WOLVERHAMPTON, United Kingdom — While Canada leaves the Arnold Clark Cup on the back of a 1-0 loss to an impressive Spain side, coach Bev Priestman saw plenty of positives for the Olympic champions.
Despite having half of her roster in pre-season mode back home with their NWSL teams and missing talismanic captain Christine Sinclair and experienced forward Adriana Leon, the sixth-ranked Canadian women tied No. 8 England 1-1 and beat No. 3 Germany 1-0 before running into a stylish Spanish side that played well above its No. 9 ranking.
“I think we’ve taken a step forward,” Priestman said after Wednesday’s match at a near-empty Molineux Stadium. “I feel like we found ways to get (star fullback) Ashley Lawrence higher (up the pitch). We’ve got more combinations and more trusted players. I think we’ve widened the depth — I’ve tested more players.
“I said coming into this we’d come away with more European experience. We’ve done that ⦠I’m so glad we attended this tournament. I think we’ve got some massive learnings. And there are some players that really had to step up.”
A victory Wednesday and Canada (1-1-1) would have won the tournament.
Spain (1-0-2) appeared headed to hoist the trophy until goals by Millie Bright and Fran Kirby in the 84th and 94th minute, respectively, gave England (1-0-2) a 3-1 victory over Germany (0-2-1) in the late game at Molineux.
That left England and Spain tied on points. But the English women got the nod by virtue of a plus-two goal difference, compared to plus-one for Spain. Canada finished third and Germany fourth.
Attendance was announced at 13,463 during the England-Germany game.
Spain came as advertised, classy and confident, aggressive on defence and comfortable on the ball in attack.
Star midfielder Alexia Putellas, winner of the Ballon d’Or, Best FIFA Women’s Player and UEFA Player of the Year, pulled the strings for Spain as it extended its unbeaten streak to 19 games (17-0-2) since a 1-0 loss to the U.S. at the SheBelieves Cup in March 2020.
While Spain had more of the ball early on, Canada seemed up to the task and created several chances of its own to start.
But Spain went ahead in the 21st minute after Patri Guijarro stole the ball off Lawrence in midfield. Five passes later it was in the back of the net with a low shot from an unmarked Putellas, who made a stealthy run into the middle of the penalty box and beat Canadian goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan.
The 28-year-old Barcelona star almost scored a second in the 63rd minute, but her header off a corner hit the woodwork.
The game grew scrappier in the second half as substitutions were made. Canada came on late but was unable to break through, with two Canadian attackers unable to get to a dangerous Lawrence cross that flashed through the Spanish penalty box in the dying seconds.
As in the two previous matches, Priestman liked parts of the performance.
“For us it’s been three games of half-a-game, to be honest with you, across this tournament,” she said. “I can only walk away from this game very happy with the second half and a poor first half. But that’s credit to Spain.”
Spain finished with 60 per cent possession and outshot Canada 14-7 although the Canadians had a 3-1 edge in shots on target.
The defeat was only the fourth for Canada under Priestman, whose record is 10-4-6 including two shootout wins at the Tokyo Olympics. The other losses were to the U.S., Brazil and Mexico.
The Spanish women arrived in England on a 16-game winning streak during which they outscored their opposition 96-0. And despite playing to two ties, Spain looked dangerous against Germany and England, posing problems with its smothering press.
The Spanish starting 11 featured six players from Champions League winner Barcelona, including Putellas. The attacking midfielder scored 26 goals and added 19 assists as Barcelona won the Spanish League, Cup and Champions League last season. Barca teammate Jenni Hermoso, who tied for the Spanish league scoring lead with 31 goals, served as captain.
“It was a very competitive game. We battled hard,” Spain coach Jorge Vilda said through an interpreter. “We played well for certain periods of the game albeit without making the best start and that’s something that we’d like to improve on. We did then take control of the game, created chances.
“Alexia Putellas scored the goal and I feel we dominated from that point onwards.”
Priestman made four changes to the team that beat Germany, giving Marie-Yasmine Alidou her senior debut while also inserting Shelina Zadorsky, Deanne Rose and Jordyn Huitema.
Alidou, a 26-year-old midfielder from Saint-Hubert, Que., plays in Austria for SK Sturm Graz.
Eight of Canada’s 11 starters Wednesday were European-based and in-season.
Centre back Kadeisha Buchanan, earning her 116th cap, captained Canada in the absence of Sinclair, who stayed at home following the recent death of her mother. Jessie Fleming served as skipper against England while fellow midfielder Desiree Scott wore the captain’s armband against Germany.
Sheridan started in goal for the third straight game at the tournament, giving way to Sabrina D’Angelo at halftime. Buchanan, Fleming, Lawrence, Scott, Janine Beckie and Jayde Riviere also started all three contests.
Canada came close in the 28th minute when Huitema headed a Beckie free kick off the crossbar. The ball bounced back into play, just missing an onrushing Buchanan. Spain goalkeeper Lola Gallardo appeared to get a finger to the ball, sending it off the woodwork.
Putellas showed her pedigree on numerous occasions, including late in the half when she nutmegged Scott, who was making her 173rd senior appearance, before heading to the Canadian goal.
Riviere had to be helped off in the 53rd minute in obvious pain after having her wrist stepped on by a Spanish player after falling. There was no immediate update on her condition.
Canada was unable to threaten until later in the second half, with the final passing often missing its mark although forward Cloe Lacasse made her presence felt after coming on in the 77th minute.
The Canadian women had only played Spain twice before, drawing 0-0 in May 2019 in Logrones and losing 1-0 in March 2017 in Sao Joao da Venda.
The Canadian women are gearing up for the CONCACAF W Championship in July in Mexico, which will determine World Cup and Olympic qualification. Next up for Canada is a planned friendly in April.
The England tournament’s title sponsor, Arnold Clark, is a family-run car dealer.
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
