Canadian Women's National Team - Article |
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CanWNT looking for a result against world number three France
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With less than two months until the opening game of the Women’s World Cup, Canada’s women’s national team have a huge test in front of them in the form of a friendly this afternoon against world number three France.
Canada will be looking to build on a promising start to 2015, that has seen the team win six games out of seven, conceding just four goals en route to winning the BaoAn Cup in China and finishing second to England at the Cyprus Cup. “As a group we’ve been progressing quite nicely, but this is one of those real tests and it’s a true test in looking at the form of the French in the last few years,” said coach John Herdman on a conference call with media on Wednesday. “It’s certainly a team that has a lot of attacking weapons, so defensively we have to be at our best and it’s a team that doesn’t seem to concede too many goals.”
The French have beaten Germany, the United States, Japan and Sweden, those in the top 5 of FIFA’s rankings, over the last year. However, this record didn’t discourage Herdman, as he said, “Our goal coming into this game is to get a result, like we did in our last performance against them [a 1-1 draw in France on April 4th, 2013] and as we did in the Olympics.”
France is coming off a successful Algarve Cup tournament in March, where the team finished second to the United States. They have won four of five games this year, scoring 10 goals in the process, and will surely get a boost from their home crowd.
Herdman gave an update on centre back Lauren Sesselmann, who is making her return to the Canadian squad for the first time in a year since tearing her ACL in February of 2014. “Lauren will definitely see some game time in this game,” Herdman said.
He also stressed the importance of having a left footed player such as Sesselmann join the team again. “That’s a massive strength for Canada. We have a lot of different centre backs all with different strengths but to get that left sided balance is really important.”
Herdman also commented on midfield veteran Diana Matheson, who continues to battle the clock as she works to recover in time for June from an ACL injury that occurred last October in a friendly against Japan:
“These returns to play from an ACL are up and down, it’s never a straight line when you speak to the medical team. We’d love to say ‘look, there’s an absolute day to get her back,’ but there’s always little mini setbacks. There are days where we’re able to push forward and catch up a few days, and that’s the way it’s been from the onset. [Matheson] is a fantastic athlete, a very disciplined, high performance person who does everything she can but we’re just, as a group, hoping that she can get back in time. We’ll certainly be looking over these next two to three weeks to see how her progress is and how it’s tracking for a return to the World Cup and obviously those things influence selection.”
Canada’s squad for the match is below. Kickoff is at 3pm ET.
CANADA
GK- Stephanie Labbe | unattached / sans club
GK- Karina LeBlanc | USA / Chicago Red Stars
GK- Erin McLeod | USA / Houston Dash
D- Kadeisha Buchanan | USA / West Virginia University
D- Allysha Chapman | USA / Houston Dash
D- Robyn Gayle | unattached / sans club
D- Carmelina Moscato | unattached / sans club
D- Marie-Eve Nault | unattached / sans club
D- Rebecca Quinn | USA / Duke University
D- Lauren Sesselmann | USA / Houston Dash
D- Rhian Wilkinson | USA / Portland Thorns FC
D- Emily Zurrer | unattached / sans club
M- Kaylyn Kyle | USA / Portland Thorns FC
M- Jonelle Filigno | USA / Sky Blue FC
M- Jessie Fleming | CAN / London NorWest SC
M- Desiree Scott | ENG / Notts County Ladies FC
M- Sophie Schmidt | unattached / sans club
M- Ashley Lawrence | USA / West Virginia University
F- Josée Bélanger | unattached / sans club
F- Janine Beckie | USA / Texas Tech University
F- Adriana Leon | USA / Chicago Red Stars
F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
F- Melissa Tancredi | USA / Chicago Red Stars
There is no word yet of an official stream for the match, though the Canadian Soccer Association noted in a press release earlier this week that they were “investigating streaming options for the match.” There may be a broadcast on French television.
Herdman will be naming Canada’s 23 player squad for this summer’s World Cup at an event in Vancouver on Monday, April 27th. Canada’s final tune up match is scheduled for Friday, May 29th in Hamilton, against England.
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