VANCOUVER – While Canadian coach John Herdman and his management team are renowned for their comprehensive contingency plans, English players say Canada won’t know what to prepare for in their Women’s World Cup showdown Saturday.
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That despite the fact the two teams know each other inside out, according to English midfielder Jill Scott.
“But, at the same time, I think we have proved in this tournament that we can play in a number of different ways and a number of different formations, and that’s quite pleasing,” she is quoted in an article on England’s Football Association website. “Canada won’t know what England team is going to show up on Saturday.”
Striker Ellen White agrees.
“I think over the last kind of 18 months, two years, we’ve really been working on our different systems and how we can use them in different games against different oppositions and how we can adapt ourselves during games as well,” she told The Canadian Press on Friday.
“And I think we have used that throughout this tournament. So yeah, I think Canada are not going to know what England team’s going to be turning up or during the game what we’re going to be switching to. So I think that’s really exciting — and really exciting for us that we’ve got different plans that we can draw upon and use against the opposition.
“So I think that’s a real good weapon for us to have in our locker.”
Saturday’s quarter-final at B.C. Place Stadium between eighth-ranked Canada and No. 6 England, is expected to draw a crowd of 50,000-plus. That will push attendance for Canadian games at the tournament to more than 235,000.
White is one of four members of the England squad who play their club football alongside Canadian midfielder Desiree Scott at Notts County Ladies. With the two teams sharing the same hotel in Vancouver, they have crossed paths this week.
The 26-year-old White, who has 17 goals in 52 appearances for England, is known for a wonder goal scored against Japan at the 2011 World Cup. She took a feed from behind her head, let it bounce once and then lobbed it over the ‘keeper from 22 yards out.
Canada’s all-time record against England is 5-6-0, with the Canadians also holding a win over Great Britain from the 2012 Olympics.
The Canadians won a 1-0 pre-tournament warmup against England in Hamilton, a result English coach Mark Sampson suggested carried little weight given his roster selection and his team’s travel schedule.
England had won the four previous meetings between the two. Canada failed to score in all four of those games, three of which were decided by 1-0 scores.
Goals have also been hard to come by at this tournament. Canada (2-0-2) has just three in four matches.
“They have been struggling to score goals in this tournament so we can try and take advantage of that,” English midfielder Katie Chapman was quoted on the FA website.
England (3-1-0) has six goals in the tournament, including a rocket of a strike by Lucy Bronze that proved to be the winner in a 2-1 comeback victory over Norway in the round of 16.
This is uncharted territory for England, whose win over Norway was its first ever in the World Cup knockout rounds. The Canadian women have got this far just once before — in 2003 when they finished fourth after losing to Sweden in the semifinals and the U.S. in the third-place match.
Should the game go to a penalty shootout, Canadian supporters may note it was 19 years ago Friday that the English men lost on penalties to Germany in the Euro 96 semifinal.
England, beaten by France in its opener, is riding a three-game win streak at the tournament. Canada, unbeaten in its last three outings, is looking to post back-to-back victories at the World Cup for the first time since 2003 when it won three straight.
The interest in the Lionesses has prompted the game to be moved onto BBC 1 back home. Kickoff, which is 4: 30 p.m. local time, is 12:30 a.m. Sunday in Britain.
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