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It’s been almost a week since Canada was defeated 2-0 by Germany in the quarterfinal of the U-20 women’s World Cup, and now that the initial disappointment has fizzled out, we can look back and evaluate who stood out for Canada.
Before Canada’s first game, John Herdman, head coach of the senior national team, stressed that the EXCEL system and youth tournaments are all about development. Herdman told Sportsnet’s John Molinaro “what’s important in the EXCEL program is that we’ve started to look at FIFA youth tournaments in a different light. We’ve identified the youth tournaments as opportunities to learn how to win tournaments. Rather than looking at U-20 as a pinnacle for a player, it’s more about achieving certain standards within our system.”
Furthermore, he told CBC, “[Players] see that their engagement in our EXCEL program is about becoming a women’s national team player, not a women’s U-20 World Cup player, because no one ever remembers who won the women’s U-20 world cup.”
Herdman was no doubt watching this tournament closely for players who can take the step up to the senior team in the coming years. Could some new faces from the U-20 team enter the national team fold in time for next year’s World Cup? It's definitely a possibility.
The tournament introduced Canada to a few new promising attacking players, the first being Janine Beckie. Having only attended her first Canadian camp in June after deciding to switch over from the American program, Beckie made one heck of a debut. She scored the winning goal in Canada’s crucial 1-0 win over North Korea, and the first of three goals in Canada’s exhilarating second half comeback against Finland. With sound technique and great speed, I wouldn’t be surprised if Beckie is called into the senior team for at least a look soon.
The tournament served as a re-introduction for forward Nichelle Prince to Canadian supporters, who some may remember got her first senior cap and goal for Canada at the Yongchuan Cup in January of 2013 (the tournament Christine Sinclair sat out of due to her four match ban from FIFA). Prince came on as a substitute in the first U-20 game, but after being one of the only bright spots in that dreadful 1-0 loss to Ghana, she earned her spot in the starting eleven for Canada’s three remaining games. Having to leave the quarterfinal after fifteen minutes due to injury was certainly a blow to Canada’s hopes of advancing, as at times the team was missing ideas in and around the German 18-yard box.
In Jessie Fleming and Emma Fletcher, we have a pair of midfielders with great vision, who are not afraid to shoot from distance. Neither scored goals, but Fletcher and Fleming both hit the crossbar once in the tournament from shots outside the 18. Even though Fleming looked over-matched physically at times, especially in the quarterfinal against some older and stronger Germans, we continued to see her maturity and creativity that Herdman consistently praises. Fletcher, in her first competitive matches for Canada after playing at the U17 World Cup in 2012 for New Zealand, showed some great moments of skill, often willing to take players on 1v1 and create attacking opportunities for herself and others.
Despite some sloppy play at the back at times, Kadeisha Buchanan was her reliable self at centre back throughout the tournament, and Rebecca Quinn looked like she could compete for starting minutes on Canada’s World Cup squad next year, especially with uncertainty around injured centre backs Carmelina Moscato and Lauren Sesselmann. Sura Yekka, on the other hand, seemed shaky at the back at times and more comfortable getting involved in the attack than defending. Was it nerves? Possibly. But it wasn’t the first time Yekka played at home, as four of her nine caps for the senior team came at home in front of large Canadian crowds. It will be interesting to see how much playing time Herdman gives Yekka this fall in the friendlies against Japan. You can also add fullback Kinley McNicoll, who captained Canada at this tournament, to the list of players Herdman may choose to bring into senior WNT camp to have a look at ahead of 2015.
As Sam Gregory wrote earlier this week for RNO, it is important as followers of the game in Canada not to get too high or too low from a single game or tournament.
Though Germany were deserved winners, last Saturday was not a tale of complete German domination and a few half chances for Canada, as we have seen from games in the past against far more technical teams. Canada were competitive and, had a few things gone differently in Saturday’s quarterfinal, mainly Fletcher’s 9th minute shot that bounced off Germany’s crossbar and the injury to Prince, the result could have changed. By extension, Canada’s 2-2 draw with Germany at the under 17 women’s World Cup last March (after leading the game 2-0 for an hour) is encouraging, and shows that we can be competitive with the Germans at the youth level.
But beyond the youth level, how can we compete with Germany on a consistent basis at the senior level, especially when they have their own professional league, one of the best women’s leagues in the world? We can't. Let’s continue to hope that in the next few years an ownership group decides to take a chance on bringing a professional women’s team to Canada, and that the National Women’s Soccer League is still alive and willing to expand to Canada at that point.
For now, we can be optimistic by the fact that there were many promising performances from Canadian women at the U-20 World Cup, even after a rough start to the tournament. Onward to 2015.
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