When the Canadian national women’s team faces France on Tuesday for the Cyprus Cup title, Big Red coach John Herdman wants his charges thinking about the future, not the past.
When the Canadian national women’s team faces France on Tuesday for the Cyprus Cup title, Big Red coach John Herdman wants his charges thinking about the future, not the past.
“We’ve got to look at ourselves first — the management team,” said Canadian coach John Herdman. “What we could have done better — whether it was the selections, the order of the substitutions — some of the tactics where we could have played things quicker or made a bigger impact with certain things. But I can’t fault the players’ effort.”
“I think generally job done, that’s two games we managed to rest a few players tonight and we only need a draw to qualify for the top of the group with the goal differential that we’re carrying,” said Canada coach John Herdman. “ It’s in a good space for Canada now and I think we can take Costa Rica in a different light and make sure that we’ve absolutely got everyone ready to go.”
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.
The 11 offers insight, interviews and commentary by respected soccer journalists. It is affiliated with the Canadian soccer magazine, Plastic Pitch. Our editor, Steven Sandor, has covered Major League Soccer, United Soccer Leagues, World Cup qualifying, CONCACAF Champions League, women’s soccer and the Canadian Soccer League and has won numerous awards for his magazine work. His work has appeared in the Sun chain of newspapers, Soccer 360, World Soccer, Soccer Canada, Philadelphia Daily News and the Deseret News. His work has appeared in publications in Canada, the United States, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Namibia.