Canadian NWT ready to seize opportunity at crucial CONCACAF W Championship

The exhibition matches and celebration tour that followed in the aftermath of the Canadian women's team's gold-medal victory at last summer's Tokyo Olympics are a thing of the past. Now it's time for Canada to shift gears and get down to serious business again.

The CONCACAF W Championship in Monterrey, Mexico, which runs from July 4-18, is a crucially important tournament for Canada, as it serves as the qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA World Cup, while also offering one direct berth for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

The Canadians, No. 6 in the current FIFA world rankings, kick off Group B action at the CONCACAF competition vs. Trinidad and Tobago (No. 76) on July 5, before taking on Panama (No. 57) on July 8, and wrapping up the first round vs. Costa Rica (No. 37) on July 11. Group A consists of the United States (No. 1), Mexico (No. 26), Jamaica (No. 51) and Haiti (No. 60).

The top two teams in both groups at the end of the round robin advance to the tournament semifinals and also earn automatic berths for next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The two third-place nations can still qualify for the World Cup via the inter-continental playoffs scheduled for Feb. 17-23, 2023.

Also, the winner of the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship will automatically qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics and next summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup. The runner-up and winner of the third-place match will face off in a playoff in September, 2023 to determine who'll clinch CONCACAF's other Olympic berth. The winner of that playoff also qualifies for the 2024 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

"There's a lot of pressure to win the tournament because that's the only way you can for sure qualify for both [the World Cup and Olympics]... It's a great opportunity to win the tournament and solidify those two things for us," Canadian forward Janine Beckie said.

WATCH l Triple qualification on the line for Canada at CONCACAF W Championship:

On paper, Tuesday's contest between Canada and Trinidad and Tobago (10:00 p.m. ET) at Estadio BBVA is a major mismatch, and it could get very ugly if history is any indication. The Canadians have won all eight of their previous matches against the Trinidadians by a combined score of 34-0 dating back to their first meeting in 1991. In those eight games, Canada only twice failed to score at least four goals. 

Despite the Reds' domination of the Soca Warriors over the years, Beckie warns they are a quick team that can hurt opponents in moments of transition. That's something Canada will have to guard against, even as it expects to dictate matters during Tuesday's match and enjoy the majority of possession.

"We've always seen Trinidad as a powerful, fast, transition-based team. They have some good players in their attack, some really important players we'll have to shut down [on the counter-attack] in order to dominate the game. We have confidence that we'll have a lot of the ball. We have the ability to keep the ball, be on the ball, be confident on the ball, and that's something we want to go towards in this tournament," Beckie explained.

While coach Bev Priestman expects a tough contest, she feels the game could open up quite nicely on the attacking side for Canada should it score the opening goal, as Trinidad would then be forced to chase the game, thus leaving itself vulnerable at the back.

"They've scored goals in their qualification pre-tournament, and they've got some threats … They'll be well-organized, they'll be an attacking transition threat, they're very physical and direct in behind. We can't get carried away, we've got to respect the opposition that's in front of us," Priestman explained.

It was a game that saw the Canadians enjoy the lion's share of possession (67 per cent) while outshooting the Koreans by a 11-3 margin, but they were unable to break through the visitors' low defensive block. Scoring has been an issue for Canada in 2022, as it's only scored multiple goals in two of the six games it's played this year, while also being shut out on two occasions.

However, those were all friendlies and non-competitive games. Now that there are big stakes involved, Priestman expects her side to find its scoring touch, even if it doesn't happen right off the bat in this CONCACAF competition.