Canada Women getting ready for their Dutch oppoenents

The Canadian Women’s National Team is preparing for its next opponents in this window

Montreal, QC- After facing Switzerland and falling to a single goal, Canada’s Women’s National Team continued to their next match in this window as they take on the Dutch at the Goffertstadion in Nijmegen. Another strong test for Les Rogues as they attempt for a positive result and another strong performance.

Olivia Smith returns to Arsenal

Olivia Smith suffered a hip pointer in the match against the Swiss, so when her club heard about the injury, they requested that she return to London to get her treatment started right away. Canadian Women’s Head Coach Casey Stoney didn’t argue and allowed her to go.

“It was a hip pointer, so like a bruised hip; it wasn’t going to recover in time for the second game. Arsenal requested that she goes back and start treatment there, and obviously, we will always respect what clubs want. And also, if she can’t play, it makes sense for her to go back. So I don’t have any accurate timelines right now; that would be in Arsenal’s hands in terms of her return to play.”

Who might take over Smith’s Spot?

As of right now, Stoney hasn’t informed the media of who will replace Smith to start in her position, but it’s important to make that selection and go against a Dutch side that has had a strong summer during the UEFA Women’s Euros, while Canada is going through friendly matches at this current time.

“I think we need to go with experience because we’re playing a very good Dutch side. I think it’s then who we bring into the game to make a difference. Hopefully, we will get her into the field and into the game tomorrow.”

The Netherlands is a strong and difficult opponent

Either the men’s team or the women’s team, the Dutch will always be a difficult opponent when you play them either in a friendly or a competitive match. Hurst knows she is going to have to face them head-on, and she will need to find a way to get a result to give some positive feelings for the future.

“I think everybody needs to calm down a little bit in terms of results because this is a process we’re going through. And when we played Switzerland, and the same when we play the Netherlands, these teams are competition-ready right now. They’ve just come out of a very competitive European Championship. We haven’t played a competitive game since I think July 24, so it’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason.

I knew the Swiss would be good; they’re a very improved team on the pitch. They’ve got some fantastic players. Their forward doesn’t play for Barcelona because she’s not good; she’s very good. I’m actually really pleased with the fact that we created so many chances the other night. We haven’t created chances like that in a long time from in position.”

Facing the new head coach of the Dutch Women’s Team

After the UEFA Women’s Euros were over and the Dutch were eliminated from the tournament, Arjan Veurink took over the Women’s team as head coach, and now he will give a different direction for his National Team. Stoney will have a bit of a challenge inside her technical area against the new boss.

“He’s had one game with them against Poland, so that’s all we’ve been able to judge them on. They will try and overload centrally, so how we deal with that is going to be really important. How we can control the ball and control the tempo of the game is going to be important because it’s our second game in a short space.

But it’s a very, very good test for us. We’re playing challenging games right now. Obviously, we want to win games, but if we don’t, it’s not the end of the world. It’s a process to get to 27, and if we have to struggle now and we have to get things wrong to get them right, I’m okay with that. I’m absolutely fine.”

Their last match against the Swiss

Stoney was happy with her team’s performance against Switzerland, although they didn’t get the result, she felt good about how her squad battled against the Swiss in their stadium. There was cohesiveness and a lot of positive moments.

“We’ve got new players coming in, a new style of play. The fact that we created, I would say, five really good, clear-cut chances— we haven’t done that in a while. So, I think there are positives, but there’s still a lot to work on. The fact that we’ve given up another goal from a throw and a set piece is a big area of focus for us. But we didn’t actually give them that many chances compared to what we created.

So yeah, I’m optimistic, also knowing that the first 15 minutes of the game were not good enough for us. We have to come out and start fast. I think they took the team by surprise, and they shouldn’t have done that because if you watch the Euros, they were very competitive.”

This match will be challenging, but the hope is that the Canadian Women’s National Team can continue to play well and add more positive performances to move forward.

Canada Soccer News:

• Canada Women’s Under 17 side with a Clean Sweep in the Group Stage
• Jen Hurst is the new Canada Women’s U-17 Head Coach
• Jesse Marsch discusses October Friendly games against Australia and Colombia for CANMNT

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