Canadian women’s coach John Herdman will hold a training camp in Vancouver from Nov. 21 until early December with an eye towards preparing the team for a busy 2016.
This will be the first time the team has regrouped since making the quarterfinals of this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The main goal of the camp is to evaluate young talent ahead of Olympic qualifying for the Rio 2016 Games. The qualifying tournament begins on Feb. 10 in Dallas and Houston. The group draw will be held on Monday.
“We’ve reviewed and analysed the team post FIFA Women’s World Cup, so we are in the process of building towards the Rio Olympics,” Herdman said in a news release. “We’re looking at this camp as an opportunity to assess a group of young players from our EXCEL program, and from the Pan Am Games.”
Before the Olympic qualifiers, the Canadian team will be in Brazil for the International Tournament of Natal, where they’ll face the host nation, Mexico and Croatia.
“The tournament in Brazil is part of the assessment phase, so we will be bringing in a lot of young players in November, and through into the tournament in Brazil in December,” Herdman said.
“We know a lot about the players that have been with the team in the past, so some of the players coming to Brazil will be those we need to learn a little bit more about as we look to keep improving the team for Rio.”
Herdman added: “This is really an important assessment period before we bring together the final group in January that will make up the Canadian team for our Olympic campaign.”
The following 15 players will be attending the camp:
GK- Sabrina D’Angelo | USA / Sky Blue FC
GK- Stephanie Labbé | CAN
GK- Erin McLeod | USA / Houston Dash
CB- Shelina Zadorsky | SWE / Vittsjö GIK
FB- Allysha Chapman | USA / Houston Dash
FB- Kennedy Faulknor | CAN / Unionville Milliken SC
FB- Rhian Wilkinson | USA / Portland Thorns FC
M- Diana Matheson | USA / Washington Spirit
M- Deanne Rose | CAN / Scarborough GS United
M- Sophie Schmidt | GER / FFC Frankfurt
F- Gabrielle Carle | CAN / AS Chaudière-Est
F- Summer Clarke | USA / Louisiana State University
F- Marie Levasseur | USA / University of Memphis
F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
F- Melissa Tancredi | USA / Chicago Red Stars
Five more players from the NCAA ranks will be permitted to enter the camp once their respective seasons end:
– Janine Beckie | USA / Texas Tech
– Kadeisha Buchanan | USA / West Virginia
– Ashley Lawrence | USA / West Virginia Univ.
– Nichelle Prince | CAN / Toronto Lady Lynx
– Rebecca Quinn | USA / Duke University