The Canadian wall, a new-look midfield and improved set-pieces: Reviewing a solid Arnold Clark Cup for the CanWNT/CanXNT
The CanWNT/CanXNT might not have won the Arnold Clark Cup, but they showed a lot of good things in their first camp of the year. In my camp review, I take a look at some of those things.
It was everything they could’ve hoped for.
They might not have won the Arnold Clark Cup, but the CanWNT/CanXNT did nearly everything else they probably would’ve hoped to accomplish heading into this friendly tournament, one where they got to take on England, Germany and Spain over a span of 6 days.
Even though they finished the competition with a mixed record of 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, don’t be fooled by that, as this tournament was going to always be about more than what the scoreboard showed for Canada.
Heading into a big year for their program, one where they’re looking to really start setting the building blocks for what’s to come for them over the next few years, they showed a lot of positive things against some good opponents over these three games. Plus, as the defending Olympic gold medallists, they also put together some impressive passages of play in those matches, reminding folks why they were able to conquer that Olympic mountain last August.
And knowing what lies ahead for them, that’s key. Heading into a World Cup (and Olympic) qualifying year, Canada will want to ensure that they’re at their best ahead of those must-win games, especially given some of the growth that we’ve seen from some of their fellow CONCACAF sides as of late.
So with that, the fact that Canada kicked off their preparation for those qualifiers with three games against tier-one opposition to start the year sets the table nicely for them here, as it shows their intent heading into those bigger matches.
Would they have liked to have played at home in February, something they’ve done just twice since May of 2019, instead? Absolutely, but an invitation to the Arnold Clark Cup was always going to be too good to pass up, especially given the level of opposition.
And the good news is that Canada should return home soon, too, with at least one game looking set to be lined up for the April window, so it’s not as if they’ll be going too long without playing on their home patch.
But before looking ahead to what lies ahead, though, let’s return to this most recent camp, one where Canada had several learning moments, some of them good, some of them bad, diving into some of those things in my camp review.
So without further ado, here’s a look at how things went down for Canada in England.
Never a dull moment across the 3 games:
And to start, it’s worth looking at how much of a roller coaster these three games really were, just showing how wild these triple match days can be.
First, we had Canada’s opener against England. There, facing off against the hosts, it was hard to gauge what Canada might be capable of heading into it, especially considering that most of Canada’s squad was out of form, with many of them still in offseason mode, a stark contrast to an England side loaded with players in good form.
Despite that, though, Canada put up a valiant effort against the Lionesses, hardly looking like a team in preseason mode. After a nightmare start, one that saw them go down 1-0 inside a first half to forget for Les Rouges, they found their level in the second half, tying up the game via a Janine Beckie belter before mounting a late push to win.
But ultimately, despite that late effort, which was matched pretty nicely by England, the game would be left to end in a draw, leaving both teams to rue missed chances. At the same time, while Canada will have felt that they could’ve completely turned the score around, there was a lot to like with their comeback. After a slow and lacklustre start, they looked like a much sharper team in the second half, showing some good things on both sides of the ball.
They were uncharacteristically sloppy at the back, yes, and probably could’ve done a bit better with some of their chances, but considering that it was their first game together in almost 3 months, you’ll take that given the work rate they showed in this game.
But because of that, it also made it hard to gauge where Canada was at as they got set to take on their second game against Germany, given the two very teams we saw from Les Rouges in the opener.
Especially considering that they were facing off against a German side who not many knew about heading into this tournament, having brought more of a youthful group than usual due to some injuries, it made it a hard game to project.
And Canada seemed to thrive in that unknown. Thanks to that, they got off to a hot start, scoring through Vanessa’s Gilles for her first goal with Canada, before riding some tight defence to a nervy win.
It wasn’t pretty, no doubt, but it was a massive victory, just Canada’s second win over Germany in their history, as the Germans have always just seemed to have Canada’s number over the years.
In this game, however, they changed that, showing some strong resolve at times defensively to see out the win. They might not have been as efficient on the offensive side of things as they would’ve liked, yes, but their defence more than made up for that, and they did have some good flashes in possession when they did find themselves on the ball.
Along with their strong start, of which they would’ve maybe liked to see against England, that allowed them to leave the Germany game with 3 points, setting a nice dramatic ending against Spain, where they entered that match with a chance to win some silverware.
But there, Canada ran out of gas, as they fell 1-0 to Spain after an early goal from current Ballon D’Or winner, Alexia Putellas. To give credit to Canada, they pushed after that goal, coming very close to tying the game up on a few occasions, but they just didn’t have enough to mount a comeback like the one they had in the English game.
Yet, despite falling short in that effort, this game was still a very solid one from Canada, arguably their most complete of the tournament, as other than a 25-minute patch in the second half, they were very much in that game, dominating some patches of it.
They didn’t have much to show for it in terms of a high volume of chances or goals, but don’t be fooled, as they did something that no one really was able to do this tournament - hold possession against Spain.
Of course, it didn’t mean much when you look at the result, but considering that Canada is a team that has often struggled to hold the ball against big teams, it was encouraging to see, even if it came while they were chasing a game, bringing up the question of score effects.
Seeing that many thought they’d get played off the park by the quick up-tempo ‘tiki-taka’ style of the Spaniards, who have quickly become one of the more fun teams to watch in international soccer due to their exciting style of play, to emerge mostly unscathed other than the goal is a positive.
Especially for a team that was playing their third game in three days, with a roster that was filled with a good chunk of players out of season, you’ll take that.
But that’s just the story of this camp as a whole.
While Canada will be frustrated with their slow start against England, how they barely hung on against Germany, and their 25-minute first-half shutdown against Spain, considering where they’re at in the year, those moments were always bound to happen.
And while they might’ve had those moments, it’s also worth noting that they then countered them with a strong second-half comeback in the England game, a strong overall compete level in the Germany game, and a pretty good effort against Spain, making up for their missteps.
Plus, they learned a lot about themselves, too, which was something that was always going to be a goal based on the teams they were playing, which is why it’s hard to be too frustrated with the results, as well as those tough flashes, which were always going to happen in these big games.
The key is just to try and manage those moments, as they learned in the England and Spain games, where those shaky moments likely cost them points in each match. At the same time, considering that they were masters of managing those moments in the Olympics last summer, that’s something they’re well aware of, and will look to avoid as the bigger games start rolling in here.
Canada’s Jessie Fleming in action against England at the ACC (Canada Soccer/Daniela Porcelli)
What we learned:
And on the theme of improvement, here’s a look at three things that they specifically will bring home after this tournament, having seen progress on all of these fronts.
Set pieces are improving:
Heading into this tournament, set pieces were a big-button topic for Canada.
Having scored via that avenue (penalties not included) just once in 17 games last year, it was not a forte of their play in 2021, and they recognized as much heading into the new year.
That’s why we saw the arrival of set-piece specialist Jen Hurst on the coaching staff (she was hired as a goalkeeper coach, but is also tasked with running Canada’s set-pieces), as it was a sign from Canada that they wanted to be more profitable from that avenue going forward.
And considering some of the names on their roster, it was a move that made a lot of sense.
With the likes of Kadeisha Buchanan, Vanessa Gilles and Shelina Zadrosky on the roster, all players who like to bury home goals off of corners for their clubs, there is no reason why Canada can’t be more dangerous via that avenue.
The good news now? That’s slowly changing, as the Hurst effect turned out to be pretty noticeable during this camp here.
There is a lot of work still to do now, as Canada is learning different patterns, and improving their overall delivery, but from what we saw in this limited sample size, there’s a lot to like with the growth that they’ve shown.
Firstly, there’s just the fact that they broke a 16-game goalless drought via set-pieces against Germany, when Beckie found Gilles off of a corner to give ‘The Magnet’ (nickname courtesy of the now-retired Stephanie Labbé) her first goal for her country, but there’s even more to like beyond that tally.
For example, there’s a moment from the Spain game, where off of a wide free-kick in the first half, typically a non-threatening position for Canada, Jordyn Huitema rattled the crossbar, just narrowly missing a chance to fashion an equalizer in that one.
And those are just the high-profile chances, as there were several more where Canada made good runs but the ball was just too flat, or the cross met a Canadian head but just didn’t threaten the opponent’s goal with the attempt.
But even through those missed chances, there’s no doubt that it’s an area that Canada got better at this camp. They still have a long way to go before they’re a set-piece specialist, one that teams will rue giving up chances to, but they showed signs that they’re building towards that.
Seeing that this was just their first full camp under Hurst, too, they’ll get a lot more time to work with her going forward now, too, allowing them to really develop a complete arsenal of options for those dead-ball moments in future games.
And as long as they put that together ahead of the qualifiers in the summer, that’s all that matters, but with what we saw here, it’s certainly something to keep a close eye on going forward, and for good reason.
New-look midfield trio offers glimpse of offensive future:
But speaking of goals, while Canada is looking to become a dominant set-piece force, it’s no secret that they want to find the net from open play a little more often, too.
And considering that they did so just once in this tournament, which came off of a moment of brilliance from Beckie in the opening game, that hasn’t changed.
At the same time, though, we saw some potential avenues towards success that Canada started to use here.
For example, one such avenue was one where Canada tried to play with a lot more verticality than they might’ve usually played with last year, as they looked to really stretch their opponents in games, allowing them to do some damage on the counterattack.
Otherwise, another avenue was to employ a fluid front three, one where they’d play without a true #9, allowing wingers like Deanne Rose, Janine Beckie, Nichelle Prince and Cloe Lacasse to all have free roles in a shapeshifting attacking trident, giving them some attacking flexibility.
But the biggest change? It came in the third game, when they decided to go with a Quinn, Jessie Fleming and Julia Grosso midfield trio.
And there, is where we saw Priestman open up a whole new avenue of possibilities for this Canadian team.
Typically, so far under her reign, her preferred midfield grouping has been to run a trio of Quinn, Jessie Fleming and Desiree Scott, with Scott tasked with holding down the trio as a #6, and Quinn and Fleming playing in front of her.
Which, to be fair, has been a very good combination for Canada, playing a very underrated part on their run to the gold medal. With Scott’s destroyer ability combined with Quinn and Fleming’s ability to transition the ball forward, it really helped Canada to be able to progress the ball forward against top teams.
But at the same time, while it’s a very good trio, one that Canada will probably continue to use quite regularly quite forward, there is no doubt that for all the destroyer ability that Scott brings, other than short progressive passes, she doesn’t bring too much else in the ball progression department.
That’s fine, of course, as that’s not her job, but you could only wonder what would happen if Canada pushed Quinn back to the #6 role, something they have the ability to do, and putting someone like a Julia Grosso in front of them alongside Fleming, giving them a more fluid trio.
Then out of nowhere, Priestman actually did it for 35 minutes against Spain, giving a glimpse into what that could look like.
And let’s just say that the early results are positive. Canada didn’t get back into that game, of course, but it’s worth noting that the ball control that they got from having that trio completely changed things, as they really started to grab control of the match.
Because of that, they were able to claw back that second half blip to finish with 49% of possession, which is almost unheard of against Spain, and that was mostly sparked by the play of that trio.
Through Quinn’s sparkling ability to open up space for their teammates, along with Grosso and Fleming’s ability to drive forward in possession, that really gave Canada something to match their opposite number of Putellas, Bonmati and Guijarro Gutierrez.
Plus, Canada didn’t actually lose that much defensively in that set-up, because while Quinn is no destroyer like Scott, they are a former centre back for a reason, and showed that with their ability to read plays and get stuck in at key moments.
And when you combine that with the fluidity that having them interact with Grosso and Fleming provided, it only makes you wonder if Canada could start to go with that midfield full time, or at least in games where they could really use the midfield control.
Given how important midfield control can be in the modern game, especially on the possession side of the ledger, it’s something for Canada to ponder now, especially given what we saw in this small sample size against Spain.
It won’t solve their offensive struggles completely, however, as they’ve still got to figure out who their best front three is when everyone is healthy and available, but no matter who is playing up there, the more they get the ball the better, and the Quinn-Grosso-Fleming trio will be able to provide that service in spades.
So considering that, as well as the fact that having that trio also can keep Ashley Lawrence to influencing games from her more preferred right back position (giving Canada a further offensive threat in a good position, although the continued emergence of Jayde Riviere there also opens the door to push Lawrence forward as many continue to suggest), that just gives another option to help them get more goals.
As a result, it’ll be interesting to see if Priestman turns to that midfield trio more often going forward. She knows her team needs goals, and while the forwards certainly have some work to do to bring that more consistently, being able to control the midfield will only aid them in that quest.
Vanessa Gilles and Kadeisha Buchanan continue their growing partnership:
And the good news? As Canada continues to work through their offensive woes, they can get away with some growing pains as they experiment with new options in midfield and up front, as they’ve got a pretty good backline to lean on.
Obviously, we knew that heading into this camp, but after what we saw from Kadeisha Buchanan, Vanessa Gilles and Shelina Zadorsky across these three games (honourable mention to Kailen Sheridan - more on her in a bit), giving up just two goals in three games to good teams, it just makes it even harder to doubt that.
Which is why I want to highlight that partnership of Buchanan and Gilles more specifically, especially seeing how good they were together in the first two games before Zadorsky clawed in for Gilles in the third game.
And it’s important to really note how dominant the pair were in those two games. In fact, other than a Millie Bright worldie in the England game, which was hardly their fault, they didn’t concede any other goals in the 180 minutes that they played together, but not only that, they hardly conceded any good chances, either.
My access to stats this tournament is unfortunately limited, but let’s just say that if I had access to SofaScore data on the pair, it felt like they won 25+ aerial duels between them across those two games, and made several more key tackles, interceptions, clearances and ground duels to go along with that.
So while Canada gave up 52% and 54% of possession against England and Germany, respectively, allowing 22 shots (14 of them on target), it felt like Buchanan and Gilles made sure Canada had even a fighting chance in those games, which based on those numbers, could’ve easily been bloodbaths.
But that’s just been what the pair have done since becoming a regular partnership under Priestman, who put them together in June of last year, and has seen them flourish since.
In fact, they’ve now started together 9 times under Priestman, and have kept 5 clean sheets in those games, conceding 5 goals. Even more impressive, it’s worth noting that the opponents on that span include the likes of Germany, England, USA, Brazil and Sweden, so it’s not like those numbers came against easy teams, either.
So not only has Canada found themselves a very good defensive pairing from their own perspective, just seeing those numbers makes you realize that they might have found themselves one of the best in the world, too.
And that’s key. As much as this Canadian team is trying to figure out how to be better going forward, until they find some more consistency on that side of their game, they’re going to have to be a team that relies on big performances at the back to grind out results.
Which is where Gilles and Buchanan come in. Both speedy and tall centre backs, they can hurt you in so many ways, be it on the ground, in the air, or in space, which is just so lethal.
Plus, with Buchanan’s strong ability in possession, along with both of the prowess they’ve shown in opposing boxes for their clubs, they can do all sorts of damage on both sides of the ball, too.
Because of that, they’ve become a key part of this Canadian system in so many ways, be it through how they set Canada’s line of engagement without the ball, to how the team builds up, and everything in between.
And what’s scary is that Buchanan and Gilles are just 26 and 25 years of age, respectively, meaning that they are just hitting their primes as defenders, so not only are they contributing like this now, but if all goes well, might be doing so for at least another half-decade, if not much, much more.
So seeing that, you can see why it’s easy to be excited by their performances in a Canadian shirt together, and they just added to that with their play in this camp, showing why many feel that Canada is in very good hands defensively going forward.
Vanessa Gilles celebrates her goal against Germany for Canada (Canada Soccer/Daniela Porcelli)
Standout Performers:
But for all of the talk of some of the specific tactics and new combinations that we saw Canada try out this window, it’s worth highlighting some of the individuals here.
And that’s what we’ll do in the standout performers section, where we’ll designate the ‘Player of the Camp’, ‘Breakout Player of the Camp’ and ‘Unsung Hero of the Camp’, as we do each time out.
So with that in mind, here is who took home those honours this time around.
Player of the Camp: Janine Beckie
To start, we’ve got our player of the camp, and despite several good shouts, Beckie gets the nod here.
And considering that she played a hand in both of Canada’s goals this camp, doing so while contributing a lot to both sides of the ball, it’s hard to dispute that.
Quietly one of Canada’s best producers over the last few years, she often slips under the radar when talking about this team, but then she’ll have a moment or two like she did in this camp, reminding us of why she’s tied for 4th in goals in CanWNT/CanXNT history, and is tied for the most goals on the team since 2015 with Christine Sinclair.
Seeing that she’s done all of that offensively, all while putting in a shift game-in and game-out off the ball, too, it just shows why Canada is very happy to have Beckie in the fold, as they really feel her absence when she isn’t there, as they did in the last camp.
So for Beckie, now all that’s left is for her to find a bit more stability at the club level, as she’s currently seen her minutes cut significantly at Manchester City for seemingly no good reason, opening up rumours that she might be on the way out soon.
And no matter what happens there, hopefully she can find a solution where she can play some more minutes regularly, because as she showed here, if this is what she can do when ‘out of form’, you can only imagine what a Beckie firing at all cylinders can do.
Heading into what lies ahead for Canada, having that version of Beckie could go a long way for them as they get to tackle some bigger games, so they’ll hope that she can find that club form soon, be it with Manchester City or elsewhere, especially after seeing what she was able to do for Les Rouges this camp.
Honourable Mention: Jessie Fleming
Breakout Player of the Camp: Jayde Riviere
But then, after highlighting our player of the camp, we’ve then got our breakout player of the camp, which falls to Jayde Riviere, who really found another level across these games.
It feels weird to suggest that Riviere is a breakout player, as she’s had some big camps for Canada before, but that just shows what sort of trajectory she’s been on over the last few years, and why some are expecting some big things from the 21-year-old going forward.
And she showed flashes of why in this camp. Despite being out of season, she was thrust in at right back and thrived, handling some tough matchups with relative ease, finding a way to influence games at both sides of the ball.
Be it via her creative intuition and speed offensively, along with her willingness to defend 1v1 and get stuck in at the other end, she often didn’t look out of place against some of the best wide players in Europe.
Which for a player still in college, is very impressive, showing why there were talks of Riviere attracting the interest of some big European clubs during this window.
And that’s the big thing to watch for now going forward with Riviere. As she’s shown here, and many other times with Canada, she can compete with the best, but as she nears the end of her college career, with just 1 year left, it’ll be good to now see her get to do that regularly in a good professional environment soon enough now.
So now, it’ll be all about finding that right club, one that allows Riviere to push forward. No matter if it comes this year or next year, that feels like the next natural level of progression in Riviere's career, especially based on what she’s shown for Canada.
That was on full display this camp, and Canada will hope to see much more of it going forward, opening up some very interesting discussions about what they could do at the full back position now, especially with the continued discussions to push Lawrence up the pitch.
Honourable Mention: Marie Yasmine Alidou
Unsung Hero of the Camp: Kailen Sheridan
Lastly, though, we’ve got our unsung hero of the camp, which is where Sheridan finally will get her due praise after a very solid tournament for Canada.
In her first full camp since the retirement of Labbé, she showed no signs of being intimidated by the fact that she’s probably Canada’s #1 option right now, looking very comfortable in goal.
It took a bit of a wake-up call in the first game to get there, to be fair, but other than that, she made the most of her 225 or so minutes she got, making 13 out of 15 possible saves, several of them key ones.
But for those who have followed her in the NWSL the last few years, it isn't all that surprising. She’s been one of the best goalkeepers in that league for a while now, but just hasn't gotten much of a chance to show it on a regular basis for Canada.
Now, though, that’s going to change, and that’s exciting. As seen here, when she’s dialled in, she can really come up big in key moments, doing what she can to keep her team in games.
So as she welcomes an intriguing move at the club level, finding herself as the new goalkeeper at expansion club San Diego Wave after some standout years with Gotham FC/Sky Blue FC, it’s going to be fun to track her progress for both club and country.
Especially given that she’s now the #1 for Canada, she’ll really want to find yet another level with the Wave, which seeing what she’s shown already, is a scary thought, in a good way, showing why many are so high on the 26-year-old who is now going to shoulder a lot of the weight for Les Rouges between the sticks going forward.
Honourable Mention: Quinn
Looking Forward:
So now, Canada’s players will look to reconvene with their clubs and get to playing matches (as some already have), before getting set for the next window, which will come in April here.
And that one should be fun, as barring something unforeseen, it looks like Canada will finally get to play at home again in that window, something that Priestman teased heading into this tournament.
They would’ve loved to do so this camp, of course, but with a chance to play some high-level teams in a competitive environment, that was always going to be hard to turn down, which is why they participated in the Arnold Clark Cup.
Which looking back on, was a strong decision in hindsight, as Canada did very well to get to play this sort of top competition over a short span of time.
So while they might not have scored a busload of goals, and had to live through some frustrating moments, they also learned a lot, and showed plenty of good to counter those moments.
And that’s what this tournament was always going to be about at this stage of their journey, as they’re still building ahead of the big games that lie ahead, starting with the World Cup (and Olympic) qualifiers.
The next step towards that comes in April now, of course, so the attention will shift to that after a few months of club action, but based on what we saw here, there’s a lot to be excited about when Canada takes the field then, hopefully in front of their home fans, continuing their journey towards World Cup supremacy one step at a time.
Canada looks on during their last game against Spain (Canada Soccer/Daniela Porcelli)