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.

This Thursday, the Canadian women will take on the Vancouver Whitecaps’ women’s team in an exhibition match that is not only open to the public, but admission is, well, free.

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.

As press conferences go, the announcement of Canada’s 2015 Women’s World Cup host cities was about as anticlimactic as they get.

Summer Clarke played just 50 minutes, and it was enough time for her to score three times and set up two more.

Right after the Canadian national women’s team was drawn into an Olympic group with World Cup champs Japan and World Cup third-place finisher Sweden, Herdman told reporters via a conference call that he didn’t think Big Red was in the Group of Death

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.

For the Canadian women’s team, the match will be one of their final preparations ahead of the 2012 Olympics. But, for Moncton, the game could mean so much, much more. When FIFA and CSA officials toured the seven cities vying to host games in both the 2014 Women’s U-20 World Cup and the 2015 Women’s World Cup, they made a promise: The national team would play friendlies in those venues leading up to the games.

France got a goal in each half as Les Bleus beat our national women's team 2-0 in the final on Tuesday, denying Canada its bid for a third straight Cyprus Cup championship.

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.