Canada Women's Soccer 2020–2029: le jeu long

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2019:
- Christine Sinclair scores her 183rd international goal, needing two more to break the world record
- Canada WNT disappoints in the World Cup, a 2nd-round loss to the eventual bronze-medallists Sweden
- Discussion of a women's Canadian Premier League in the future. Will it happen?

Paying the penalty: Canada v Sweden in Paris, 2019
(photo by Chabe01, cc-by-sa)​

2020:
- Women's Olympic qualifiers start on January 28
- Two Concacaf nations will qualify
- The Tokyo tournament starts in July
- In February, Canada U20s travel to the Concacaf Women's U-20 Championship in the Dominican Republic

...And now the new decade, the 2020s.

What are your predictions for 2020–2029?

I will boldly say:
1) Canada will win a Women's World Cup
2) Canada will win an Olympic gold in women's soccer
3) Canada will ruin the above predictions


Past threads: 2018/19 - 2017 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2002-05

(♥ u Canada and everything, but the last two threads were severely under-attended, so now by law the Canada forum has to have an exciting 10-year megathread)

 

(Granada, cc-by-sa)​

The award for Player of the Year went to Ashley Lawrence:

"Fullback Ashley Lawrence named Canadian soccer player of the year after busy 2019", https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canadian-ashley-lawrence-soccer-player-of-the-year-1.5394278
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoZ30seBcvE

Olympic qualifying:​

"Canada have announced a 22-player squad for a two-week preparation camp in Texas ahead of the 2020 Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship."
All info here - https://www.womenssoccerunited.com/canada-squad-training-camp-olympics/ (Archive)

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Kickoff is Wednesday afternoon/evening, 29 Jan

- (OneSoccer)​

The Mexico WNT doesn't look like a big threat, having nosedived in form recently. But could someone spring a surprise? Canada has had some noticeably bad losses in friendlies.

"Big Dreams in Texas: What to expect from Canada's Women National Team in Olympic Qualifiers" - https://btsvancity.com/2020/01/24/b...as-women-national-team-in-olympic-qualifiers/

⬤ The playoffs to decide Olympic entry are on Friday 7 Feb.

Concacaf is having a lot of trouble making TV deals, and in Canada the games are only on the app OneSoccer. Has the tournament really become such a poor drawcard?

If you haven't got OneSoccer, hopefully its Youtube channel will have some solid analysis such as:

It's easy to talk about solid days of soccer, but the solidest and hardest day for training matches is actually Monday - also known as the Day of Surprises!

http://infosporthaiti.com/ish2/foot...eparation-haiti-et-le-canada-se-neutralisent/

???

 

Or maybe the Olympics are off...?

"Canadian athletes will not compete at Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to risks of COVID-19
"Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees call for 1-year postponement"
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/canadian-olympic-committee-tokyo-2020-ioc-1.5506291
- (Thanks @sitruc for the news)

(img)​

It comes after intensifying criticism of the IOC in the past few days:

 

Or maybe Kenneth Heiner-Møller is off! (...to the Danish FA)

Who will be the new Canada coach?

Heiner-Møller: "Goodbye"
(Liondartois, cc-by-sa)​

And who should be the coach?

"Heiner-Møller’s departure leaves the women’s team in a bit of lurch ahead of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, forcing Canadian soccer’s governing body to find his replacement with the clock ticking.
"Of course, Canada Soccer has been in this situation before. In the aftermath of the Canadian team’s last-place showing at the 2011 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Carolina Morace quit as coach"

On CanPL.com, John Molinaro says the federation must appoint from outside of Canada, and makes a plea to move on to the younger generation of players:
"Finding an outsider to replace Heiner-Møller is vital to CanWNT’s future" - (CanPL.com / Archive)


But they are keeping their options open:
"Applications arrive from around the globe for Canada women’s soccer coaching job" - (Red Deer Advocate/Canadian Press)

"Rhian Wilkinson is seen as a leading internal candidate. The 38-year-old, who won 181 caps for Canada in a distinguished playing career that stretched from 2003 to 2017, started coaching while still playing, with Herdman - while in charge of the women’s program - offering her a chance to serve as an assistant coach at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on home soil."

Rhian Wilkinson in 2011
(Thewomensgame, cc-by-sa)​

 

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Maybe it is a 'Managerial Merry-Go-Round' (from the International forum), but did you expect to see them literally swap places...??

And one goes the other way - from Canada to England as assistant coach for 2021:

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So, Bev Priestman is leading Canada into their next tournaments. Can she turn their fortunes around? In FA vids her knowledge seems impressive, and I suspect she played a big role behind the scenes in England's semi-final run in 2019.

Her first selection has some new faces:
"Canada soccer coach Priestman's 1st roster selection includes 6 uncapped players" - (CBC)

Next for Canada, their first international women's games after a year with lockdowns. The SheBelieves Cup 2021 is still weeks away and it's already a mess of a tournament. I assume the hosts are only pushing ahead with it for TV money or something.

Norway were rumoured as participants but Canada were announced instead. And another big opponent has just pulled out, but thanks to modern editing techniques, nobody will even notice the difference.

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