Despite own expectations to win, Canada's women sense a lightening of the load as World Cup approaches
CBC
This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
As Canada prepares for the Women's World Cup, it's important to reflect on their achievements, struggles and dive into why this particular tournament is so important for this team and this country.
The final list of the 23 players representing Canada was announced on Sunday. On the Sunday night (Monday afternoon in Australia) media call, head coach Bev Priestman said that she had selected "a super dynamic and exciting roster."
As the reigning Olympic champions, is there a sense of added pressure on this team? A more pointed question is: how could there not be? Are they respected the way they ought to be?
There is a sense of immediacy from this team. And their motives are clear: they want to win it all.
They have had an opportunity to connect and train on the Gold Coast for a few weeks before the tournament begins July 19, with their first game July 20 against Nigeria.
Not having a send-off game in Canada has not been appreciated by many fans, but it has afforded the team the opportunity to train together for longer than some other teams. All the more crucial considering the ill atmosphere the last time the team was all together at the SheBelieves Cup in February when they played in protest against Canada Soccer over pay negotiations.
WATCH | Can Canada make it out of tough Group B:
Moving forward, team captain Christine Sinclair said that she feels confident that an agreement will be reached before the first game. Before they left for Australia, the leadership of the team said they wanted the dispute settled quickly.
"We are awaiting replies from our national teams on the offers proposed to them. We share the desire to get this resolved as quickly as possible," a Canada Soccer representative said Tuesday.
Being able to focus on playing is exactly what has to happen. The team needs to know that their country and federation is backing them so all their energy can be put on the field.
In the last weeks there have been stories about federations and teams at odds regarding money. I wrote about Jamaica's GoFundMe campaign last week but now there are reports of Nigeria being extremely unhappy with their federation as well.
The Super Falcon's coach, Texan Randy Waldrum, said recently: "We still have players that haven't been paid since two years ago, when we played the summer series in the USA. It's a travesty."
If Canada can put all of the stress of negotiations on the back burner and focus on the pitch, that will be one element of proving naysayers wrong.
Canada's Kevin Drury battled his way to a gold medal that left him in tears at a World Cup ski cross event on Friday in Val Thorens, France.
Soccer fans have accused FIFA of a "monumental betrayal" after latest prices for World Cup tickets began to circulate on Thursday.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is “disappointed” that the main arena slated to host ice hockey at February’s Olympics isn’t yet completed with less than two months to go before the Games are scheduled to be played.
A two-year suspension from competitive swimming has forced Penny Oleksiak to answer questions about drug use, train by herself in public pools and defend her legacy as Canada’s most decorated female Olympian.
Hockey, one of the premier events at the Winter Olympics and one that is welcoming NHL players back for the first time in more than a decade, will take place on ice shorter than NHL-regulation size.
Summer McIntosh capped swimming’s U.S. Open with the event record in the women’s 200-metre butterfly on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Some bronze medals are worth their weight in gold. Valerie Grenier's third-place finish in women's giant slalom at the Mont-Tremblant World Cup certainly fits that category.
The men’s World Cup draw in Washington D.C. was going well for Canada until Pot 4.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup takes place Friday at 12 p.m. ET at the Kennedy Center in Washington, for the purpose of dividing the 48-team field into 12 groups of four. Once the tournament starts, 32 teams will advance from those preliminary groups to the single-elimination knockout rounds.
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., buzzed with activity and speculation on Thursday in advance of Friday’s all-important draw for the 2026 men’s World Cup.
By the time the management group for the Canadian men’s national hockey team emerges from marathon meetings on Tuesday, as much as 80 per cent of the roster going to Italy next February should be written in pen.
Canada’s ski mountaineering athletes have their Olympic dreams on the line this weekend at a World Cup event in Solitude, Utah.
Goalie Carter Hart, one of five 2018 Canada world junior hockey players acquitted of sexual assault in July, will make his first NHL appearance in nearly two years when he starts in goal Tuesday night for the Vegas Golden Knights, who host Chicago.