PREVIEW – The Canadian women’s national team put in its final preparations ahead of its first game on Thursday against Argentina in the south of Spain.
Canada Women’s National Team Gets Big Test This Month
Beverly Priestman on the CanWNT Opponents This Window
1v1 with Bev 🎙 @CANWNT
"We have to be clinical. We have to be ruthless in the final third of the pitch. That's our challenge now, when you play these sorts of teams."#WeCAN pic.twitter.com/J9r1dfVG6u
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) October 5, 2022
Mere weeks after the men completed their September window ahead of the World Cup in Qatar this November this week is the women’s turn to prepare. The day before facing Argentina Beverly Priestman met the media once again to discuss the matchups.
“They are both good teams,” she said when speaking about Argentina and Morocco and added ” they will not be easy games and it is honestly exciting for me and our group to show our stuff against two top-quality sides. Argentina has scored 12 goals in their last three games she mentioned so we are preparing tomorrow for a high-scoring game.”
She also touched on Morocco saying she was surprised when she started scouting them and it will bring up challenges Priestman said “we want to follow on from the two games in Australia” and she stressed the fact that she wants the bar very high.
Either way, both teams are going to be tough opponents as both teams are likely to defend the low block according to Priestman.
Updates on Christine Sinclair and Ashley Lawrence and Also on Sarah Stratigakis
We also got an update on Christine Sinclair and Ashley Lawrence who are not with the team in Spain due to their respective injuries but Priestman says they are not serious injuries and they are still being assessed and it didn’t make sense for them to make the trip.
In their place is Sarah Stratigakis who currently plays in Sweden and she had very high praise for her player who she knows so well.
“I know Sarah very well and I like she is playing very consistently and looks forward to what she brings to the team in the absence of her two superstar players.”
Player Schedules for the Canada Women’s National Team
6 #CANWNT players have been drawn into their @UWCL groups! ✨
Lawrence (@PSG_Feminines) ➡️ Group A
Fleming (@ChelseaFCW) ➡️ Group A
Buchanan (@ChelseaFCW) ➡️ Group A
Gilles (@OLfeminin) ➡️ Group C
Grosso (@JuventusFCWomen) ➡️ Group C
Lacasse (@SLBenfica) ➡️ Group D#WeCAN pic.twitter.com/qEAu3qwtV4— CANWNT (@CANWNT) October 4, 2022
She also touched on six of her players playing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and what it means for the team going forward.
“It is great we should be celebrating, we want our players to do well and go far in these kinds of tournaments and it is a lot of tough games and it affects the schedule.”
Priestman noted some players due to their heavy schedules only arrived today and actually missed the first training session but it is no cause for concern.
Canada will face Argentina on Thursday at the Estadio Sanluqueno which was a last-minute change since both games were originally scheduled at the Estadio Municipal de Chapin but the stadium will still host Monday’s game against Morroco.
Kickoff is scheduled on Thursday for 7:30 p.m. local time and 1:30 p.m. ET and Monday’s game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. local, 10:30 a.m. ET. Both games will be shown live on OneSoccer and Telus. The CanWNT is running on a high, winning both games against Australia, including one game, where Adriana Leon scored two goals.
Photo Credit: CANWNT’s Twitter Account on October 4, 2022.
