Canada Lose Final World Cup Tune-Up To France
By On Tuesday night in Le Mans, Canada lost to France in their final international friendly before the World Cup.
In front of 14,201 fans in attendance at the Marie Marvingt Stadium in Le Mans, France, Canada dropped its final game before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Grace Geyoro and Lea Le Garrec scored for the home team while Jordyn Huitema scored Canada’s lone goal in a game where despite a great performance fell just short.
The performance tonight, compared to the SheBelieves Cup, was night and day as the team played extremely well against a very tough opponent and against a partisan crowd.
Christine Sinclair got things going for the visitors in the fifth minute when she was able to get a solid cross from Allysha Chapman to get a chance on target, but it was saved by the French keeper Constance Picaud.
The French got their first scoring chance four minutes later when returning captain Wendie Renard got a header on target, but Kailen Sheridan made the stop for her first save of the game.
In the 21st minute, Sheridan had to make another big save, this time on France’s star player Eugenie Le Sommer as the French were going on a full attack.
Ten minutes later it was Jordyn Huitema with her first chance of the game, when she went in all alone on Picaud but she was denied by the PSG keeper.
The game went back and forth and two minutes later it was Carla Mateo with her first scoring chance but it was Sheridan’s turn to make another save.
At the beginning of the second half it was once again it was an all-out French attack and in the 49th minute when Le Sommer managed to get a header but it rang off the crossbar and stayed out.
Two minutes later France opened the scoring when Grace Geyoro got a solid cross from Delphine Cascarino and managed to head the ball into the back of the net.
In the 61st minute, Cascarino was looking for a goal of her own but Sheridan was able once again to deny her the opportunity and keep it a one-goal game.
Three minutes later the French doubled their lead when unfortunately Sheridan had the ball at her feet and made a bad pass to Lea La Garrec who managed to lob the ball over her head and into the net.
Jordyn Huitema got Canada within one in the 71st minute when off a long shot on target found the loose rebound and put the ball into the net and from there the visitors pushed but it wasn’t enough.
After the game, I asked Bev Priestman to asses the game from her perspective.
“I think we showed spells in the game”, Priestman said. “I was really pleased with the reaction to the 2-0 scoreline and what you saw was we were lacking a bit of experience and I told the group I don’t mind losing as long as we learn.”
Priestman will now have three months to scout and make her final decision and she admitted that she will bring an extended group to the preparation camp and make her final decision from there.