, or believed Latham would never use her name, or whether Latham simply fabricated it to give her commentary credibility, only the principals know the real truth.