What does Friday’s game at B.C. Place mean to the Canadian women’s soccer team?

“It’s everything,” said centre back Carmelina Moscato. “I think, at this point, there is no future without this game.”

At least, not a future anyone cares to imagine.

“This game” is the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament semifinal. It’s for a berth into the 2012 London Olympics, and it will be against Mexico.

The top-ranked U.S. beat Mexico 4-0 on Tuesday night at B.C. Place, a victory that secured top spot in Group B for the U.S., and set up the semifinal matchups: Canada-Mexico; U.S.-Costa Rica.

This Canadian team has done its share of soul searching since last summer’s 0-for-3 Women’s World Cup in Germany. Now they have the matchup they wanted and it’s time to deliver at home.

“It’s huge,” keeper Erin McLeod said of Friday’s semifinal. “We’ve basically planned our next year around winning this game.”

Then she laughed the type of laugh that suggests there’s only one option, and said: “So, yeah, we better win it.”

Own The Podium, who identified this team as a London medal hopeful to the tune of $2.5 million in funding, would no doubt agree.

After a relatively relaxing walk through the group stage – 6-0 over Haiti, 2-0 over Cuba, 5-1 over Costa Rica – the competition, like the pressure, will be ramped up considerably for Canada in the semifinal.

Mexico was buried nine minutes into Tuesday’s game as Carli Lloyd and Heather O’Reilly struck for a rampaging U.S. side, despite Mexico playing a defensive 5-4-1 formation.

Lloyd later put the game to bed on a header off a free kick in the 58th minute. She completed her hat trick in the dying minutes and the U.S. basically qualified for London with the win; Costa Rica will be no match.

But, for the 45 minutes after Mexico went down 2-0, once they came out of their shell, they showed flashes of how dangerous they can be.

Jennifer Ruiz controlled the tempo from a deep-lying midfield position, and Maribel Dominguez and Monica Ocampo combined well up front, though all their build-up didn’t force Hope Solo into saves.

The Mexican fans, too, made their presence felt.

They belted out the anthem, chanted throughout, and set the stage for a charged atmosphere on Friday (8 p.m., SNET PAC).

Canada’s coach John Herdman joked after Monday’s win that he couldn’t bring himself to cheer for the U.S. on Tuesday.

But make no mistake, Mexico is the opponent Canada wanted, and the one they’ve kept a close eye on all tournament. All-time, Canada is 3-5-41 against the U.S.; they are 16-1-1 against Mexico.

Their only loss to Mexico was 2-1 in March, 2004, which decided who qualified for the Athens Olympics.

“They’re a strong side,” said Canadian forward Melissa Tancredi, whose goal in a 1-0 win over Mexico in the 2008 CONCACAF semifinal sent Canada to the Beijing Olympics.

“They’ve improved a lot, even after this past World Cup. It’s their attacking that’s very dangerous. But I think we can exploit them defensively.”

Added McLeod, who sat Monday in favour of Karina LeBlanc: “They have tricky strikers. They have smart midfielders. They’re compact. They’re hard-working and quick and move the ball around well.

“We have to keep bringing what we’re bringing; keep the speed of play up, the high pressure, and I think we’ll be fine.”

Canada will also have to cut out the mistakes that crept in during a sloppy finish to the Costa Rica win. Too many giveaways at the back, and a poorly-conceded goal.

And if Mexico sit back, Canada will have to do a far better job of breaking them down than they did against Cuba, when they played too often through the middle and ignored the wings.

Mexico’s Achilles’ heel could be their goalkeeper, Cecilia Santiago, who is just 17 and looked nervous early against the U.S.

“We have to make sure we don’t have any lapses,” said McLeod.

After a trying summer, only 90 minutes and Mexico stand between this Canadian team and London.

And as Herdman put it: “All their dreams are pinned on that.”

Article source: http://www.canada.com/sports/Everything+line+Friday+Canada/6048024/story.html

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