Melissa Tancredi made her Canadian national-team debut as a defender. But, thanks to some encouragement from Christine Sinclair, she was moved to forward — and a magical career had begun...

There may be no harder game in Canadian soccer to analyze that Saturday's match at BC Place which saw our women's national side beat Mexico 3-2 on the strength of a Janine Beckie brace.

Three members of the Canadian women's national team will hang up their cleats after February 4's friendly against Mexico at BC Place.

Maybe the biggest surprise on the list is the inclusion of Bryanna McCarthy, the University of West Virginia product who has played in just four senior national-team matches so far in her career.

It will be discussed for years to come. For followers of the Canadian national women’s team, it will be simply be known as The Call. Maybe some profanities will be added.

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.

Christabel Oduro’s standout performance in helping Canada qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup has earned her a call to the senior team.

As he announced his roster for the upcoming tournament in Vancouver, Herdman also spoke of the need to keep the team’s heads “light, bright and clean.” So, in January, he is bringing in Dr. Ceri Evans, listed on the roster as a “mental trainer” to work with the team, to help boost the player’s confidence after the morale-shattering World Cup — a tournament where the player’s mental toughness was brought into question.