Canada aims to win CONCACAF group

VANCOUVER -- On Monday, Canada faces its stiffest competition yet in the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament, as it squares up against Costa Rica.

Still, 34 spots separate the teams in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, meaning seventh ranked Canada will be the heavy favourite.

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“We’ve caught a couple of games on TV when they’ve played before us,” midfielder Kaylyn Kyle said. “They’re a hard team, obviously a better team. They’re ranked higher (than Haiti and Cuba), so we’ve got to go out and play the game that we know how to play.”

The teams are level on points with six each at the top of Group A, but Canada will take first place in the case of a draw due to goal differential, meaning Costa Rica must go for the win if they’re to avoid likely Group B winners the United States in the semifinals.

“I think they have to chase the game a little bit,” captain Christine Sinclair said of the Costa Ricans. “They need to win, which hopefully will open some things up for us.”

Canada defeated Costa Rica 3-1 in the Pan American Games this summer in their opening match, and went on to take gold in that tournament. Of the squad now in Vancouver, Christina Julien and Sinclair scored in that match, while captain Shirley Cruz converted Costa Rica’s lone goal from the penalty spot.

“They’re a very talented side,” Sinclair said. “They’re a lot more organized than the first two teams we’ve played. Recently we played them in the Pan Ams and it was pretty difficult for us, but if we play the way we’re capable of we’ll be fine.”

Head coach John Herdman will start a line-up more closely resembling the opening day XI that took on Haiti, after opting to make eight changes for Canada’s second group game against Cuba. Left-back Lauren Sesselmann and midfielder Christina Julien, two players who started that opening match, will likely miss out due to a knee injury and suspected concussion, respectively.

“Hopefully we’ll get them back later in the tournament,” Herdman said. “Two key players for Canada that we’re hoping the med team can work hard on and get them back. Julien is day by day. She’s progressing through the tests every day and she’s working quite well at that for a suspected concussion.

“Sesselmann we’re still waiting to hear. She’s still got some swelling around that knee, so hers might be a bit longer, but fingers crossed she’ll be back for game four. There’s a week’s rest for Lauren and that’ll be our target for her. If we get her back early we’ll be happy, but the main game is that game four.”

Beating or drawing Costa Rica would set Canada up for a likely semifinal matchup against Mexico on Friday, assuming the dominant United States win Group B as expected. Herdman explained there’s a balancing act between making sure Canada does enough to win the group without players overexerting themselves and having nothing left in the tank for the semifinal matchup.

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“The girls have been very clear on that: goal one, finish top of the group while preserving the quality of your players,” Herdman said. “There’s no way we can finish top, kill the players, then move into game four. It’s just unrealistic. I think they’re on track and that’s the exciting thing.

“We ended up getting some major rest. We’ve calculated the minutes of players --there’s a set amount of time that people should be having on the pitch to keep them optimal for that game, and that’s just based on generic science and recovery principles.

“Finishing top of the group was goal one, qualifying for the Olympics is goal two. At the minute we’re in control of our destiny and we’re happy with that.”