The Canadians got the better of the Americans en route to their triumph at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. Now Canada wants to build on that success and dethrone the United States of the CONCACAF championship title.
The North American rivals had an identical journey to advance to Monday’s CONCACAF Women’s Championship final. Each of the nations outscored their opponents 12-0 in goals.
The highest ranked team on the planet and the Canadians (6e world team) defeated Costa Rica and Jamaica 3-0 respectively in Thursday’s semi-finals.
Canada and the United States lead in shots on goal (Canada 59, USA 54), assists (Canada 11, USA seven) and corner kicks ( Canada 39, USA 29) at the eight-country tournament.
The Americans, however, have the upper hand in assists with 1,652, unlike the Canadians who totaled 1,573. Mexico took third place with 864 assists.
Nine American players rocked the strings at the tournament, while eight Canadians did not.
This is the first meeting between the two powers since August 2, 2021, when Canada won 1-0 in the semi-finals of the Olympiques thanks to a penalty from Jessie Fleming. The Maple Leaf took the gold with a penalty shootout win over Sweden while the United States settled for bronze after a win over Australia.
“I definitely think our confidence is at its highest going into this game,” Canadian midfielder Desiree Scott said on Sunday. “You know he has a lot of that confidence that comes from the Tokyo Games.
“Obviously nothing is given, everything is acquired. And we are aware of that before this final. But I think the team is in good spirits and we’re really looking forward to this final. »
The head coach of the American selection, Vlatko Andonovski, said he remembers the defeat at the Olympics, but that he also remembers all the mistakes along the way in order to use them as “an opportunity to grow afterwards”. However, he mentioned that the semi-final in Kashima was not a topic of conversation among his players.
“One of the reasons is because only, I believe, four or five players from our group were on the field during that game,” he said.
In fact, it was only four Americans who started against Canada at the Olympics who made it to the CONCACAF Women’s Championship semi-finals — Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn , who was the Olympic captain.
Unlike Canada, which has nine players who started in the Tokyo Games final who were starting 11 in the CONCACAF Women’s Championship semi-final. A 10e player, full-back Allysha Chapman, scored as a substitute. The 11e starting player, goaltender Stephanie Labbé, has since retired.
Canada’s head coach, Bev Priestman, admitted Olympic success has left a mark on her players.
“I think the team now sees itself as one of the best in the world,” she said. We could debate whether she thought like that in the past… I don’t know. But I believe that this history must continue to be written. It’s essential. We don’t want to be victims of fleeting success. We want to be a team that can win consistently on the international stage. »
Only the country that wins the CONCACAF championship will secure a place in the Olympics. The teams that take second and third place will face off in September 2023 to compete for the last available spot.
Costa Rica and Jamaica will meet in the bronze medal match to be played earlier Monday at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey.
The four countries that advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament all have tickets to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Haiti and Panama, who finished third in their respective groups, will have to go through international play-offs to qualify.