You always need luck. Those in green who had voraciously torn into Canada and knocked the Olympic champions backwards into a startled daze for almost 50 minutes in Perth could tell you as much. They, and their fellow countrywomen and men, come out of the womb tired of clichés around Irish and luck. But they know, ultimately, you need it.
Wednesday night, in the middle of a soaking squall on Australia’s west coast with Canada’s 2023 FIFA World Cup campaign taking on treacherous amounts of water, luck was not of the Irish but of the Canucks.
Julia Grosso’s devilish cross five minutes into first-half additional time skipped off the sodden surface, flicked an outstretched Irish foot and nestled in the net, swinging the one-directional contest another way. It would be one-way traffic from there as Bev Priestman used her own reshuffle to breathe life into the red caucus, a triple substitution at the break helping Canada to a 2-1 victory that sent it top of Group B, this tournament’s most deadly.
Adriana Leon was a familiar match-winner, having twice occupied that role against Australia in friendlies Down Under last year. Now Canada will face the host nation in its final group game as a team that knows how to win again.
“I said to them, that could be the making of us, that game,†said Priestman afterwards. Much like her half-time deliberations, she was spot on. But “could†is carrying a lot of weight there too. Nigeria and Ireland are out of the way. It’s only big games and big teams from here and issues remain to be resolved before then, before turning “could†into “will.â€
Getting it right the second time
Megan Connolly’s own goal had given Canada a desperately needed lifeline and Priestman grasped it and pulled hard. She brought in over 600 caps’ worth of experience at the break, reshaping the very spine of her team from Shelina Zadorsky to Sophie Schmidt to Christine Sinclair up front. Schmidt was sublime, becoming the contest’s conductor and setting the tempo. The other subs helped too. It was transformative.
“Second half, that’s what I love about this team: they did whatever it took to win,†said Priestman. “We know how to win and we did it when it really mattered.â€
That’s one way of looking at it. But there’s another: in needing to make such wholesale changes to her team on the fly — having also used her bench heavily in the opening tie with Nigeria — Priestman has been correcting starting XIs which were wrong to begin with.
With Australia next and potentially England in the first knock-out stage, mistakes will be punished quicker and more emphatically. Priestman may not be given the chance to correct in-game.
Wednesday’s selection of Evelyne Viens as the central striker didn’t work at all. In the world’s most isolated city, she was completely cut adrift. Jessie Fleming’s return did little to improve matters in midfield until Schmidt came in to calm matters, dovetailing brilliantly with Quinn, who impressed hugely as the tide turned and the Irish tired.
For the second game in a row Cloé Lacasse came off the bench and put her hand up to start next time. On Monday back in Melbourne against the host nation, Priestman must get closer to starting, rather than finishing, right.
Welcome to Sincy’s super-sub era
There are 23 players in Priestman’s squad in Australia. Almost a quarter of that group weren’t born the last time Canada started a World Cup game without Christine Sinclair.
That’s how seminal a decision the manager made on Wednesday night on Australia’s west coast. Dropping the captain, leader, legend was a moment in time. Many observers would argue it came not before time.
In her sixth World Cup at the age of 40, Sinclair has said she’s focused on helping whatever way she can. The greatest scorer the game has seen can of course help in myriad ways but that assistance now looks to be better provided from the bench, when opposition are tiring and when her own team needs a lift. Brazil’s Marta, the other attacking icon of the past two decades, occupies the same role.
Sinclair was called on earlier than Priestman might have planned but looked much more comfortable as a central No. 9 than in the deeper 10 role she occupied against Nigeria. She linked up wonderfully with Jordyn Huitema for a late opening that could have sealed things.
Huge, stress-filled games are still to come and Sinclair is not done. Far from it. This would appear to be the perfect role for her now, although the captain was reportedly limping with an injury at full-time in Perth.
Concerning cracks in the Buchanan bedrock?
Kadeisha Buchanan is just 27. Yet having made her international debut while still in high school in Brampton and quickly become a fixture at the heart of the Canadian defence, it can feel like she’s been around a lifetime, like Sinclair and Schmidt.
For some time now, Buchanan has been widely viewed as one of the premier defenders in the game, with good cause as she racked up individual awards and team prizes for club and country. She’s been a defensive bedrock on which Priestman built her pragmatic approach. But Wednesday provided more evidence of some worrying cracks in the Buchanan foundation. One of the featured faces of Nike’s tournament marketing, Buchanan, the sportswear giant boomed across social media before kickoff as an “unshakable, skilled defender.â€
Once the first whistle sounded, Buchanan was certainly shaken — early and often. Ireland’s lone striker Kyra Carusa gave Buchanan an absolute torrid time, backing in, running off the shoulder in behind and relentlessly closing down. Carusa is a valiant attacker but she operates in the second tier of English club football, removed from the elite levels of Europe where Buchanan has excelled. It was startling to see the Canadian given such a runaround and look so ragged in and out of possession.
Buchanan was booked for a silly foul and then braved a sore shot in the face before half-time. Whether that injury factored or not, Priestman had seen enough and brought the experienced Shelina Zadorsky in alongside Vanessa Gilles and Canada were markedly more solid from there.
Buchanan sat out part of Tuesday’s final training session before the Ireland game and, having been due to speak to the media afterwards, skipped that too. So her worryingly poor performance may be down to a lack of fitness and match sharpness. But she looked shaky at times against Nigeria as well so confidence may increasingly be playing a part too.
With Zadorsky impressing and tougher tests rapidly approaching the defensive conundrum is just another decision for Priestman to ponder. Wednesday’s rebound means she’s now thinking from a position of strength.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation