Women's World Cup: England's tough task of playing hosts Canada
Thursday 25 June 2015 09:51, UK
England stars are chomping at the bit as they prepare to face the hosts on Saturday in the Women's World Cup. Sky Sports News reporter Geraint Hughes is in Vancouver to savour the mood in both camps.........
I had my first experience of meeting the Canadian team on Wednesday... It didn’t last long. The hosts are doing things very differently from many of the other nations here.
The pressure seems to be building ahead of Saturday's World Cup clash between Canada and England with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
"O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.”
That’s the first verse of the Canadian national anthem! It’s what faces England in bucket loads at the weekend.
When 50,000 Canada fans belt that anthem out, England will know, if they don’t already, that they are facing not just the finest 11 footballers Canada possess, but a 12th woman in the form of a hostile crowd decked out in red and white.
BC Place Stadium in down town Vancouver is sold out and 99% will be cheering for Canada. Yet England can’t wait.
Midfielder Katie Chapman told SSNHQ: "I like it, we know it’s going to be a hostile crowd, but I really like that and after a while anyway you forget about it and it just becomes noise. I’ll be thinking, yes they are the hosts, but all the pressure is on them."
Jade Moore, another of England’s midfielders, added: “It’s going to be our job to silence the crowd. We know a little bit what to expect, we played them in Hamilton in a warm-up before the World Cup began and they didn’t go quiet then. It was 0-0 for quite a while and they just kept going. I like a bit of the siege mentality though, I can use that.”
I think I’ve covered about half the teams at the Women's World Cup and Canada are a serious bunch. I know it's a serious business hosting a World Cup and preparing for a quarter-final, but whether it was just the FIFA volunteers or from the Canadians, it wasn’t much fun!
Waiting for training to end, I along with other TV crews were shepherded into a tent. When I stepped outside I was castigated by a volunteer for stepping outside the tent. What was I going to do - get on the phone to England coach Mark Sampson and give him a blow by blow account of how nice a job organisers had done in putting up a tarpaulin?
The tournament has been treated with respect by all, it’s been a delightfully pleasant experience compared with covering the men’s World Cup. It's been so different at Canada 2015. It’s been like a football utopia, civilised, respectful, professional. Up until the tent incident anyway!
So the stage is set. England, who thus far haven’t played in front of huge crowds, not only have to factor in the tactics they need to win, but also mentally to use the occasion positively and negate that home support.
The world rankings show there is little to choose between the sides. Canada are eighth, England sixth, but as Sampson has reminded me throughout this tournament he doesn’t believe the rankings are in any way representative of ability other than placing Germany and the USA at the top.
Also Canada are pretty predictable, they haven’t scored many goals in this tournament, but they have a miserly defence. That simple and obvious fact doesn’t make England’s task any easier though.
