Canadian women don’t score much in Cyprus, but give up even less

Before the Cyprus Cup kicked off, Canadian national women’s team coach John Herdman talked about how important it would be for his players to remain organized. He talked about how vital it was for the team to keep its shape. Throughout the tournament, he emphasized how it was key for his players to keep things tight. So, maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t fret too much about Canada losing the final to England by a 1-0 score on Wednesday. Lianne Sanderson’s goal came as both teams coped with driving rain. And, the goal was the only time in three group-stage games and the final that Canada conceded. One goal against in four matches — well, not an entirely terrible return. If the emphasis of this tournament was on defence, we shouldn’t worry too much that Canada scored just four times in four games in its final major tournament ahead of the Women’s World Cup. Right? Wrong. Of course we’re going to worry. The slate of 1-0 and 2-0 results in the Cyprus Cup — which generally attracts what Herdman refers to as the “second-tier” teams while the major powers go to the Algarve Cup — is not going to give Canadian fans the confidence to believe we’ll be able to find a lot of goals outside of our top target striker, Christine Sinclair. Maybe this is the plan — as Herdman said, there aren’t too many cards left up his sleeve. When we see Canada in June at the Women’s World Cup, this might be a team that will concern itself with keeping things clean in its own end and wait for the opponent to make a mistake or get caught pressing. At least one May friendly awaits the team on Canadian soil. The date suggests the game will be against another World Cup qualifier, one who is already here as part of its preparations for the big tournament. It would have been nice for Canada to lay down a marker by registering a few big wins in Cyprus. Instead, the tournament was a reminder of how the rest of the world continues to close the gap. While Canada shut out Scotland, South Korea and Italy, none of their wins were routs. READ THE NEW ISSUE OF PLASTIC PITCH! CANADIAN SOCCER. CANADIAN STORIES. OUT NOW FOR APPLE and ANDROID DEVICES. Or, visit the PLASTIC PITCH SHOPIFY STORE!