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28 October 2014
For just over 90 minutes at BC Place on Tuesday night, Canada’s women’s national team was the equal of the reigning World Champions Japan.
But when you take on the best teams in the world, those sorts of teams make the most of the chances that are given to them. That’s exactly what happened as Aya Sameshima scored with virtually the last kick of the game to give Japan a 3:2 win.
As was the case a few days in Edmonton, Japan showed the kind of top quality finishing that Canada is hoping to emulate when it matters most in eight months.
“I think in the first 15 minutes, we should have been two up. We had two great chances,” said Head Coach John Herdman. “I thought we started the game brightly the other day. We got caught with their quality in the first 10 minutes in Edmonton.”Japans scoring didn’t so much come down to breaking down the Canadian tactics and outplaying the Canadians. Their opening goal was of the highest quality and the other two were chances off little mistakes.
They’re the sorts of mistakes that won’t need a vast adjustment in how the team plays but will hopefully get ironed out the more this team plays together. And with this team together for vast periods of time over the next eight months, the hope is that there will be much fewer little mistakes that can be exploited.
“We’re starting to see a different Canada now. At times we were able to take it to Japan,” said Herdman. “When you think back to the (2012) Olympics and we had three shots in the whole game and scored one goal. Tonight we had 12 shots.”
“We’re going to be there fighting. This team isn’t going to be too far away with all the preparation we do.”
READ MATCH REPORT: Canada WNT 2:3 Japan“We’re going to be there fighting. This team isn’t going to be too far away with all the preparation we do.”
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First game against Japan a starting point for Canada WNT’s growth
Posted on 25 October 2014 in Women's National Team / Olympic Team
Having only just gotten the full squad back together and with eight months until next summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™, Saturday’s women’s international friendly was always going to serve as a baseline for Canada’s women’s national team.
A 3:0 loss to the defending World Cup holders showed that Canada can hang in with the champions but the littlest of mistakes will be exploited.
“It was a bit rough,” admitted Head Coach John Herdman. “With the Japanese, as soon as you give them an inch, they take a yard with that quality that they have. In the first ten minutes we struggled to keep up with them—with their pace of the movement and the pace of the game.”
But after that initial spell where Canada conceded a goal, they responded well and, in many cases, were matching the Japanese blow for blow heading into the halftime break. Canada managed to create a few chances and know they’ll have to bury the chances they get against the best in the world because they won’t come too often.
When the teams played at the Olympics, a narrow 2:1 scoreline masked a Japanese performance that was more dominant than it was on Saturday. And the team knows that in the coming months they’ll be working hard to learn these lessons.
Those good periods are a glimpse of what can be built on over the winter and into 2015.
“Once we got a hold of it we actually showed what our potential is for that World Cup,” said Herdman. “For 30 or 40 minutes there in that first half there was a really solid showing by Canada.”
The team travels to Vancouver on Sunday and will get a quick chance to fix some of the things they need to work on as the two teams will play again Tuesday evening at BC Place Stadium.
READ MATCH REPORT: Canada WNT 0:3 Japan
A 3:0 loss to the defending World Cup holders showed that Canada can hang in with the champions but the littlest of mistakes will be exploited.
“It was a bit rough,” admitted Head Coach John Herdman. “With the Japanese, as soon as you give them an inch, they take a yard with that quality that they have. In the first ten minutes we struggled to keep up with them—with their pace of the movement and the pace of the game.”
But after that initial spell where Canada conceded a goal, they responded well and, in many cases, were matching the Japanese blow for blow heading into the halftime break. Canada managed to create a few chances and know they’ll have to bury the chances they get against the best in the world because they won’t come too often.
When the teams played at the Olympics, a narrow 2:1 scoreline masked a Japanese performance that was more dominant than it was on Saturday. And the team knows that in the coming months they’ll be working hard to learn these lessons.
Those good periods are a glimpse of what can be built on over the winter and into 2015.
“Once we got a hold of it we actually showed what our potential is for that World Cup,” said Herdman. “For 30 or 40 minutes there in that first half there was a really solid showing by Canada.”
The team travels to Vancouver on Sunday and will get a quick chance to fix some of the things they need to work on as the two teams will play again Tuesday evening at BC Place Stadium.
READ MATCH REPORT: Canada WNT 0:3 Japan
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