Both Canada and England’s women’s national soccer teams will continue their strides towards history when they lock horns in the quarterfinals of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Sunday afternoon in Vancouver.
Mark Sampson’s Lionesses have already made their mark on history by registering their first ever World Cup knockout win against Norway in the round of 16 and will hope to continue their momentum against the tournament hosts.
As for the Canadians, they had already won a knockout stage game prior to this competition, but have their ambitions set on a World Cup finals berth, a feat no previous Canadian side has accomplished.
Canada fought off a tough test in the first round of the knockout stages, edging Switzerland 1-0 thanks to a goal from forward Josee Belanger.
John Herdman’s team has struggled mightily with finishing, and that shows with their three goals in four games record. Canada opened the tournament with a 1-0 win over China, drew 0-0 against New Zealand in their second game, and drew again against the Netherlands 1-1. If they are to progress, it may take more than one goal this time around. No nation in Women’s World Cup history has ever reached the semifinals stage by scoring four or fewer goals.
The two sides recently met just four weeks ago in Hamilton, Ontario in a World Cup preparation friendly with Canada coming out 1-0 winners, thanks to a sublime finish from midfielder Sophie Schmidt.
Schmidt remains as one of Canada’s strongest players and will need to rebound from a disappointing performance against the Swiss in the round of 16. Schmidt was originally a doubt for that matchup following a hard collision with a Netherlands player in the final group stage game, but played through the pain, according to Herdman.
Although Canada have conceded just one goal thus far in the competition, they will need to be on their toes more than ever for this one. The English boast a wealth of attacking power, including Toni Duggan, Fran Kirby and Karen Carney.
There may be a little more incentive to beat their opponents for Canada as Herdman takes on his native homeland. The 39-year-old was born in a town in the northwest of County Durham by the name of Consett, but is fully prepared for battle against England.
“England have been really interesting through this tournament. They’ve adapted their strategies and tactics to each game,” he said after Canada trained on Thursday.
“They’ve changed their style and approach through this tournament to meet the needs of the opponent. Going into this, it’s a familiar foe in terms of the personnel out there, but in terms of strategies and tactics, we’ll wait and see what he [Sampson] does.”
The winner of this game will travel to Edmonton to take on the winner of Australia and Japan at Commonwealth Stadium.