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Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team inspiring young Saskatchewan athletes

Click to play video: 'Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team inspiring young Saskatchewan athletes'
Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team inspiring young Saskatchewan athletes
 
Canada's Olympic women's soccer team will be battling for the gold medal on Friday morning. What kind of impact has the team had on youth female soccer in the Queen City? – Aug 5, 2021

A number of Saskatchewan soccer fans both young and old will be waking up earlier than normal on Friday morning to watch a significant moment in Canadian soccer history.

Canada will have an opportunity to win the country’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer when the Canadians face Sweden in the women’s final in Tokyo at 6 a.m. CST.

The last two Summer Olympics saw Canada finish with bronze, including a stinging 4-3 loss in extra time to bitter rivals the United States in the semifinal of the 2012 London Games.

The Canadians had their revenge when they defeated the Americans 1-0 in Monday’s semifinal to change their medal’s colour.

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Canada’s Jessie Fleming, 17, celebrates scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during a women’s semifinal soccer match against United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021, in Kashima, Japan. AP Photo/Martin Mejia

“I got up at two in the morning to watch the semifinal and it was exciting and amazing,” said Catherine Collins, who serves as the technical coordinator for FC Regina’s U11 to U17 girls programs.

“The ladies played excellent. It’s probably some of the best soccer I have ever seen them play.”

Excitement has been building up over the last few days from coast to coast leading up to the title match.

Players and coaches of FC Regina like Collins have been staying up late at night or getting up early in the morning to watch the Canadian women go far at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

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Girls with FC Regina participate in an evening practice on Aug. 5 at Mount Pleasant in Regina.
Girls with FC Regina participate in an evening practice on Aug. 5 at Mount Pleasant in Regina. Jason Wood / Global News

Collins says she believes an Olympic performance like this can have a huge impact on the sport not only on the Prairies, but across the nation.

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“It’s exciting for our girls to witness Canada making those types of leaps from beating the number one team in the world to making it to the gold medal match,” she said.

“It really gives them that sense that they can do that too and move on to university, college or national opportunities. It’s exciting for these girls to reach for that.”

Click to play video: 'Team Canada kicks U.S. out of running for women’s soccer Olympic gold'
Team Canada kicks U.S. out of running for women’s soccer Olympic gold

Collins’ daughter, Isabella Salazar, plays and coaches for FC Regina and has been playing soccer every year since she was seven years old. She will be attending the University of Saskatchewan next year where she will play as a centre back for the Huskies women’s soccer team.

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Salazar said she couldn’t believe it when she found out Canada defeated the United States on their way to a potential gold-medal finish.

She hopes this will encourage other girls to get into soccer and help grow the game.

“I love soccer. It’s my favourite thing to do,” Salazar said. “I hope a lot more female players grow up and continue playing and go into coaching afterward to share their knowledge with younger players as a role model. I hope I can be a role model, too.”

Dayna Rae and Tina Elawad, two players with FC Regina, also believe a gold or silver medal result for Canada’s women in soccer will create more enthusiasm among youth for the game in Canada.

“In Canada, it has grown a lot since I was younger and I definitely think the [gold medal] game is going to change peoples’ perspectives on soccer,” explained Rae.
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“I feel like it’s really motivating to continue playing the sport,” added Elawad. “It’s good to see the Canadian women’s team be successful because then you know you can be successful as well.”

No matter the result of Friday’s gold medal match, there’s no doubt the team representing the Great White North in women’s soccer has already done its country proud with what they have accomplished at the 2021 Games.

And it’s likely they will inspire a new generation of young female soccer players to try to achieve greatness in the sport in the future.

Click to play video: 'Olympic dads talk cheering on their daughters in Canada’s women soccer team ahead of the big game'
Olympic dads talk cheering on their daughters in Canada’s women soccer team ahead of the big game

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