EDMONTON—For John Herdman, Canada’s next match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be extra special.
Canada’s opponent on Thursday at Commonwealth is New Zealand, the squad he was in charge of for five years before taking over as coach of Canada. Herdman honed his managerial skills with the Football Ferns, taking them to back-to-back World Cups in 2007 and 2011.
But while Herdman is certainly appreciative of his time spent in charge of the Kiwis, the Englishman isn’t looking back.
“I’ve promised my players my ego won’t come into this,” Herdman explained. “It’s not about getting a result over your old team or trying to pull one over your old assistant coach. I think we’re way beyond on that.
“We played them in Switzerland prior to the Olympics and you could feel the tension then. Canada came through and won 2-0 convincingly. So, I’m pretty confident our players will step up.”
The match Herdman was referring to was the last meeting between the two nations, which came in July of 2012. Christine Sinclair and Diana Matheson scored for Canada, while Karina LeBlanc earned the clean sheet. Despite that result, Herdman isn’t taking his former side lightly, as New Zealand showed good form in a 1-0 loss to the Netherlands in their World Cup opener last Saturday.
“They never give up,” Herdman said of New Zealand. “We know that this is a good team. Canada will really have to be on their game to get three points.
“They’re the enemy. I’ve been very clear. We need six points. We want six points. They’re going to bring a physicality to this game. They’ll bring a higher intensity than the Chinese did.”
Herdman has also put together a specific blueprint on how to defend against his former side.
“We’ve worked hard to look at what they’ll give us and also not provide them with loaded guns. And that’s what they want. They want you to overplay in areas and hit you on the counterattack with [Hannah] Wilkinson, who is their main goal scorer,” Herdman explained.
“They’ve got one specific tactic that they’ll play, which is a diagonal ball behind your fullback and centre back, every single time. All of their goals either come from a set piece or that pass from Wilkinson. That’s how they play.”
The good news for both countries is that much of the awkwardness is already out of the way and their upcoming match will just be about soccer. And as luck would have, the teams are staying at the same hotel in Edmonton.
“I think just having them in the hotel here makes a difference,” Herdman said. “Just seeing the players around the other players kind of takes the edge off of things.”
New Zealand is now run by Tony Readings, who was Herdman’s long-time assistant.
“I haven’t even been able to catch up with Tony, who has been a good friend of mine for many a year,” Herdman said. “I’ve been clear we’ll not catch up until after. We’ll have a glass of wine after the game, but not before.”