An audacious first-half chip from Diana Matheson and a cool second-half finish from Christine Sinclair gave Canada a 2-0 win over New Zealand in the opening match of the Matchworld Women’s World Cup.

“We create some technical blueprints in each game,” Herdman said during a conference call with media on Wednesday.

Sinclair scored her 15th goal of the season on Monday as Canada beat Colombia 1-0 in a pre-Olympic friendly held in Switzerland. What’s notable is that the most goals Sinclair has registered in a calendar year for Canada is 16. She is now only one away from tying the record.

“We’re one goal away from the potential gold medalist, and I think that’s a reality,” he explained. ?“In January, we were four goals away. We’ll try to bridge that gap in the next few weeks.”

Julien, who was part of the Canadian team that finished second at the CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Vancouver, lost her striker’s spot to Jonelle Filigno, who missed Olympic qualifying because of an injury she suffered while playing for Rutgers.

But the feel-good last-gasp goal shouldn’t completely mask what was a frustrating performance by the Canadian team in front of the home fans in Moncton.

An estimated crowd of around 500 gathered Thursday in the Vancouver suburbs to see hometown hero Christine Sinclair scored a late chip-shot goal to give the Canadian women’s team a 1-1 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps women’s side.

Herdman is now encouraging his players to play possession football when appropriate – but also not to shirk away from playing a more direct style against superior technical sides.

After beating Brazil last week in a friendly in Massachussets, the Canadian national women’s team fell 3-1 away to Sweden Saturday in another pre-Olympic tuneup.

Karina LeBlanc became the first goalkeeper in Canadian national-team history to reach 100 caps, and Christine Sinclair scored career goals 132 and 133 as the Canadian women’s team beat Brazil 2-1 Saturday in Foxboro, Mass.