Canada Aim To Build On Olympic Success At Women’s World Cup

After underperforming at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, Olympic champions Canada are aiming to lift the trophy this year in Australia and New Zealand as they begin their campaign with a challenge.

Grouped with co-hosts Australia, Nigeria and Ireland, star midfielder Jessie Fleming thinks the Canadians have a tough task at hand.

Canada are ranked seventh in the FIFA world rankings, three spots above Australia, while Ireland are 22nd and Nigeria are 40th.

“I think it’s a challenging group. I feel like the teams are all relatively close and level, especially if you look at the FIFA rankings. But I think it’s also hard in that each opponent gives a different challenge. We all play very different styles. If we do make it out of the group, it will prepare us well for what’s to come after,” said Fleming, according to an interview with FIFA+ on Saturday.

Australia, of course, will enjoy home support during the tournament. Does that scare Canada? Fleming says no.

“Australia is obviously the home team, so as much as that might be intimidating playing in front of a crowd with a lot of energy, I think that’s something our team is really excited for. I know they’re all teams we know we can beat, but there’s no question we’re going into a challenging few games,” she added.

LESSONS LEARNT

Having been knocked out in the last-16 by Sweden at the last edition, Fleming said Canada have learnt their lesson – to get up to speed soon in the tournament.

“I think it’s fair to say we feel like we underperformed that tournament. I think the biggest lesson for us was just that I think it took us a bit too long to kind of get our feet in that tournament, and when you come up against a good opponent like Sweden in the Round of 16 … you kind of have to be flying and performing well as a group early on in the tournament,” the Chelsea midfielder explained.

“I think for us it’s just about what we can do in our preparation to be in a better place going into the tournament and it not taking us two or three games to kind of find our feet.”

Fleming said that winning the Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021 proved that Canada are capable of performing on the big stage and in high-pressure situations.

Asked if she has envisioned the team lifting the trophy at the July 20-August 20 World Cup, the 25-year-old said: “I think especially when we’re in camp with the national team and when I’m around the team, it’s something that we think about often.

“With the club season being so busy and qualifiers last summer, it’s easy to get caught up in the, like, snowball of games and the hectic schedule. But it has been important for us to stop and imagine what that would feel like. It’s quite an incredible vision to think about.”

Canada have played at the World Cup seven times, with a fourth-place finish in 2003 their best result so far. The inaugural tournament in 1991 was the only edition the Canadians failed to qualify for.