The Canadian women’s soccer team will have the difficult task of successfully defending their Olympic title in Paris. To achieve this, Bev Priestman will have to make some heartbreaking decisions over the coming weeks.
In less than three months, on July 25, Canada will begin its Olympic tournament in Saint-Étienne against New Zealand. Until then, the coach will have two matches to evaluate the candidates. The Reds will face the Mexicans twice, on June 1, at Stade Saputo, and on June 4, at BMO Field in Toronto.
What will this team look like at kickoff? Priestman has until July 3 to submit her final 18-player roster. She can also add four reserves, including a goalkeeper, and these can only be used in the event of injuries. Once a player is replaced, she will not be able to return to play during the tournament.
This means that some players who were chosen in the 23-player roster for the SheBelieves Cup will have to be cut for the Olympic tournament.
Quinn is a doubtful case at the moment. If he is absent, Priestman will have to reshuffle his cards. After missing the SheBelieves Cup due to a concussion, Quinn had to leave Saturday’s NWSL match with a knee injury.
Defense
Quebecers Gabrielle Carle and Bianca St-Georges are, for the moment, in the plans. Carle had actually been a reserve player in Tokyo, while St-Georges was among the last players excluded from the squad. However, it would not be surprising if one of the two became a reserve given the depth and talent of the Canadian team at their position.
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Jessie Fleming was one of the key players in Canada’s Olympic victory in Tokyo.
Photo: Getty Images / Naomi Baker
Midfielder
Jessie Fleming and Julia Grosso will have a lot to do if Quinn is not in the game. At 36, Desiree Scott, if she remains healthy, could be chosen, even if she no longer has the impact she once had.
With a younger team, Priestman will no doubt want to rely on some veterans. Simi Awujo, Olivia Smith and Quebecer Marie-Yasmine Alidou will fight for the last places.
Alidou scored 9 goals in 11 Champions League matches, but the Montrealer did not seem to be in the coach’s plans at the start. Priestman will have to weigh her offensive skills against the familiarity of a player who was in Tokyo, like Scott.
Attack
It’s a bit of the same scenario for Évelyne Viens. Long shunned by the Canadian team, to the great despair of Quebec fans, it saw very little action at the Tokyo Olympics and the World Cup.
Viens is the third-highest scorer in Italy’s Serie A and helped her AS Roma team top the table for a second year in a row. From a perspective where the Canadian team is not recognized as an offensive power, it would be difficult to deprive yourself of such a born scorer.
Cloé Lacasse and Adriana Leon will be key pieces of this Olympic training.
The leadership
The Canadian selection is still in a period of transition. These Olympics will be the first international competition without captain Christine Sinclair or Sophie Schmidt.
Who will replace Sinclair? The top scorer in international soccer history retired in December, and it would be ungrateful to impose such expectations on a single player. Jordyn Huitema was seen by many as the one who would take up the torch. Not only has she not lived up to expectations so far, but she said she’s had a hard time handling all the pressure and attention.
What about Sinclair the ringleader? Again, it will be teamwork. Jessie Fleming won the captain’s armband, but she will be able to rely on Ashley Lawrence, Kadeisha Buchanan, Kailen Sheridan, Quinn and Janine Beckie.
Fleming is a captain like Sinclair. She’s not the most talkative, but she is a model in the way she behaves on the pitch. During the SheBelieves Cup final lost to the United States, Beckie was seen addressing the team.
The 29-year-old is an incredible leader. Injured in the knee, she was unable to participate in the last World Cup and her absence hurt Canada, which was shown the door from the group sentence.
In her first professional game in a year in March, Beckie scored twice with the Portland Thorns. Completely recovered from her torn knee ligament, she claims to have regained all her technical and physical skills, but she also considers that she is now mentally stronger.
A versatile player who can play as a power forward as well as in a more defensive role, she will be a great asset for Bev Priestman.
Canada’s mission will be to defend its title won in Tokyo, but it is difficult to assess the team’s progress, as its core has changed so much. Without the brilliance of goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé, the team probably would not have won the gold medal. At the World Cup, the ambitions were high, but the result was disappointing.
It would be logical to have more moderate expectations in Paris. But on the other hand, many Canadians are now playing in important championships and have been able to gain experience in high-stakes matches.
Vanessa Gilles, in particular, will participate in the Champions League final with Olympique Lyonnais and has become one of the best central defenders in the world. Ashley Lawrence and Kadeisha Buchanan were part of Chelsea’s starting XI in the Champions League semi-final. They chose to leave France and gain experience being managed by Emma Hayes, the future coach of the American team.
The scenarios are numerous, but regardless of the speculation, the reality is that the lineup is likely to change several more times between now and the opening ceremony. Bev Priestman will be forced to make choices. Although we wouldn’t wish misfortune on anyone, several players suffered significant injuries before the World Cup. And it would be utopian to believe that this will not happen again in the coming months.
