Even coach Bev Priestman acknowledges that the Canadian team lost its way last year.
Two years after winning Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games, the Canadians were humiliated by their poor performance at last summer’s Women’s World Cup. Canada failed to advance from the group stage for the first time since 2011.
“I had an unbelievable 2021 and, without a doubt, 2022, some really good races. And for some reason, I think we know we’ve lost our way and I’ve lost my way, I would say, in terms of my values and principles and being able to see the forest for the trees,” said Priestman, who is now preparing his team for this year’s Olympics, where Canada begins play on July 25.
Canada was ranked by FIFA at 6th in the world before the World Cup, and then fell to 10th place.
For the past two years, the national team’s ongoing – and sometimes contentious – labor dispute with Canada Soccer has taken a backseat.
Without a contract since 2021, the team reached remuneration agreements for 2022 and the World Cup, but the issue became so complicated that women filed a $40 million lawsuit this year accusing Canada Soccer board members of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
To complicate the situation, women seek salaries equal to those of the men’s team, just like the The US women’s national team succeeds with its collective bargaining agreement in 2022and men in Canada don’t have a work agreement either.
Priestman, who admittedly had a difficult task keeping the team focused amid the external noise, takes full responsibility for the team’s on-field deficiencies last year.
“I think the most important thing is we played it safe, I played it safe,” she said. “You could see that in 2023, when there was a lot of disorder, and maybe that was the safe thing to do, to make the environment feel that way about what was going on.”
Captain Jessie Fleming said Priestman’s assessment that the team had lost its way was fair.
“I think when you look at our performance at the World Cup, it certainly wasn’t a performance we were happy with, it wasn’t even close to our best. I think we learned a lot that summer,” Fleming said. “I think it’s difficult. Teams are always in transition and we’ve had a lot of transitions in recent years. But since the World Cup, I feel like we’ve had some great performances as a team.”
Canada has actually recovered since last September, with only a loss in regulation. The team’s other stumbles were in the United States: Canada drew their rivals in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the She Believes Cup before falling on penalties.
The team has also undergone some major personnel changes. Cristina Sinclairthe top scorer in his international career among men and women, he retired in December.
Sinclair, in addition to her record 190 goals, was the team’s beloved captain and Canada’s most recognized soccer player. She competed in six World Cups and four Olympics.
Veteran midfielder Sophie Schmidt has also withdrawn from the national team.
But Canada saw new players emerge. Fleming, the captain, is just 26 years old. Jordyn Huitema and Julia Grosso – who scored the winning penalty in the gold medal match in Tokyo – they are only 23 years old.
The deadline to name an 18-player Olympic roster is July 3, although Priestman aims to name it by the end of June. The team will then head to Europe and play two friendlies during the July FIFA window.
Canada has a tough group at the Olympics. The team opens play against No. 28 New Zealand on July 25 before facing No. 3 France on July 28 and No. 23 Colombia on July 31.
“What I’m proud of is when you stand on the sideline, I think you see things in these players that — listen, we can win, we can lose. But there are values of never saying die, being a good teammate, respect, humility, working harder than any other team,” said Priestman. “These are things that are in the DNA of this team.”
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