Canadian women's soccer team heads to Europe for final Olympic prep

By Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

John Herdman and his Canadian women's soccer team head to France on Wednesday for their final two warmup games in advance of the Rio Games.

The goal is to recreate Olympic tournament conditions — specifically to face tough competition in No. 3 France on a short turnaround. Canada, currently ranked 10th in the world, plays No. 12 China in a closed-door friendly on July 20 before facing the French on July 23 in Auxerre.

Herdman notes the French are also playing China but are giving themselves a week to recover and prepare for Canada.

"Our players will have a 48-hour recovery window," Herdman said. "Our goal was to try and replicate the experience that you have when you move from a semifinal to a final or from the [final] group game to a quarter-final, when you've really had to grind a result out and then you're playing against a world-class opponent.

"So the French are going into that game fresh, ready to go and our players are going to really have to grit it out, which is really the test that we're looking for. It's going to be good for the players."

Bronze medal memories 

Canada also played France in its final buildup to the 2015 Women's World Cup, losing 1-0 in Bondoufle.

The teams have played each other 11 times with four wins for Canada, four for France and three ties. The Canadians have only won one of the last seven meetings, however. The one win came in the 2012 Olympic bronze medal match with Diana Matheson scoring the lone goal in stoppage time

The Canadian women have wrapped up a two-week camp in Vancouver that featured the 18-woman Olympic roster plus alternates Gabrielle Carle and Kailen Sheridan. Marie-Eve Nault, another alternate, remained with her Swedish club side but will join the national team in Europe. Kaylyn Kyle, the fourth alternate, has been allowed to remain with her club side in Orlando but has been in contact regularly with Herdman.

Rio bound

Carle has been hampered with a high ankle sprain but is just days away from a return to full training. Goalkeeper Sabrina D'Angelo, returning from wrist surgery, is also recovering well and has been training with outfield players

"Tracking along nicely. There's been no hiccups," said Herdman, who hopes the young 'keeper back in full training July 22 or 23.

Herdman says his players are looking forward to playing someone else than themselves.

"They played against each other [in a scrimmage Sunday] and kicked the hell out of each other," he said happily.

The team leaves for Rio from France on July 24 and will get to spend a few days in the Olympic Village before heading to Sao Paulo to play Australia on Aug. 3.

"This is my third Olympics," said Herdman, who coached New Zealand at the 2008 Games in Beijing before leading Canada to bronze in London. "The one thing I always feel is important is the players do spend that time with Team Canada, connecting in with Team Canada."