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The wait is almost over with the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup set to kick off on Saturday.
Expectations for the Canadian Women’s National Team could not be higher heading into the tournament. The core of the Canadian Team are in the prime of their careers and many Canadians fondest recent soccer memory harkens back to the magic the Canadian women delivered at the 2012 Olympics in London via an inspiring Bronze medal performance.
Are the Canadians the favourite to win the World Cup? Even Canadian Women’s National Team Head Coach John Herdman disagrees with that assessment. That said, his time at the helm of the Canadian program has been almost purely focused on this tournament and the Englishman is definitely confident that his side have what it takes to deliver the goods on home soil and contend for the World Cup trophy.
So as we count down to Saturday’s kickoff, we asked a number of RedNation soccer analysts to give us their thoughts and predictions on how they think the tournament will unfold and whether or not the Canadian team has a legitimate chance to be crowned World Champions.
Melissa Tan:
Will Canada win the FIFA Women's World Cup?
Anything can happen, right? After all, Canada exceeded everyone's expectations by winning the 2012 Olympic bronze medal after finishing at the bottom of the 2011 WWC table. In my ideal world, Canada claims the cup; but my cautious thinking expects a semi-final finish against reigning champs Japan.
Prediction for Group A?
Whether Canada ends up as # 1, 2 or 3 in Group A, they should move into the Round of 16. It all depends on the Netherlands, WWC debutantes, and their potential to perform on the biggest stage, especially star striker Vivianne Miedema of Bayern Munich.
Key player for Canada?
Can I declare health as a key player? Injury required Josée Bélanger to step in as a defender, but she played her role quite well, assisting on Sophie Schmidt's goal against England at the recent friendly. If Diana Matheson recovers enough to play in the later stages of the tournament, will she have had enough time to reintegrate herself into team chemistry? Erin McLeod is usually a star goalkeeper, but she'll have to nail it when coming off her line.
Emily Dulhanty:
Will Canada win the FIFA Women's World Cup?
I do not think Canada will win the Women's World Cup. There are just too many teams who are better individually and as a group, like Germany, France and Japan, who Canada have struggled mightily against since the London Olympics.
I will say this: If Canada can win their group, the draw they received sets them up really nicely for at least a quarterfinal appearance. They have certainly shown they can shock the world before, in that bronze medal game at London, which was a huge overachievement for the
team at the time. Upsets have certainly happened in the knockout stages of major tournaments before. But again, finishing first in their group is crucial, as the road to the semi-finals and onwards is much, much tougher in terms of competition and travel if Canada finishes second
or third instead.
That being said, I believe that France will win the 2015 Women's World Cup.
Prediction for Group A?
Group A is going to be a tight affair, and is certainly a group without a clear leader. I do think Canada has enough quality to win the group if they play well and don't stutter in their first game, but they will be massively tested in a young Netherlands side in their third game.
Starting from the bottom, I think New Zealand will finish fourth and China will finish third (and may advance depending on how the other third place teams finish). Canada and the Netherlands will duke it out for first in the group, and a lot of that will depend on the health of
Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema, who is currently nursing a foot injury but is expected to be ready for her team's first game. Many are considering The Netherlands as a dark horse in the tournament.
Key Player for Canada?
There are many players that will be key to Canada's success at the World Cup, both on the attacking and defensive side. I'll go with a more unconventional answer to this question, and choose Lauren Sesselmann. Fifteen months on from her ACL injury before the Cyprus Cup in
2014, Sesselmann has not yet played an official 90 minute game for club or country, but is likely to line up alongside Kadeisha Buchanan in Canada's starting centre back pairing. She looked shaky and a step behind in her first game back in April against France, understandably, but looked like she was in pre-injury form in last week's 1-0 win over England.
Sesselmann is key to this country's success because her presence in the starting XI gives Canada so much more quality at the back than the next best options. She is great in the air and complements Buchanan well. Canada isn't known for its scoring ability, and as such most games involving Canada's women's national team are low scoring, tight affairs. Canada will need Sesselmann at the back in top form in order to help keep the goals out while Canada still works to get their attack going.
Kamal Hylton:
Will Canada Win the World Cup?
It’s harsh, but I don’t see this team getting past the Quarterfinal stage. It has nothing to do with the talent of the players and everything to do with the amount of pressure they face as the host nation. It won’t be as catastrophic as the 2011 Women’s World Cup turned out to be, when Canada finished on 0 points in the group stages, but I see the grand occasion of what this means for the country and Canadian soccer getting to them. They have a much easier group this time around, but when it comes time for the knockout stages I see other nations like USA, France and Sweden stepping it up a gear. The team I see flying under the radar in the same way Japan did in 2011 is Sweden, who are under former US Women’s coach Pia Sundhage and full of strong talent like captain Lotta Schelin, midfielders Caroline Seger and Lisa Dahlkvist and the versatile Nilla Fischer.
Who will win Group A?
As I said before, nothing could be worse than that group stage performance in 2011 and I don’t see this happening here. Canada should finish first with relative ease, against a Dutch side at its first World Cup, a New Zealand squad whose best finish at a major tournament was the Quarterfinals of 2012 London Olympics as the second best third place team by goal difference over North Korea and a Chinese team that hasn’t been at the top level since 2007-2008.
Key player for Canada?
It’s easy to say Christine Sinclair, Diana Matheson or even an emerging player that’s getting hype like Kadeisha Buchanan, but we know what to expect from Sinclair and Matheson and, although she’s very talented, it’s still the first time on a big stage for a 19-year-old like Buchanan. Eliminating those three, the player I see as essential to Canada’s success is Sophie Schmidt. She has shown a level of consistency in an attacking role, is in form and according to coach John Herdman following the recent game against England: “This could be the tournament [Schmidt] becomes the best midfielder in the world. She’s really got the goods to step-up in this World Cup.”
Aaron Nielsen:
Will Canada win the FIFA Women's World Cup?
No, although some things are in place for Canada to have a successful tournament if they win the games they should win. In terms of just quality of players I rank Canada sixth in the tournament and they would be underdogs if they were to play Germany, France, USA, Sweden, and Japan, while Norway, Brazil and Australia would be an equal match up. They should be good enough to beat the other countries in the tournament although to win the tournament they would have to play two or three games against more quality teams and I don't feel even with the home field advantage they are good enough to win those games.
Prediction for Group A?
I think Canada will and should finish 1st in Group A. I don't feel China are that good in comparison to past tournaments. New Zealand will be a tough opponent and can challenge Canada physically as lead by Defender Abby Ecreg. The Netherlands are lead by one of the most exciting young player in Women's Soccer in Vivianne Miedema but shouldn't have the international experience to challenge Canada. The rest of the group will be tight and the experience and physicality should give New Zealand and China an advantage over the Netherlands to advance from the group.
Key player for Canada?
It’s hard to look past Christine Sinclair and, when Canada reaches the knockout stage, they may need a performance from her similar to what she did during the 2012 Summer Olympics. The other strength Canada has is their defense lead by keepers Erin McLeod, Karina LeBlanc, and a very experienced back line, although arguably they have not had to play against such technically gifted players as I believe you will see in this tournament. So in terms of a sign/key, it will be how Canada stops their opposition throughout the tournament which will reflect how far they go.
Rob Notenboom:
Will Canada win the FIFA Women's World Cup?
Wouldn't that be great? Unfortunately it's very unlikely. The nice thing is that the draw sets up to be incredibly beneficial to Canada. As the host nation Canada gets a seeded spot and will avoid having the dangerous teams in their pool, namely Germany, France, Japan, and the US. If Canada can win their group they also would not face one of these teams potentially until the semi-final round. So can Canada make it to the last four? It's a distinct possibility. Winning would take an incredible amount of fortune, so personally I can't see it.
Prediction for Group A?
1 - Canada
2 - Netherlands
3 - China
4 - New Zealand
There have been many pundits leaning toward the Dutch topping the group, but their results in 2015 are far from stellar. They have crushed some very poor teams, and done well against some of the second tier teams like Norway, but they have also had some mediocre results. They potentially have a hot young striker in Vivianne Miedema, but to expect them to dominate the group seems to be a stretch. They are up-and-comers and certainly have an upward trajectory, but this World Cup might be a bit early for it to be their breakout. Canada is more established and experienced and they've had decent results against a tougher slate of opponents in the lead up to the World Cup so they should be the favourite to top the group.
Key Player for Canada?
Canada has been very solid at the back for most of the Herdman era but they have had difficulty scoring. Many lament Christine Sinclair's form but her woes also stem from opposition teams being able to focus on her and ignoring other potential goal scorers on the team. Therefore the key player for Canada will be anyone who can strike fear into opposing defences and take the focus off Sinclair. Sophie Schmidt seems the most likely as she has been on fire of late. But Melissa Tancredi and Adriana Leon are also potential threats. Someone simply needs to hit a hot streak at the right time. Considering Canada's lack of scoring, I find it surprising that Janine Beckie is not in the squad and that Nichelle Prince wasn't given a look. Although they've played primarily against less experienced squads, they can create chances on their own and that might be enough to draw defensive pressure away from Sinclair.
Sam Gregory
Will Canada win the FIFA Women's World Cup?
Herdman is talking the talk when it comes to going the whole way at this month’s World Cup. The problem is that over the past few years the results just haven’t been there. Since the Olympics in 2012 Canada have only beat two teams in the current top 10 of the FIFA rankings: Sweden and England. This run has included losses to all of the favoured nations: France, Germany, Japan and the United States. That being said there is the added bonus this time around of home field advantage and the idea that the team may be peaking at the right time. I don’t think it’s impossible Canada will win the World Cup, but it is very, very, very, very, very unlikely.
Prediction for Group A?
Canada’s group is pretty well balanced, but Canada should be the strongest team and make it out of the group on top. The next spot will be more interesting. China seems to have rebounded after a few years in the women’s football wilderness and the Netherlands have been a popular dark horse team playing in their first World Cup. I think it’ll be a close fight for these second and third spots but I see the Netherlands finishing second and China in third with a possibility of progressing to the Round of 16.
Key player for Canada?
This is an easy one. If Christine Sinclair scores lots of goals at this tournament Canada will do well. If Christine Sinclair doesn’t score lots of goals at this tournament Canada will not do well. She’s the public face of this team and she has to be their most important player as well. Like many Canadian teams in the past the biggest question mark surrounding this team is how many goals they will be able to score. Whether or not Canada can get their attack going comes down almost entirely to the goal scoring form of Christine Sinclair.
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