Despite own expectations to win, Canada's women sense a lightening of the load as World Cup approaches
CBC
This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
As Canada prepares for the Women's World Cup, it's important to reflect on their achievements, struggles and dive into why this particular tournament is so important for this team and this country.
The final list of the 23 players representing Canada was announced on Sunday. On the Sunday night (Monday afternoon in Australia) media call, head coach Bev Priestman said that she had selected "a super dynamic and exciting roster."
As the reigning Olympic champions, is there a sense of added pressure on this team? A more pointed question is: how could there not be? Are they respected the way they ought to be?
There is a sense of immediacy from this team. And their motives are clear: they want to win it all.
They have had an opportunity to connect and train on the Gold Coast for a few weeks before the tournament begins July 19, with their first game July 20 against Nigeria.
Not having a send-off game in Canada has not been appreciated by many fans, but it has afforded the team the opportunity to train together for longer than some other teams. All the more crucial considering the ill atmosphere the last time the team was all together at the SheBelieves Cup in February when they played in protest against Canada Soccer over pay negotiations.
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Moving forward, team captain Christine Sinclair said that she feels confident that an agreement will be reached before the first game. Before they left for Australia, the leadership of the team said they wanted the dispute settled quickly.
"We are awaiting replies from our national teams on the offers proposed to them. We share the desire to get this resolved as quickly as possible," a Canada Soccer representative said Tuesday.
Being able to focus on playing is exactly what has to happen. The team needs to know that their country and federation is backing them so all their energy can be put on the field.
In the last weeks there have been stories about federations and teams at odds regarding money. I wrote about Jamaica's GoFundMe campaign last week but now there are reports of Nigeria being extremely unhappy with their federation as well.
The Super Falcon's coach, Texan Randy Waldrum, said recently: "We still have players that haven't been paid since two years ago, when we played the summer series in the USA. It's a travesty."
If Canada can put all of the stress of negotiations on the back burner and focus on the pitch, that will be one element of proving naysayers wrong.
